A 61-year-old Wisconsin man has been arrested in connection with the nearly 25-year-old murder of a Sturtevant woman whose body was found in a ditch weeks after she disappeared . Dennis J. Brantner was arrested in Berit Beck 's killing after he made an appearance on an unrelated charge in Kenosha County . He 's now been charged with first degree homicide . The 18-year-old Beck was killed in July 1990 after she stopped in Fond du Lac while traveling . Her body was found about six weeks later in a ditch in rural Fond du Lac County . Break : Police have arrested a suspect in a Wisconsin murder nearly 25 years on . Berit Beck ( right ) was 18 in July 1990 when she vanished , only to be found strangled in a ditch over a month later . Now , local trucker Dennis Brantner , 61 , ( left ) has been arrested for the crime . Authorities said last year they had evidence that pointed Brantner and named him as a suspect . A court document says his fingerprints were on items in Beck 's van . 'This has always been a no-win situation no matter how it works out , ' Fond du Lac County Sheriff Mick Fink told the Fond du Lac Reporter . 'We will go forward . We talked with the Becks and they have been notified . ' Beck was heading to a work seminar in Appleton , Wisconsin when she vanished . It is believed she stopped at a Walgreens during her journey , which is the last place she was seen alive . According to a complaint obtained by the Fond du Lac Reporter , 'no physical evidence directly links ... ( anyone ) other than Dennis J. Brantner to the GMC van Berit Beck was last seen driving . ' Police say Brantner 's fingerprints were found March 11 on a cigarette cellophane that was inside Beck 's van . When he was interviewed by police last year , he said he had no idea how they got there . However , he reportedly asked police 'why would I do anything like that in the first place ? ' before police told him she was a murder victim . Physical evidence : Brantner was first named as a suspect in 2014 but told police he had nothing to do with the cold case murder . However , Fond du Lac police say they 've since connected him , and only him , to the van Beck was driving when she vanished using fingerprints . He soon became emotional , however . ' I do n't remember anything . I do n't wan na , ' Brantner told police . ' ( If ) I did I did ... if I did I do n't know . ' Though he was not in custody at the time of Beck 's disappearance , Brantner was arrested on an unrelated matter two weeks later on August 6 1990 and has a criminal record going back to the 1970s . And , in 1994 , he was arrested for kidnapping and beating his estranged second wife . Brantner was unknown to Beck 's family prior to police naming him as a suspect in 2014 . Meanwhile , they have asked for privacy in the matter . 'We are encouraged and relieved for this day to have arrived for Berit and our family . We request that our privacy be respected as this process unfolds , ' the family said through a police press release . Speaking at a press conference last year , Sheriff Fink was hopeful about the developments . 'This is the best physical evidence that we 've had in this case , ' he said . 'It was the first time that I thought we had tangible , physical evidence to intimately put someone in the interior of that van . ' Emotional : In this July 21 , 1990 file photo David Beck waits for word from his missing daughter , Berit Beck . It would soon come in the form of her decaying body found in a ditch in rural Fond du Lac County . Desperate search : this 1990 photo shows people gathered during the search for Berit Beck , who was found dead on August 6 , 1990 .
Dennis Brantner was arrested Friday morning by police in Fond du Lac County , Wisconsin on first degree murder charges . He is accused of killing his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself at their home.