Cleaning company owner gets 72 years in deaths of 2 employees found in burn pit

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Matthew Neumann, a Franklin business owner convicted in connection with the deaths of two of his employees, was sentenced Thursday to 72 years in prison and 28 years extended supervision.

Neumann, 44, was on trial for two counts of first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of hiding a corpse. Prosecutors said that in January 2019, two of Neumann's employees at Spot Free Cleaning, Robert Hajduk and Richard Conklin, went missing. Days later two bodies were found in a burn pit on a property leased by Neumann in East Troy.

No murder weapon was presented to the jury, and prosecutors even changed the location of where the murders happened in court records on the last day of the trial. Still, DNA and cellphone records helped seal the case, including video of Neumann walking by his torched truck, and receipts showing he purchased lighter fluid and charcoal used in the burn pit where the bodies were discovered.

Milwaukee police on Jan. 2 found the burning truck registered to Neumann near 8th and Rogers, with blood, a bullet fragment, and a bullet hole in the vehicle.