Michiel Louise Winkel:1980, Muscatine County, Iowa

  

 Michiel Louise Winkel was born on February 15th, 1958. Her parents were Mary Louise Terre Winkel and Francis Henry “Frank” Winkel. Michiel had two sisters and two brothers. 

  Michiel was a 1977 graduate of Muscatine High School. She was attending Bemidji State University in Minnesota in 1980. (One of her older sisters lived in Bemidji too so that town probably felt like a good choice for college. It’s nice to be independent but also nice to have someone close if you need a bit of help or advice. 

 Michiel was quiet, studious and sensitive. She had worked for a short time at Dairy Queen in Muscatine, Iowa but would often burst into tears when harshly criticized there. (In her defense, people were meaner then, in my opinion. Many folks thought nothing of teasing someone until they cried and then making fun of them for crying.) 

  Michiel was home for break in Muscatine, Iowa in April 1980. 

  On April 21st, 1980 Michiel seemingly disappeared. She had deposited a check that day to pay for her next classes in Bemidji. (The deposit slip seemed to indicate that the transaction took place on April 22nd but that was actually the day that the funds would be available.This was explained in court.) 

 Several people came forward to report having seen her.  Sometimes those reports are made by people who legitimately saw a person and sometimes people’s memories are faulty but they would like to help. Sometimes people misidentify a person. They thought they saw the person but it was just a similar looking person. Michiel did not return home on April 21st, 1980. She was not in contact with anyone after April 21st.

 There was just no sign of Michiel Louise Winkel from April 21st, 1980. Michiel lived with her parents. Waiting and wondering must have been torture. They would have been calling everyone and searching. Imagine having to call all of her siblings and tell them that Michiel was missing. With each call they would have been hoping that this person would say, "She is not missing.  She is right here with me." With each call there would have been a tiny spark of hope that would have been quickly extinguished.

 Michiel’s body was discovered on April 26th, 1980. A group of cyclists was preparing to camp at Wildcat Den State Park just a few miles east of Muscatine. They were in the campground and gathering wood. One cyclist walked toward a fallen log and found Michiel. 

   Michiel’s father identified her remains. As a parent I cannot imagine having to see your child in that state.

   In the hours that followed, a doctor performed the autopsy. Michiel had been strangled, kicked in the head and stabbed 17 times. She had been sexually assaulted. The doctor could not say for sure whether the assault happened before or after her death. 

  Her family said that the Wildcat Den state park was not a place she ever went to. It was not a place that any of them frequented. It wasn’t a place she would have gone on her own. 

   In early May, a 23 year old man named William Dorsie Beeman was arrested. He confessed to the murder and gave details that matched the injuries to Michiel Winkel. When asked if he stabbed Michiel; Beeman produced a knife and handed it over to police. 

  He admitted to taking her to the park and his telling of the story sounds like a date. He picked her up and took her to the park. He pressured her for sex. She refused. He got angry and raped her. He kicked her in the head after attempting to strangle her. He stabbed her 17 times to make sure she was dead. Then he said he went back home to his girlfriend. 

  Michiel was shy. She was sensitive. She doesn’t seem like a young woman who would go willingly with a man like Beeman. She had been running errands that day. She had to have been abducted under threat. She must have been terrified. If she cried when a Dairy Queen customer yelled at her then you know she was absolutely terrified on the night of April 21st, 1980. 

  Beeman would later claim he was innocent. He and his lawyers would argue that he had an alibi for the murder. They would claim Michiel must have been killed at a different time and day. They would claim that the prosecution was changing their stories. He would claim that he was just a nice guy wrongfully accused. 

   But, he had quite a few run-ins with the law in the years preceding Michiel’s murder. 

   There was an arrest for an assault on April 23rd, 1979. That’s almost exactly a year earlier. What was that about?  Who did he assault? In 1979 when a couple of guys got in a fight it had to be pretty bad to call the police. But it seems he only spent a night in jail. He was only fined $25 for this assault. 

   There was an arrest for breaking and entering and theft reported on April 23rd of 1977. What was it about the third week of April with this guy? He was given a five year suspended sentence and three years probation. It is a shame that his sentence was suspended. He would have been in jail in April of 1980 if they had not let him go free. 

   There were a few arrests for speeding, reckless driving and other traffic violations in his past as well. 

     He claimed to have a broken foot as of April 22nd. (Was that from viciously kicking Michiel in the head?) On his way into court he joked with the deputy that he could escape easily by kicking the deputy in the head. 

   The jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree and he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. William Dorsie Beeman is still in prison today. His appeals over the years have all been denied. 

  

  He has been proclaiming his innocence and hoping to have his sentence overturned. He claims that he was just a happy go lucky DJ at the local disco. But he confessed and provided details. He even gave police the knife that was used in the murder. 

  Michiel Louise Winkel was still so young. She was working on her college courses. She was thinking about her future. She had dreams and aspirations and all that was stolen from her. 

  Michiel is buried at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Waterloo, Wisconsin. Her Mother passed away in 2007 and her father followed in 2008. All three are buried there together. 

  Rest in peace.