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| (Photo by Randy M. Cauthron) Three men were arrested on murder charges for an incident that took place at Zippers in north Milford early Friday, April 4. |
Three individuals remain in the Dickinson County Jail on murder charges as a result of an incident early Friday morning in Milford.
On Monday, April 7 officers arrested John Allen Swan, 30, of Crossett, Ark.; Scott Thomas Adair, 29, of Crossett, Ark.; and Michael James Friedrichs, 29, of Forest City. The three are charged with first degree murder, a class "A" felony. The victim was Matthew Thomas Begtrup, 25, of Sioux Falls, S.D.
According to a complaint filed by the Milford Police Department, Swan, Adair and Friedrichs unlawfully hit the victim repeatedly during a fight causing severe injury and bleeding to the face and head. The incident occurred at approximately 2 a.m. outside Zippers Gentleman's Club in Milford. The three were charged with willful injury the evening of the altercation and posted bond.
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| NAME: John Allen Swan AGE: 30 HOMETOWN: Crossett, Ark. |
On Monday, the Dickinson County Attorney's office filed the first-degree murder charges accusing the three of willfully and deliberately killing Begtrup with malice afore thought.
Warrants were issued and the three were arrested and rebooked into the Dickinson County Jail.
Swan, Adair and Friedrichs made their initial appearance Tuesday in the Dickinson County Courthouse. They are being held on $750,000 bond and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 4 p.m. April 18.
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| NAME: Scott Thomas Adair AGE: 29 HOMETOWN: Crossett, Ark. |
Services for Begtrup, including a Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Christ the King Catholic Church with burial to follow at St. Michael Cemetery in Sioux Falls.
People who knew him back in Sioux Falls remember Begtrup as an aspiring martial arts instructor who enjoyed teaching young people the discipline of Tae Kwan Do.
Begtrup was a skilled third-degree black belt, his instructor, Master Jae Ho Sim, told KELO-TV reporter Lou Raguse in a copyrighted story.
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| NAME: Michael James Friedrichs AGE: 29 HOMETOWN: Forest City |
"He can straight-up side kick in the air. He can break a board 10 feet in the air standing on the ground, you know? Not jumping," Sim told Raguse.
Begtrup's martial arts instructor said the 25-year-old was close to achieving his goals of being an instructor.
"I've got a whole bunch of good kids here, but not too many come up to me and say I want to be an instructor," Sim said.
Begtrup also helped Master Sim teach class. He especially enjoyed the kids 10 and younger. And they especially liked him.
"Oh, parents come to me all the time, when the kids say, 'Guess what, Mr. Matt's filling in for Mr. Sim.' They all get excited. He's great with the kids. Pretty firm, but they love him," Sim told the television station.
Begtrup told Sim he wanted to teach Tae Kwan Do for a living, so Master Sim did something special for him. He traveled to Korea and set up an exchange program. Sim planned to have Begtrup, who learned Tae Kwon Do in Korean, live there and teach Koreans Tae Kwon Do in English.
"The sad thing for me is I never got to tell him I had all that going for him," Sim said.
Sim received the news Begtrup had been killed before Sim had a chance to tell his student the good news.
"It's just hard for me to imagine a guy like that has a great talent, great self-respect and great kindness to other kids, and all the sudden someone brutally does that to him," Sim told the station, later adding, "Like I said, the opportunity came and went without him even knowing."
Master Sim says he has a brand new Tae Kwon Do uniform ready for Begtrup to be buried in. Begtrup's family has asked that memorial donations will be used to create a scholarship in Matthew's name at the Jae Ho Sim's Martial Arts Academy.
Back in Milford, the local police department was assisted at the scene by members of the Arnolds Park Police Department, Okoboji Police Department, Dickinson County Sheriff's Office, Milford Rescue and Lakes Regional Healthcare Ambulance.
Some aspects of the case remain uncertain. Authorities have yet to elaborate about the amount of time that passed between the altercation and the end of Begtrup's life. He passed away after being transported to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.
The initial statement from law enforcement officials also does not confirm, or rule out, the use of weapons.
Attempts were made to contact authorities for additional details about the incident. Calls to Milford Police Chief Vernon Flack, who was not on duty Tuesday, were not returned. Staff members at the offices of Dickinson County Attorney Rosalie Olson and Sheriff Greg Baloun referred inquiries to a press release posted on the Dickinson County Sheriff's Web site.
Jim Saunders, the public information officer for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has not been contacted about the murder investigation.
"At this point in time, the DCI has not been requested to assist, so we're not involved," Saunders said, late Tuesday. "It's really up to the local jurisdiction to make a decision as to whether or not they feel it's necessary to contact us and invite us in. We don't have the ability to just go in and conduct investigation unless we're first invited by the chief of police or the county attorney."
Saunders said such a request would typically come soon after an incident occurred "but that just varies by the situation."
Begtrup's family will have visitation from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday at George Boom Funeral Home and the visitation will resume at Christ the King Catholic Church with the family present to greet friends from 6-8 p.m. A Liturgical Wake service will begin at 7p.m. Thursday at the church.
