Insets, clockwise from the top left: Dominic Pilgreen (Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office), Nathan Reichard (Manitowoc County Courts), and Payton Vertz (GoFundMe). Background image: news footage from the Ice Age Trail in Two Rivers, Wisconsin (WLUK).
A Wisconsin judge has ordered a 15-year-old to face trial as an adult in connection with the alleged torture and killing of another teenager. Prosecutors say the boy acted alongside a 26-year-old co-defendant.
Dominic Pilgreen, 26, and Nathan Reichard, 15, each face charges including party to first-degree intentional homicide, physical abuse of a child, hiding a corpse, theft from a corpse and false imprisonment in the death of 16-year-old Payton Vertz. A criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime says Payton was last seen by his family on Oct. 5. His disappearance was initially reported as a runaway because he had left home in the past and returned several days later.
Ten days later, on Oct. 16, Payton’s body was discovered floating in a marina at Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
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At Reichard’s initial court hearing, Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre alleged that the two defendants planned the attack in advance. She said they discussed ways to incapacitate Payton and make him easier to control, originally intending to hold him for several days before abandoning that plan and carrying out the alleged attack over one night.
Judge Jewel Scharenbroch described the alleged conduct as “brutal and depraved” and ordered Reichard held on $500,000 cash bond. Pilgreen remains detained at the Waukesha County Jail.
Both Pilgreen and Reichard are due back in court on Nov. 2.
The story, headlined “‘He’s dead. I killed him’: Teen allegedly brags to classmate after 16-year-old is tied to tree and strangled on park trail,” was first published by Law & Crime.
