Minnesota farmhand sentenced to 30 years for killing his 79-year-old boss

A longtime southern Minnesota farmhand was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in state prison for the murder of his boss.

Travis Joel Bauer, 48, of Winthrop, received the sentence after being found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in Sibley County District Court in October. That jury found Bauer not guilty of first-degree murder with premeditation.

Bauer was arrested in connection with the 2022 shooting of his boss, Dennis D. Weitzenkamp, 79. Prosecutors argued that killing Weitzenkamp would bring the debt-ridden Bauer a “significant financial benefit.”

Winthrop police found Weitzenkamp in his machine shed, slumped over with a gunshot wound in the back of his head and no weapon within reach, court filings said. Weitzenkamp appeared to have been about to shuck an ear of corn, police said.

Sibley County Attorney Don Lannoye said in a statement that he hopes the sentence helps bring “closure to the families and community that have been devastated by the senseless murder of Dennis Weitzenkamp.”

Bauer had helped Weitzenkamp farm his land for years and “was considered part of the family,” a complaint against him read. Weitzenkamp was an Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War and moved to the Winthrop area in 1998, his online obituary said. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, five stepchildren and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and enjoyed “watching sports, playing cards, bowling, traveling with family, driving trucks and wintering in Florida,” the obituary said.

Bauer told police that he never saw Weitzenkamp at the farm property after they left for separate lunch breaks. But law enforcement analysis of Bauer’s and Weitzenkamp’s cellphones showed they were both at the farm at the time of the killing. The cap and pants Bauer had on that day had gunshot residue on them, police said.

Law enforcement said Bauer “had significant debt and was behind on bills,” and that, an hour before Weitzenkamp was found dead, Bauer had received calls that he could lose his home if he didn’t pay his debts. Trust documents showed that Bauer “would receive significant financial benefit” from Weitzenkamp’s death, prosecutors said.

Bauer’s lawyers filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that there had been prosecutorial misconduct. A judge on Tuesday denied the motion, saying that prosecutors crossed the line several times but not in a manner that required a new trial.