New London man linked to two deaths

Judge Vicki Clussman sentenced Aaron B. Van Dyke to 38 months in state prison and three years extended supervision Monday, Sept. 19.

Convicted of two counts of delivery of heroin, Van Dyke was originally charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree reckless homicide as party to a crime.

Investigators linked Van Dyke, 32, New London, to drug overdoses that led to two deaths.

One victim was a New London woman whose body police found in April.

The other was a Waupaca man who was declared brain dead on June 1 and removed from life support on June 5.

On April 22, New London police responded to a call for a welfare check on 24-year-old Kendra Rateau.

She had missed work for two days and nobody had seen her recently.

When officers entered Rateau’s apartment, they found her body, gem bags of heroin and methamphetamine.

According to the criminal complaint, an autopsy found that Rateau died of an overdose of heroin and fentanyl.

On May 31, Waupaca County deputies found John S. May, 33, lying motionless on the floor. His lips were purplish blue and his skin was pale.

There were syringes on the floor.

When paramedics arrived May did not have a heartbeat. They were able to restore his heartbeat after applying chest compressions and an AED and administering Narcan intravenously. May was later airlifted to a hospital where he died.

April Hardegen, 31, was sentenced in June to six years in state prison and four years of extended supervision for her involvement in the same two deaths.

She was convicted of two counts of first-degree reckless homicide.