Zach Anderson Case: Gutierrez Murder Conviction Without a Body

In the Zach Anderson case, a Kenosha County, Wisconsin jury convicted Zachariah Anderson of first-degree intentional homicide in May 2023 for killing Rosalio Gutierrez Jr., even though Gutierrez’s body was never recovered. Anderson, 42 at the time of the verdict, was sentenced to life in prison plus additional consecutive time for hiding a corpse and two counts of stalking. He will not be eligible for release until he is in his nineties.

Who Rosalio Gutierrez Jr. Was and How He Disappeared

Gutierrez, 40, was last seen on May 17, 2020. When he did not show up for work in Kenosha on May 18 and 19, his girlfriend, Sadie Beacham, went to his apartment to check on him.¹ Both of his cars were parked outside. The patio door stood open. Blood covered the floor, the furniture, and the ceiling, and the apartment smelled strongly of bleach.

Investigators concluded that whoever lost that much blood could not have survived. Attention turned to Zachariah Anderson, a Mequon man who had been dating Beacham and who, according to the criminal complaint, had been stalking both her and Gutierrez for weeks out of jealousy over their relationship.²

Law enforcement searched a Christmas tree farm in the Township of Random Lake owned by Anderson’s family, first on May 28, 2020, and again on July 28.³ They found a burn pit containing additional clothing. Anderson’s minor daughter later testified that she saw her father bring a chainsaw to the family’s tree farm around the same time. Gutierrez’s body has never been found.

How Prosecutors Proved Murder Without a Body

Wisconsin charged Anderson with first-degree intentional homicide, which requires proof that the defendant caused someone’s death with intent to kill and carries a mandatory life sentence.⁴ With no body, the entire case rested on circumstantial evidence. Prosecutors built it from three overlapping categories.

Blood and Forensic Evidence

Forensic analysis confirmed the blood soaked into the carpet and padding at Gutierrez’s apartment was a DNA match to the victim. Anderson’s Dodge minivan also contained traces of Gutierrez’s blood, and investigators noticed a large section of the vehicle’s carpet had been cut out and removed. The van’s interior smelled of bleach. Blood matching Gutierrez was found on Anderson’s shoes, placing him at the scene of the attack.

Surveillance and Cleanup Purchases

Surveillance footage captured Anderson the morning after Gutierrez was last seen, purchasing garbage bags, latex gloves, and bleach wipes. At Anderson’s home, a cadaver dog alerted to a smoldering burn pit where investigators recovered pieces of clothing and a charred bleach bottle.² Prosecutors argued the sequence showed a calculated effort to destroy evidence.

Digital Tracking and the Stalking Pattern

The stalking evidence described a pattern of obsession. Anderson allegedly placed a burner phone in Beacham’s car to monitor her location and used a separate GPS tracker and a listening device to surveil the couple. Trial testimony showed he had purchased at least two tracking devices. An FBI agent who analyzed Anderson’s own phone data walked jurors through his movements on May 17, 2020, tying his location to Gutierrez’s apartment on the day the victim disappeared.²

Why a Body Isn’t Required

The notion that murder cannot be prosecuted without a body is a myth. The Latin term “corpus delicti” translates as “the body of the crime,” but in legal usage it refers to proof that a crime occurred, not to a physical corpse. Courts have long held that a dead body is neither necessary nor sufficient to establish a homicide. What prosecutors must show is enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim is dead and that the defendant caused the death. The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit tracks more than 660 no-body homicide prosecutions in the United States, with over 477 of them brought since 1995, and national data suggests these cases succeed roughly 86 percent of the time.⁵

What the Defense Argued

Anderson’s defense team, led by attorney Nicole Muller, attacked the investigation rather than offering a direct alibi. The core argument was that police had conducted a shoddy investigation and never seriously considered any other suspect. The defense pointed to Beacham, suggesting investigators failed to look at her and citing a text message sent by one of her friends in the days before Gutierrez disappeared.⁶

That approach nearly ended the trial. The prosecution moved for a mistrial after the defense’s opening statement, arguing that jurors would unfairly link Beacham to planning a homicide. The parties reached a compromise instead: the judge read a corrective instruction to the jury, and the defense agreed to let the state call an additional witness to address the implication.⁷

The Verdict and Sentence

After a month-long trial and nearly ten hours of deliberation, the jury found Anderson guilty on all four counts: first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse, and two counts of stalking, one for Beacham and one for Gutierrez.²

Judge Bruce Schroeder handed down the sentence on May 16, 2023. Anderson received the mandatory life term for first-degree intentional homicide, a Class A felony under Wisconsin law.⁸ For hiding a corpse, a Class D felony, he received six years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision.⁹ Each stalking count added two years in prison followed by two years of extended supervision. All sentences were ordered to run consecutively.¹⁰

The consecutive structure carries real weight. Anderson must serve the prison time for the stalking and corpse-concealment convictions before the life sentence clock begins, and he becomes eligible for supervised release only after serving 40 years of the life term. As the judge noted, that puts any possibility of release in Anderson’s nineties. “What you did is frightening and is horrible,” Judge Schroeder told Anderson at sentencing. “The jury decided that you did it.”¹⁰

Appeal Status

Anderson’s defense attorney has indicated an intent to appeal, though the specific grounds and status of any formal appeal remain unclear based on available reporting. No court has overturned the verdict. Gutierrez’s body has never been recovered.

1
NBC News. Family of Wisconsin Father Rosalio Gutierrez Jr. Pleads for Answers in His Mysterious Disappearance
2
Court TV. WI v. Anderson: Obsessed Ex-Boyfriend Murder Trial
3
FOX6 News Milwaukee. Kenosha Police Search in Random Lake After May Disappearance of Rosalio Gutierrez, Mequon Man Faces Stalking
4
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 940.01 – First-Degree Intentional Homicide
5
Federal Bureau of Investigation. No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Approach
6
FOX6 News Milwaukee. Zachariah Anderson Trial: Mistrial Avoided After State, Defense Agreement
7
Court TV. Obsessed Ex-Boyfriend Murder Trial Resumes After Early Motion for Mistrial
8
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 939.50 – Classification of Felonies
9
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 940.11 – Mutilating or Hiding a Corpse
10
FOX6 News Milwaukee. Zachariah Anderson Sentenced, Life in Prison for Kenosha Homicide