Two Brothers Exonerated After 25 Years in Prison for Wisconsin Woman’s Murder, DNA Points to Another Man

True Crime Today | A True Crime Podcast

David and Robert Bintz, brothers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, were exonerated in September 2024 after spending nearly 25 years in prison for the 1987 murder of Sandra Lison. Lison, a 44-year-old mother of two, was working as a bartender at Good Times in Green Bay when she disappeared. Her body was discovered shortly after in the Machickanee Forest, 30 miles away, having been strangled. Authorities also found evidence of sexual assault.
Despite no physical evidence connecting the brothers to the crime, David Bintz became a suspect after allegedly arguing with Lison over a bar tab on the night she vanished. The case remained unsolved for over a decade until, in 1998, David, who was already serving time for another crime, was implicated by a cellmate who claimed David had confessed to the murder in his sleep.
In 2000, both brothers were convicted of robbing and killing Lison and sentenced to life in prison. The conviction, however, rested on circumstantial evidence, as no physical proof tied them to the scene of the crime.
The turning point in the case came nearly two decades later when the Great North Innocence Project, based in Minnesota, took an interest in the brothers’ situation. After years of legal battles, the organization enlisted the help of the Investigate Genetic Genealogy Center (IGG) at Ramapo College in New Jersey.
Through genetic genealogy, investigators were able to create a DNA profile from the evidence found at the crime scene. After running the profile through consumer databases like GEDmatch, the IGG narrowed the DNA match down to three brothers, one of whom was William Hendricks, a convicted rapist who had died in 2000.
The case took a significant step forward when authorities exhumed Hendricks’ remains in April 2024. A DNA comparison revealed there was a one in 329 trillion chance that anyone other than Hendricks was responsible for the crime.
In light of this conclusive evidence, a Wisconsin judge vacated the brothers’ convictions on September 27, 2024, officially setting them free after decades of wrongful imprisonment.
“Today, Sandra Lison will rest in peace, because her true murderer is now known,” said Judge Donald Zuidmulder in court. “It is therefore my bounded duty to exercise and follow the law, well satisfied that I will sign judgments vacating the convictions for both of these defendants and set them free.”
The ruling brought an end to a decades-long fight for justice, though questions remain about how the brothers were convicted in the first place without concrete physical evidence. District Attorney David Lasee, responding to concerns about the initial investigation, said, “The prosecutors and the law enforcement officers were handling this case at the outset, followed the evidence that they had at that time, and that conviction was sound.”
The exoneration of David and Robert Bintz is one of the many recent cases where DNA evidence and advances in genetic genealogy have cleared individuals who were wrongfully convicted. The case also underscores the significant role that innocence projects play in reviewing and challenging old convictions.
As the Bintz brothers begin to rebuild their lives, the true perpetrator, William Hendricks, will forever be linked to the brutal killing of Sandra Lison, offering a sense of resolution for her family. However, the long road to justice highlights the flaws in a system that allowed two men to spend nearly half their lives behind bars for a crime they did not commit.
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