Suspect accused of stabbing victim
Tyler J. Knutson, 23, Iola, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
He faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
At about 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, Waupaca County 911 received a call that a man was lying on the ground, struggling to breathe.
The caller was not sure what caused the man to collapse.
Iola Ambulance arrived and transported the victim to ThedaCare in Waupaca, where he was pronounced dead.
The victim was later identified as Bradley Trinwith, a 42-year-old Mukwonago man.
Iola police officers, Waupaca County sheriff’s deputies and agents with the state Division of Criminal Investigations investigated the incident.
According to the criminal complaint, the 911 caller was identified as James A. Meeks, 45.
He and Trinwith had been at the Thirsty Perch bar in Iola.
After they left the bar, Meeks was driving a Chevy Silverado pickup truck that nearly hit a Ford F150 pickup truck driven by Knutson’s girlfriend, Brittney Wheeler, 25, Iola.
Knutson was a passenger in Wheeler’s pickup truck.
The Ford pickup continued traveling west on Water Street, then turned onto South Main Street.
The Silverado followed the Ford pickup.
Drivers described as aggressive
“The drivers of both vehicles describe aggressive driving on the part of the other, including following too closely, blinking between high and low beam headlights, and the lead vehicle braking numerous times,” the complaint says.
Wheeler pulled into a driveway on the 400 block of South Main Street, and Meeks pulled into an adjacent driveway.
Both drivers and their passengers exited the vehicles and an argument ensued.
Knutson told officers that Trinwith said his girlfriend needed to learn how to drive, the complaint says.
He reportedly said, “I didn’t back down.”
They pushed each other, and both Knutson and Trinwith fell down on the snow-covered, sloped driveway.
“Knutson told officers he didn’t want Trinwith to hurt his face or break any bones so he took out his knife, opened the blade and ‘poked him,’” the complaint says.
Knutson also told officers Trinwith did not punch or kick him.
Knutson went into the house on Main Street, and Wheeler drove away.
Wheeler told investigators that before she left, Knutson asked her to take the knife, but she refused.
Officers executed a search warrant and found a knife with a 3-inch blade inside the house.
An autopsy determined Trinwith died of a single stab wound to the neck that was approximately 3 inches deep.
Meeks was later arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, first offense.