• 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.”

• 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
• Search Warrants and MPD Inventory Report to Date

Upon further research I note the article where the psychiatrist references the date for the first time, of Seitz’s alleged account, as June 19, 1959. This date immediately sparks my interest as I had been profiling possible links to this case by cross referencing missing children cases of boys, of which Seitz appeared to posses an alarming interest.  I reviewed the data regarding the missing person’s case for Daniel Barter:

Daniel Barter has been missing from Alabama since June 18, 1959. Daniel was last seen playing near the banks of Perdido Bay where he had gone camping with his parents, siblings and other relatives. Daniel reportedly disappeared from the campsite while his parents were preparing some fishing equipment. Daniel did not like water; therefore it is believed that he would not have gone into the bay voluntarily. An extensive search for Daniel ensued immediately, but he has not been seen or heard from since that time.

From several various online sources, the following supplemental information from the Barter family should be considered:

Daniel was holding a bottle of Nehi; the bottle was never recovered at the scene. In any scenario other than abduction, based on the exhaustive search, this would have been recovered.

Mrs. Barter recalled a man sitting outside their home in Mobile on separate occasions. One incidence his footprints were located outside of Danny’s window. Both incidents were based on eyewitness accounts.
While at the store in Lillian the morning of the abduction, Danny and his brother were in the car while Mrs. Barter ran into the store. A man pulled up next to them, appeared to do nothing but watch them, did not exit to go to the store, and then left. The older Barter sibling remarked to Mrs. Barter upon her return to the vehicle that the man was just looking at them, but obviously made him uncomfortable.

Daniel was dressed in only gray Boxer shorts which he wore to bed the previous evening, when he disappeared.

Bloodhounds repeatedly followed his scent to the road.

From Seitz On Scene Recovery

In addition to referencing to Mr. Seitz account and date-specific statements regarding abduction and homicide, the following items were recovered from the scene that may be relative to the Barnet case. Although PIO Anne Schwartz has stated publicly that Seitz’s property in Racine, inherited from his deceased Mother Mildred in 2006, has been searched, there is no public record of a warrant for same. Additionally, there is no indication of a warrant for any vehicle owned by Mr. Seitz :

There were 4 freshly dug dirt piles, or evidence of apparent ground disturbance, on Mr. Seitz’s property. According to weather analysis on December 10, the last known witness account of Seitz being alive, there was 13” of snow on the ground already, therefore the ground would have been very frozen:

A cassette tape and cassette video marked “kidnapping of a 4 ½ year old boy”.

A black and white photo of a boy, white male, holding a fish, with “July 1959” handwritten on the back.

A letter from the White House. The Barter’s had strong Washington contacts and received a letter from J.Edgar Hoover at the time of the abduction.  Did Seitz have a copy?

Significant amounts of Child Pornography, hand drawn maps and missing children’s cases posters and maps with circles indicating various locations.

Additional Seitz Data:

• Mr. Seitz appears to have relatives in the Mobile area. Specifically, his grandparents, Mildred and Raymond Seitz, and his brother Karl had an address in Birmingham. Several cousins as well.
• Richard K Francel, who was quoted  has a warrant out for his arrest, issued December 18, 2008 for driving with a revoked/suspended license.
• Current information indicates subject has multiple family members that are registered sex offenders in Wisconsin (please note this is not a full sheet on these offenders, strictly relative offense(s):

Donald P. Seitz: Wisconsin Circuit Court Access

• 1 948.03(2)(a) Child Abuse-Intentional.Cause Great Harm Felony C Dismissed on Prosecutor’s Motion
• 2 948.02(1) 1st Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony B Guilty / No Contest

Wisconsin SO registry:

Michael A Seitz
Firearms/wreckless: Wisconsin Circuit Court Access

• 1 948.07(1) Child Enticement-Sexual Contact Felony BC Guilty / No Contest
• 2 948.02(1) 1st Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony B Guilty / No Contest

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA)

Racine County Case Number 1997CF000052

Click on document to enlarge

“We have no information to substantiate any allegation that the deceased [suspect] was involved in any missing children cases or homicides of children,” police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

Let’s take that statement for dissection, if you will. Aren’t there at least three corroborating accounts this man drove 7+ hours to meet Wetterlings parents and participate in the search, twice?  Evidence and corroboration by his therapist that he traveled and participated in searches for missing young boys across the Midwest drew and painted pictures of naked male children does not a call to the FBI warrant, apparently. Pun intended.

“We have exhausted all possible angles in this case. If we receive credible information that warrants investigation, we will pursue it.” A search of Seitz’s late-mother’s home in Racine also turned up nothing, Schwartz said.

Notably, they have not searched the residence of Vernon Seitz, Sr. It is located 147mi North East of Jr’s homes and exactly 37 miles from the farm of  Edward Lanphear. Mr. Lanphear is currently incarcerated facing 400 years in the Big house for forcible rape and kidnapping of 2 young men simultaneously. There was also bondage devices in Lanphear’s basement and garage, as well as other similar items to those found in the Seitz home. His plea deal is pending a psych evaluation, and most experts do not think Lanphear acted alone, or that this was his first offense.

