Two brothers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, David Bintz, 69, and Robert Bintz, 68, have been exonerated after spending nearly 25 years in prison for the 1987 murder of Sandra Lison.
The case, which had long baffled law enforcement and the public, took a remarkable turn when advances in forensic genetic genealogy identified the actual perpetrator, ultimately freeing the brothers from life sentences imposed on them in 2000.
Sandra Lison, a 44-year-old bartender and mother of two, disappeared from her workplace, a bar named Good Times in Green Bay, in early August 1987.
Her body was discovered soon after by horseback riders in the Machickanee Forest, Oconto County, some 30 miles from where she worked.
An autopsy confirmed she had been strangled and sexually assaulted before her death.
Authorities had little to go on at the time.
The murder of a local woman in such a violent manner rocked the small community.
Despite several years of investigation, no solid leads emerged, and the case went cold.
The public demanded answers, and when the Bintz brothers, who were present at the bar the night Lison disappeared, became suspects, the case began to focus on them.
David and Robert Bintz were not initially considered prime suspects. Still, in 1998, the case took a dramatic shift when a cellmate of David Bintz claimed David had confessed to Lison’s murder in his sleep.
David was serving time for an unrelated crime at the time.
Despite the cellmate’s questionable testimony, it became pivotal evidence against him and his brother.
Although there was no physical evidence linking the Bintz brothers to Lison’s murder, they were accused of robbing and killing her.
Prosecutors theorized that the brothers, upset over the cost of a beer at the bar, attacked Lison in a fit of rage during a robbery gone wrong.
The alleged motive, coupled with the cellmate’s testimony, was enough to convince a jury to convict the brothers.
In 2000, they were sentenced to life in prison.
At the trial, blood and semen found on Lison’s body were tested but did not match either of the brothers.
Despite this, the cellmate’s testimony and circumstantial evidence were enough to secure convictions.
The notion that they had committed the murder during a robbery was presented as the leading theory, even though Lison had clearly been sexually assaulted, a fact that did not align with the prosecution’s robbery argument.
The case appeared to be closed until 2018 when the Great North Innocence Project of Minnesota began investigating the case.
With no physical evidence tying the Bintz brothers to the crime, the team, led by legal director Jim Mayer, sought the help of genetic genealogists to examine the DNA evidence collected at the scene.
In 2023, the breakthrough came.
The Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center (IGG) at Ramapo College in New Jersey analyzed the DNA found on Lison’s body, creating a genetic profile of the perpetrator.
This profile was uploaded to consumer DNA databases, such as GEDmatch, allowing genealogists to search for familial connections.
The search quickly narrowed potential suspects to three brothers from Green Bay, one of whom was William Hendricks.
Hendricks, a convicted rapist who had died in 2000, became the focus of the investigation.
Forensic evidence from his exhumed remains confirmed the match: the chances of the DNA belonging to someone other than Hendricks were one in 329 trillion, according to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab.
This revelation conclusively linked Hendricks to Lison’s murder and exonerated the Bintz brothers.
On September 27, 2023, Brown County Circuit Court Judge Donald Zuidmulder signed the motions vacating the convictions of David and Robert Bintz, freeing them after nearly a quarter of a century in prison.
During the hearing, Judge Zuidmulder acknowledged the profound injustice the brothers had endured and expressed satisfaction that the actual perpetrator had finally been identified.
“Today, Sandra Lison will rest in peace because her true murderer is now known,” the judge declared.
He further remarked that while the prosecutors and law enforcement officers in 2000 acted on the evidence available to them at the time, the new genetic evidence rendered the previous convictions unsound.
Both brothers have expressed relief at being exonerated, though their legal battle and personal hardships have left deep scars.
David Bintz was released from Racine Correctional Institution immediately following the court’s decision.
At the same time, Robert Bintz, who was held at Oakhill Correctional Institution, was also set to be released.
William Hendricks, identified as Lison’s killer, had a criminal history that eerily paralleled the details of Lison’s murder.
Hendricks had been convicted in the 1980s for sexual assault and false imprisonment, serving time at the Waupun Correctional Institute.
He was released just months before Lison’s murder.
In one of his prior crimes, Hendricks had sexually assaulted a woman in her home, threatening to kill her and claiming that she was fortunate he didn’t beat her like his other victims.
This chilling pattern of violence bore striking similarities to Lison’s case. Moreover, the location of Lison’s body, between the bar and Hendricks’ home, further implicated him in her murder.
The exoneration of the Bintz brothers highlights the growing importance of forensic genetic genealogy in criminal investigations.
The technology, which traces familial connections using DNA, has revolutionized cold case investigations, allowing for new avenues of discovery even in decades-old cases.
The Wisconsin Innocence Project, which had worked tirelessly to secure the brothers’ release, issued a statement following David Bintz’s release: “David walked out of prison after more than 25 years, finally a free man. He is eager to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family.”
Whoopsie!