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SOUTH SALT LAKE — Criminal charges were filed Friday against a Salt Lake man who police say murdered his estranged wife and critically injured his teenage daughter by attacking them with a crowbar, allegedly because of a bitter custody dispute.
Walter Eugene Brantzeg, 54, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies; in addition to aggravated animal cruelty, a class A misdemeanor.
On Aug. 22, Brantzeg went to his estranged wife's apartment near 850 W. 3900 South at the Riverbend Apartments, kicked in the door and brutally attacked Valerie Sue Brantzeg, 50, and their 13-year-old daughter with a crowbar, according to charging documents.
Valerie Brantzeg died from blunt force trauma, primarily to her head, an autopsy determined. A medical examiner counted 28 blunt force injuries to her head, court records state.
The young girl suffered a skull and facial fractures but survived.
Brantzeg put duct tape over the peep hole of his wife's front door, kicked it open while she and his daughter were still in bed, and sprayed pepper spray into the air, according to the charges.
He then "went back and forth" between attacking his wife and his daughter while telling his daughter, "If you want to be with your mom so bad, be with her," the charges state.
Brantzeg fled the scene before police arrived, but called a friend, his stepdaughter, and a couple of local TV stations on his cellphone while driving away to tell them what had happened, investigators said.
"In those calls, (Brantzeg) admitted to using a crowbar to beat and kill his wife and daughter," according to the charges.
Brantzeg claimed that his estranged wife was "turning (his daughter) against him" and that the girl "wouldn't talk to him," the charges state. "He stated his actions were the result of a custody dispute."
The court documents also indicate that Brantzeg "also admitted he killed his cat because no one would be around to feed it."
Police pinged Brantzeg's phone and stopped him a short time later near 300 East and 4500 South. Detectives later searched his home and found a deceased cat.
The Brantzegs had reportedly been separated for years but had never formally filed for divorce. Valerie Brantzeg filed for temporary separation from her husband on July 31, according to court records. On Aug. 16, she sent a text to her husband informing him she intended to seek sole legal custody of their daughter.
From about the mid-1980s to the early-2000s, Walter Brantzeg had several convictions related to aggravated assault and one for sex abuse of a child about 30 years ago, according to court records.
The YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program can be reached at 801-537-8600, and a confidential statewide Domestic Violence Hotline is available at 800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online at udvc.org.
The Unified Police Department and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill will hold a news conference on the charges at 1:30 p.m.
