On December 15, 2008, Vernon C. Seitz, 62 yr old white male is found Dead on Entry appearing to be of natural causes.  On December 12, 2008, Dr. Victoria Fetter, Seitz’s licensed psychiatrist contacted MPD to discuss her patients intent to confess to a homicide he was forced to participate in,  following an alleged abduction, sexual assault  and torture by unknown subjects.  Mr. Seitz states he and another victim were abducted while on a family outing to Racine Zoo on June 19, 1959. There is no report of this incident or any remotely similar incident on file and It is the opinion of MPD this never occurred .  Upon reading initial press on this incident, I prepared my own investigative articles provided below.

• Part I: Shave, Haircut and Child Porn … The Barber of St. Francis, Vernon C. Seitz
• Part II: No Connection to Other Pending Cases, MPD Closing the Case. Nothing to See Here; The Barber of St. Francis, Vernon C. Seitz
• Part III: Possible Link Between Vernon Seitz Case and Daniel “Danny” Barter Missing Person’s Case.

Search Warrants and MPD Inventory Report to Date

Over the last few weeks since this article was published,  I have received numerous requests for updates and several  pleas imploring me to stay on top of this case. Our collective “There might not be a bigfoot but this guy is seriously off” sentiment has not gone unnoticed. Recently, as a result of this article, Anderson Cooper’s  CNN 360 featured a story on Danny which generated buzz from the smarties. I was also told Americas Most Wanted is contemplating doing a feature on his case. Why the recent groundswell of coverage on a nearly 50 year old case?  In terms of Cold cases, his had been beyond cryogenic.

Danny’s sisters Theresa and Wanda want you to know that they will never give up trying to find their brother. They want you to know that he is loved and missed and he is referred to with love and familiarity by two generations since his disappearance June 18, 1959. They will pass on his legacy to their own children and grandchildren until they have the answers as to what happened to their brother, cousin and uncle. I was contacted by them following a meeting with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Detective in charge of the Barter Investigation. I was able to get the following issues confirmed, as there has been very conflicting reports:

• They left for Perdido Bay the 17th and stayed over that evening, making the date of Danny’s disappearance June 18, 1959. It was previously reported as June 17.
• The Nehi beverage bottle was withheld for a very long time. I now know what flavor it was, and have been asked not to disclose it.
• They believe in the event Danny is alive, and was abducted to be raised by another family, they have information and questions they believe only he could answer conclusively.
• Nobody in their family believes Danny met his end on the banks of the bay. They believe he was abducted for unknown reasons, but definitely abducted.

They asked me what I uncovered that would have BCSO refer them to me for some follow up questions and lead them to believe that there was a potential new development in their brother’s case almost 50 years in the making. We reviewed my article together after they allayed my concerns that what they may read could be upsetting.

Ms. Wanda and Ms. Theresa assured me there was not thing I could present as a scenario that they have not thought of themselves. They were prepared for any outcome for Daniel. Specifically, if he is no longer with us, to bring him home before their ages prevented them from doing so.

A vigil is planned on the banks of the Perdido Bay on June 18, 2009, the 50 year anniversary of Daniel’s disappearance. They invited me to attend and from the pit of my gut I hope to help them and their family.

Seitz Case Update

The possible connection to Danny Barter’s case is under investigation by the Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee Field Office, FBI, The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mobile field office, FBI.  I have been interviewed by all and will continue to assist all of them as required.

As per the lead investigator in the Seitz case, this is an active and open investigation. The forensic testi ng results ordered from evidence recovered at the scene have not been completed and may take several more weeks.  Admittedly, I was encouraged by that. What I was not encouraged by was the fact that the MPD was unaware of about 60% of the information I have been able to research and report. I have attempted to contact Anne E. Schwarz, the Public Relations Manager for MPD for a status and any comments from MPD on the ongoing investigation into the Vernon Seitz case. As of press time, I have not received a response.

I recently interviewed Seitz long time neighbor, who requested to remain anonymous to the media at this time. It was her opinion that the MPD are not taking this case seriously. For starters, she has never been contacted by them although she saw Vern daily for several years.  What she told me cemented my position from the first paragraph of the article what I already knew.  This is going to turn out badly.

“Vernon was on heavy medications. An Anti-psychotic, triazedome to sleep and something to wake up.”

On Saturday December 10, his friend who used to sit in his barbershop for hours on end appears to be anxious he could not locate Vern. “Where’s Vern, I stopped by the house and couldn’t get in. ” She said she had not seen him and he left quickly. He was much younger than Vern, but unkept. His name is Steve, and although he lives down the street, he has not been back since. When a mutual acquaintance ran into him, he told Vern’s neighbor that he had asked him about what he knew about Vern. He became very agitated, said he had nothing to do with it, was not involved, and was not going to be saying anything else. He has not been seen in this area since.

Vern spent every weekend with his Mother in Racine until her death in 2006. They were extremely close and he was devastated when she passed.

Recent comments by Vern to a different neighbor, were out of character. Specifically, he told a neighbor he had working outside his home and had to go to the bathroom. He stated, “Who the Hell cares, this is my house, my yard, I’m just gonna  pi** on this tree, outside, like a dog.” And he did.

Vernon, by all accounts had undergone stark changes to his physical appearance and hygiene over the last few weeks.  He was persistently agitated, and had completely boycotted shaving or grooming in any way.   When I asked her to just describe her impressions of Vernon in general:

“It seemed like his intention was to retaliate against people.  He would be like, God Bless You 30 times a day, and in what seemed like the flip of a switch, he became angry and agitated enough to frighten me over any little thing.  In some ways I felt sorry for him, I really believed something very bad happened to him and he felt he was cursed in a way, and it’s blame lay elsewhere.

I asked her about what Vern told her about the alleged abduction he repeated to his Psychiatrist, Dr. Victoria Fetter,  when he was 12 from the Racine Zoo.

” He talked openly about it, to anyone that would listen. Contrary to reports, he told me that he did not tell his parents at the time, or ever. He said they never knew.  He rarely spoke of family at all after the death of his Mother and does not recall him going to see his brother Karl in NC.

In October 2003, Seitz alleged that his home was broken into; he was burglarized and assaulted.  My requests to review  a copy of this Police report have been unsuccessful. However, Vern’s neighbor had a very vivid memory of this incident:

“Vern told me the day after his house was robbed that a man THAT HE KNEW, rang the doorbell and when he opened it, strong-armed him, pushed his way into the house, and pistol whipped him in the face with his revolver. He came to work the next day and his face was all black and blue and his glasses were broken and taped on one side. She said he became obsessively paranoid, and put a steel grate door on his Barber Shop, as well as his front door of his home.  When she asked him what was taken he said the guy knew that he kept significant amounts of cash in his home, and he stated over $30k was lost. The next day or so I was out back and he showed me a gun he brought to work. I told him that made me very uncomfortable and that if he did not remove it from the premises I would be forced to call the Police.  About a month later he came over and told me that he took care of the guy that busted into his house and stole his money. I asked what do you mean?  He answered, ” I had him killed.” When I asked the neighbor if she believed him or if she thought he was joking she said “I thought he was serious and I never asked one way or the other because I did not want to know for sure, I guess.”