The former head of Wisconsin’s FBI office, though, thinks Seitz’s confession could be believable.

“I think it would be something to take very seriously and coupled with what was found through the search warrant, I would give it great credibility,” said retired agent Mike Santimauro.

Just prior to press I spoke to Agent Leonard Piece, Media Coordinator, FBI- Milwaukee office; Agent Piece confirmed there has been no request from MPD for assistance in any capacity in this case.

Skeeve From The Hood

Tony Szuta, 28, remembered going to Vern’s Barber Shop for haircuts between the ages of 9 and 12 while he was growing up in Cudahy. “When he talked to you, it was like he was looking through you. There was something up with the guy. We could never figure out what it was,” Szuta said.  Seitz showed Szuta and his friend’s paintings and drawings Seitz had done, but nothing seemed disturbing, Szuta said.

One friend told Szuta that Seitz had asked if he could portray him in a drawing.
Richard Francel was close friends with Seitz. “(He was) just a relaxed, easy going guy. Very knowledgeable. Very intelligent,” Francel said. Richard Francel was close friends with Seitz.

Francel said police interrogated him after Seitz’s death. But, Francel said he never knew about his friend’s collection of child pornography or his alleged confession. “No. he was never like that,” Francel explained.

Near Vern’s Barber Shop in St. Francis, Lynne Bartholomew, owner of Lynne’s Scizzory, a hair salon next door, said she knew Seitz for nine years. “He would come in and ask for a cup of coffee and tell me about his life, which was pretty scary, actually,” Bartholomew said.  She said Seitz told her he was abducted from the Racine zoo as a boy by men who molested him and forced him to shoot and kill another boy.

Bartholomew said Seitz also claimed to have shot and killed a man who robbed him in his home three years ago and that he had killed two men in Chicago some years ago.
Bartholomew said Seitz had a particular interest in boys that made her and some of her customers “uncomfortable.”

“You get an eerie feeling from someone you just say stay away from them,” said neighbor Shannon Crawford. “I’m very glad I didn’t let [my kids] go over there more often.”

Elementary school teacher and Sister-in-law Susan Seitz, though, said Vernon was abducted and abused as a boy and believes his interest in child abductions stemmed from this experience.

“I guess it just goes to show you don’t really know the secrets of your neighbors,” said Jordan Burich, who lives near Seitz’s house. “We really didn’t know what was going on, but when [investigators] brought a jackhammer, we knew there was something more nefarious going on.”

One ponders upon seeing the words “jackhammer” and “nefarious” in the same sentence.

How close is this to Fargo?

This Just got Creepier : A Dahmer Connection?

Jeffrey Dahmer, responsible for 17 known murders and mutilations from 1978, lived in the know demolished Oxford Arms Apartments, less than 6 miles away from Seitz. When he was living with his grandmother in West Allis previously, 13 miles from Seitz.

Admittedly, when I began investigating this angle, I did not expect to find anything other than their membership in the Rot in Hell Ghoul Society; was I wrong.

Did Dahmer have one more victim? Following his arrest in 1991, it was learned that Dahmer, upon discharge from the Army, moved to Miami Beach Florida. It was previously unknown to Investigators that there was any gap in his residency in Milwaukee. It was brought to the attention of Hollywood Florida Investigators following Dahmer’s arrest coverage in the News.  Dahmer was living and working in the area when 6 year old Adam Walsh was abducted and murdered.

Two separate and credible witnesses came forward to the Hollywood Florida Police following Dahmer’s arrest and gave statements that they saw him in the mall where Adam went missing.

One account specified a sighting in the Sears store and one leaving the Sears in the parking lot with a small boy under his arm. This incident was following a rejection of one witness, a very attractive young man who rebuffed Dahmer’s advances and followed him into the Sears store.

Is it possible that although Dahmer preferred young adult males sexually, he was content to abduct and brutally murder a young child out of anger? Did he see in Adam or other children what he could have been had he not been molested as a child in Ohio?

John Walsh, Adam’s Father comments in 2007:

Dahmer and most experts believe Dahmer’s profile was not interested in Children, however,  Walsh wrote, “Many people have forgotten  that Jeffrey Dahmer started out as a pedophile, kidnapper, and torturer of young boys. He certainly fits the profile of someone who might be capable of murdering a beautiful 6-year-old boy.”

Dahmer was interviewed extensively following the 1996 release of  the 10,000 page file of Adam Walsh’s Investigation was released publicly. Dahmer said he didn’t have a car, had never been to Hollywood, and he wasn’t interested in kids Adam’s age, and he worked 7 days per week. He denied any involvement. However, Mr. Walsh  felt Dahmer became a suspect years ago when Dahmer’s father, Lionel, called “America’s Most Wanted” and told them he thought his son could be responsible for Adam’s slaying.

What is critical in terms of witness accounts, is several witnesses, reported they saw a blue van speeding away from the mall parking lot the day of Adam’s abduction.

Retired Florida Det Jay Harris was able to track down Dahmer’s employer in 2007, who refuted Dahmer’s statement that he did not have a vehicle. A BLUE VAN, used for deliveries of his shop, was available for employee use, days at a time.

