Girlfriend of missing Kenosha man testifies against accused killer in court

The girlfriend of the missing Kenosha man who prosecutors say was killed in his apartment in the spring of 2020 has testified against the Mequon man charged with his Monda death.

Sadie Beacham testified during week three of ex-boyfriend Zachariah Anderson’s homicide jury trial in Kenosha County Circuit Court.

Anderson, 42, is accused of killing Rosalio Gutierrez Jr. on May 17, 2020, in his first-floor Wood Creek apartment in a jealous rage because Gutierrez had a relationship with Sadie Beacham, his ex-girlfriend and mother. of his children.

Gutierrez’s body has never been found and his relatives have not heard from him for nearly three years. Prosecutors maintain that Gutierrez is dead based on the large amount of blood spatter found inside his first-floor apartment.

Gutierrez, 40, a father of two young children, was reported missing on May 19, 2020, after Beacham, who had been unable to reach him, drove to his apartment in the 3700 block of 15th Street, found the patio door open with heavy blood stains on the floor and furniture. She had tried to reach him by phone before going to his apartment.

Police focused on Anderson after Beacham reported that Anderson – her former partner – harassed and harassed her in the weeks after she began developing a relationship with Gutierrez.

Anderson is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, a Class A felony that carries a life sentence if convicted. Anderson is also charged with crimes of hiding a corpse and stalking.

Beacham, of Colgate, said she first met Anderson in 2007 and they had their first child together in 2008, when they were still living together. Beacham said the two stopped living together in 2012, but continued to have an on-and-off romantic relationship. They had two more children in 2015. From 2012 to 2020, Beacham said the kids mostly lived with her while Anderson lived “everywhere,” including her home in Mequon. Beacham said he often travels for work and visits on weekends.

In 2019, Beacham said the two had a “tumultuous” relationship and were “not doing well.”

“It was a dying relationship,” Beacham said, adding that their relationship ended at the end of that year. Beacham said she then spoke to Anderson in February 2020, where she again said she was “done with the relationship.”

Beacham said she eventually started dabbing with online dating and met Gutierrez through Facebook on Feb. 13, 2020.

“We started chatting a bit on (the) Facebook dating app and then we swapped Messenger (accounts) and started chatting that way,” Beacham said, adding that it was his first time. new relationship since meeting Anderson in 2007.

Later that month, Beacham said he met Gutierrez in person at his Wood Creek Apartments residence. The two continued to text each other over the coming weeks.

Although she developed a relationship with Gutierrez, Beacham said Anderson continued to pursue her until March 2020 and began harassing her with phone calls, gifts, texts, emails and flowers.

Beacham said Anderson found out about her relationship with Gutierrez in April, although she said she hadn’t told him about Gutierrez.

“(Anderson knew) his name and he also mentioned where he lived,” Beacham said. In mid-April, Beacham said she would try to see Gutierrez in person every week and sometimes stayed at his house. When she stayed the night, Beacham said Anderson would text her about it.

Beacham said she suspected Anderson was watching her and even drove through Gutierrez’s vehicle in the middle of the night while she was staying with him.

In May 2020, Beacham said that Gutierrez would text her every morning and every evening “without fail” and when she stopped hearing from him on the phone or text after the night of May 17, 2020, she broke down. worried and went to her apartment two days later.

“It was weird that his phone was off and not answering or not answering at all,” Beacham said, adding that she decided to visit his apartment on May 19, 2020.

When she arrived at her apartment, she got out of her vehicle and walked towards the screen door which had been left open. Beacham said she called his name several times, but Gutierrez did not respond.

“I felt very sick,” Beacham said. “I remember being very scared.”

When Beachem looked into the apartment through the screen door, she said she saw “red blood, just a lot of brownish-reddish blood on the floor.”

“The apartment looked different,” she added. “It looked like the furniture had been moved. … I freaked out.”

Beacham said she called 911 and told them “what I know.”

Beacham said she told a Kenosha police officer at the scene about some concerns she had about Anderson.

Beacham said she also alerted her children’s daycare to the situation because she feared Anderson was harming their children.

“I was just scared,” she added.

The trial resumed Monday morning after Judge Bruce Schroeder did not hold the trial on Friday due to a winter storm.

The jury is made up of eight women and five men, including a substitute.

Anderson is being held on $750,000 cash bond at the Kenosha County Jail. He has been in custody since shortly after Gutierrez disappeared, initially accused of harassment.

The homicide charge was added in December 2020 after an investigation found evidence that Anderson may have moved Gutierrez’s corpse in his van to another location.

The prosecution is led by District Attorney Michael Graveley, who throughout the trial maintained that Anderson killed Gutierrez out of jealousy and obsession with his ex-girlfriend.

Defense attorney Nicole Muller argued Kenosha police failed to investigate other possible suspects and prematurely focused on Anderson based on Beacham’s claims.