Violent boyfriend Matthew Brenneman is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Danicka Bergeson, who was found buried in layers of blankets days after being released from prison for beating her up
- Matthew Brenneman, 39, charged with two counts of murder
- He violated a restraining order and was released from jail for hours for assault
- The suspect was found ‘growling and growling’ in the bathroom of his deceased girlfriend
A woman who thought she could “fix” her abusive boyfriend was murdered just days after he was released from prison for beating her up.
Police found the body of Danicka Bergeson, 33, smothered under layers of blankets when called over reports of “moaning, screaming and thumping” at her home in Hopkins, Minnesota.
They also found friend Matthew Brenneman, 39, “growling and grunting” in her bathroom, despite an active restraining order against him.
Next to him in the apartment was a note he wrote claiming he “meaned no disrespect” by the way he wrapped her body, court records show.
“I blacked out, lost control, and hurt a woman for the first time in my life,” it read.
“I am very sad and remorseful about all this, but it is what it is.”
Danicka Bergeson’s body was found in her Minnesota apartment just days after her boyfriend was released from prison for assault and death threats.
Matthew Brenneman was found next to the dead woman’s body after violating a restraining order
Bergeson was attacked repeatedly, but thought she could “fix” people, her father claimed
An autopsy has failed to determine the cause of death of the former army medic and veterinarian, but has revealed numerous wounds across her body.
Brenneman has been charged with one count of murder and one count of first-degree murder while under a restraining order.
Phone records show that Brenneman was near the apartment just two days after he was released from prison on June 27 after serving a sentence for assault and threatening to kill her.
Bergeson’s mother received a message from her daughter’s phone on July 7 that didn’t sound like her, but it was the next day before her decomposing body was found after a building manager alerted police to the sounds coming from her apartment.
“We’ve said many times that we’d be afraid of this call because we almost felt like it was going to come at some point, because it repeated itself over and over again,” Bergeson’s father David said.
“This man was just a danger. There was a history there,” he told the Star Stand.
Brenneman was found ‘growling and growling’ by the police
“One of her big problems was that she started fixing people.
“Then he ends up being kind of a taker, getting into her credit cards, into her life.”
According to court documents, Brenneman bit and hit her multiple times during numerous alleged assaults.
He allegedly sent text messages to a friend after assaulting her in April, boasting that he had given her a black eye and insisting she “deserved it, if any woman ever did.”
Bergeson’s father said his daughter loved tennis and was on a state champion swim team at the University of Minnesota.
“Everything with her was always black or white,” he said KARE11 at the time.
She knew exactly what was right and wrong.
“That was the hardest part, just not being able to find a safe place for her
“I think she got seventeen stitches in her arm from a big cut, and she got stitches in the back of her head from a seizure.”
Police found Brenneman with scratches on his face, arms, back and legs, consistent with fingernail abrasions, according to the report.
A collage of images collected by Lou Raguse from Kare11
Bergeson (left) was a popular former army doctor who enjoyed tennis and swimming
They found bloody menswear in another room and a strong smell of bleach.
An autopsy failed to determine the cause of death, but did reveal numerous wounds across her body.
A Gofundme appeal has been launched to support Bergeson’s family with funeral expenses.
Brennemen is being held on $1,500,000 bond on each of the murder charges.