I wonder were Dahmer got his hair cut? Is Adam Walsh’s missing persons poster among Seit’z creepy cache? One of Dahmer’s lures was to offer to pay for his victims to pose for pictures.

Sound familiar?

Author’s Note:
On December 16, 2008, Hollywood Police Chief Chadwick Wagner, closed the case on Adam Walsh, naming Otis Toole as the abductor murderer.  As of 2007, with no new evidence in his son’s case, John Walsh was very suspect of Dahmer’s possible involvement in Adam’s death.

Wagner said there was no new evidence against Toole that made police name him as the killer, but that there was a “vast amount” of circumstantial evidence.  Not mentioned in the Press conference, was that the only two pieces of evidence that could have potentially linked Otis Toole to Adam’s murder, a carpet swatch from a car of Tooles and the actual car, were lost during the investigation.  While on a personal note I am happy for closure for the Walsh family, that evidence could have exonerated Toole as well. We will never know. What we do know is that there are hundreds of missing and endangered children all over the country. Every conceivable connection and possibility must be run down for their families to have answers and justice.

To discuss the story more and provide your own opinions and theories, go to Scared Monkeys.net: Unsolved Crimes.

Male Child Porn Slides, Photos, Videos, Paintings and Children’s Shoes

Milwaukee Police executed a Search warrant the following day, and seized over 500 pieces of evidence, including male child porn, bondage equipment, a book titled “Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of Cannibalism and children’s shoes. According to a search warrant obtained by TODAY’S TMJ4, “during an emergency sweep of Seitz’s residence officers noticed newly poured cement in Seitz’s basement” and “elevated dirt piles in the yard and bondage devices in the basement, hanging from the floor rafters.”

Also found, of unknown origin, were tufts of what appears to be human hair.  Before anyone speculates it would be natural for a barber to have tufts of hair lying around his shop,  Verns’ Barber Shop is located 10 miles away.  At Seitz’s Packard Ave Barber shop he owned for 20 years, Police found a laminated poster of missing Minnesota Child Jacob Wetterling.  Jacob Wetterling, abducted in October 1989 by a masked gunman  while riding his bike to rent a movie with his brother and a friend, has never been found. Apparently that is not due to the fact that Mr. Seitz did not make the effort:

The boy’s mother, Patty Wetterling, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Seitz came to visit her twice soon after the abduction. He claimed to be a psychic wanting to help and had even given her a painting of Jacob.

“He seemed to care, and he shared that he had his own personal reason to care,” she said, noting that Seitz had had an abusive incident happen to him in the past, which she declined to speak of further. There were a number of not yet disclosed missing children posters among Mr. Seitz belongings. However, it appears Mr. Seitz’s concerns for missing young boys extends beyond the domestic.  Creepy Barber Guy had a missing person’s poster of Michael Dunhee.

Michael Dunhee, aged 4 ½, disappeared from a park near his home in Victoria, BC in 1991 and has never been found.    Michael’s Mother, Crystal Dunahee,  told CBC News on Wednesday that she’s not sure whether Seitz ever contacted her family after Michael disappeared, but that the name Vernon Seitz does seem “familiar” to her.

Dust off the Rorschach, shrink needs a shrink

Seitz confessed to his psychiatrist of 11 years, Dr.  Victoria Fetter: “He told me that although he liked little boys, he knew that you can’t touch little boys, so what he did was paint them nude,” Fetter said. “He didn’t tell me about kiddie porn or anything that he would get in boiling hot water if he did anything, then he can paint the pictures. That won’t hurt anybody.”

He also told her that he had used what he regarded as his psychic abilities to help the families of missing children across the Midwest but that he never mentioned Jacob Wetterling.

The story of the potential confessions of Vernon Seitz gets more bizarre when you talk with Seitz’s psychiatrist. She told TMJ4′s Charles Benson that the 62-year-old Seitz was on a mission of mercy.

She said Seitz wanted to put his mind at ease about killing a 14-year-boy in Racine back in the late 1950′s when Seitz was only 12-years-old. Fetter wouldn’t comment on whether Seitz ever confessed other crimes to her, citing doctor-patient confidentiality. She said she could only talk about the 1950s incident. Fetter said she was appalled when she found out what police found in Seitz’s house.

Is “boiling in hot water a psychiatric term for spending the rest of your life in the slammer where he becomes the little boy in the scenario? Sources inside the investigation indicate there are discrepancies in Dr. Fetter’s comments to MPD leading up to the passing of Seitz.

If that is true, it will not be the first time Dr. Fetter’s patient management skills have come under scrutiny. In 2000, Fetter was professionally reprimanded by the Wisconsin Medical Board for misconduct of confidentiality and unprofessionalism towards a patient and her family during 1996-1997. This would be right around the time Seitz began seeing her. I did not provide the reference to this information to protect the privacy of the patient involved in the sanction. It can be researched through her medical license, however.

To discuss the case further and provide your own opinins and theories, go to Scared Monkeys.net: True Crime.