Survivors include his mother, Mary (Keith) Fortin; father, Jerry (Kathy) Begtrup; girlfriend, Jenn Coelho; sisters, Samantha and Mallory Begtrup, all of Sioux Falls; grandparents, Ray and Vicki Begtrup, Cleveland, Tenn.; step-grandparents, Margaret Fortin, Sioux Falls; and Lornie and Lois Weisenbach, Sioux Falls; and a host of other relatives and friends.
for all of you who want to make this comment page one to discuss about the politics of strip clubs..... go find somewhere else to put all your thoughts that no one really cares about. strip clubs are a part of society, get over it. what this is about is that a young man was beat to death because a bunch of dumb backwoods dirtbags had too much to drink and nothing better to do with there pathetic lives. no matter who started the fight or who said what, or who had wha amount to drink, they had no right to take a life of a young man. yes, the judicial system is the one to judge what happens, however, they should never be forgiven for what they did and i hope that it alway haunts them. maybe if they had actually done something somewhat significant with their lives they would of had something better to do that night then beat someone to death. however, they didnt, and because of that a young man who had a bright future is now dead. i dont care if you worked in a bar for eight years or if you knew these guys growing up, what it come down to is that anyone who would commit a crime such as beating someone to death should be punished and should not have a second chance at anything. At the ages these men were at im sure they had enough second chances in there life. my heart and prayers are with matts family and i hope that these low lifes get what they deserve
I feel that it is very sad that 3 people would take a young mans life. No matter what the problem was that night,they need to pay the price for what they did. I think that strip clubs make all women look bad, but this could of happened at any bar. Just because the law says a strip bar can open up, doesn't mean it is a good place. What are the commandments in the bible? But this really comes down to a life taken of a young man, how sad. My heart goes out to his family and girlfriend. I just hope that they realize that we do have good people in this area. We do feel their pain also. I hope that the courts make them pay the price.
Go help_myself! Hoorah for you. I have lived in Spencer and the surrounding area all my life. I myself was a bartender for 8 years in a few places in this town. Don't think the "All mighty goody goodies don't put them selves in these kinds of places!" it's not about the place or the atmosphere, it is all about the person themselves. To the complete unfortune of this situation, someone has been killed. A horrible tragedy and honestly, even though i was not involved with this and had no idea who these men were, i still took it personally because i was once part of the bar profession. Every person has their own "buttons"! Each one a different trigger! We don't know what caused these 3 to SNAP--and honestly that is not anyones business but the judicial system. All of you goody goodies who think that your town is exempt from any of this happening, need to take a look in your own back yard. I do get out, and yes I do drink. And I see alot of professional and highly honored well known citizens out as well. You would be surprised who you find in certain establishments. Does this make these people "filthy animals"? Apparently not. These people still hold their positions in the community. I have seen many of barfights in my time, some bad, some not so bad. What I am trying to say, is this could have happened to anyone! Like I said, it is not the atmosphere, it's the situation and the person that is in it. Just remember, what comes around goes around, and he who lives in glass houses shall not throw stones. I am no angel by any means, but i am a citizen of this town! I have respect for neighbors, I work in this town, my children go to school here and I pay taxes just like all of you. I don't judge people because I myself have been JUDGED for many things and I don't like it! The one thing I have learned, if it doesn't involve you--KEEP your nose out of it! I am not saying that this is justified, by any means, but let the law take care of this. Don't lay blame on the establishment or the atmosphere in which it was created. This young man too was a decorated citizen. He was obviously in that establishment. Does that make him a bad person? NO- not at all. It was an unfortunate situation that errupted quickly. They always do. We are all human! We all make mistakes!
My prayers and sympathy to the family of this young man. I am very sorry for their loss.
I do not like strip clubs at all its lot of people who can be so indecent. Its to get an ego lift for nasty minded men. Legal strip clubs or not its no place to be in a small ass town like Milford. Should be in a bigger city far away from here.Matthew Begtrup was killed by a bunch of fools who over powered him by 2 and he was problery was to drunk to even fight back.
Wow. You people have taken a tragic situation and used it as an excuse to get on your high horse and preach about a strip club. I grew up with these boys and am completely shocked and confused that they could use their hands or weapons to BEAT a boy in the face and head until he died. I can't think of the words to describe how horrible this is. I can't even imagine punching someone in the face much less beating them to death. This is horrible. Can you people not even see this is real and these are real people and a real tragedy. Instead, you want to get all political about a strip club. I know these boys and if this happened the way the report is saying it happened, it wouldn't have mattered if they were in a gas station parking lot, a school yard, or anywhere else. If they decided to snap and beat this boy as a group it didn't matter where they were. so maybe you all could spend your time debating what could have made them want to hurt someone that bad and if they really intended to kill him and whether it matters if they intended to or not.
Strip clubs are legal. You may think they're immoral, but who are you to set that standard for others? You may very well do things I consider immoral. But as long as they're legal and don't harm anyone but you, I don't care.
You may wish Spencer is a Mayberry but you'd be fooling yourself. Just because stuff isn't out in the open doesn't mean it isn't going on.
Strip clubs are breeding grounds for sleaze, violance & disease. This immorality leads to more immorality, and in this case it snowballed to a sad effect. While I never said the club should be held responsible for the death, I do believe that without it, this man's life would probably not have been taken from him. One murder is too many for me.
I agree with helped_myself and IowaRox... First of all it is not the club's fault. It could have happened at a bar or even at home, as I am sure we have all heard of the terrible tragedy of the 5 people murdered in Iowa City in their own home by their father/husband.
However, I do agree that strip clubs are nothing but trouble in the sense that most married guys/women that do attend the strip clubs probably do not tell their spouse and or if they do tell them they just have to deal with it. This then more than likely causes marital problems... Strip clubs are just a temptation and I don't see anything good that can come from going especially if you are married. If your not married...GO RIGHT AHEAD! But I just don't see anything morally right about it.
First of all, my condolences to the victim's family/friends.
Now, sorry IowaRox, trying to blame the club is too much of a stretch. How do you explain murders in homes? Imagine your statement in relation to people's homes. If we all stayed in our houses, never went anywhere or did anything would still not prevent violence. And it'd be boring as well.
I find it interesting none of the accused or victim is from the immediate area.
Imagine if the Lakes did not have strip clubs...the slaughter of this human being's life would not have happened. Nothing good comes from strip clubs, and they certainly don't deserve the "gentlemen" classification.