A Coburntown boy who disappeared 65 years ago finally received his funeral last Friday, at St. Peter of Alcantara Church, in Port Washington, Wisconsin. (Courtesy photo via The Houghton Daily Mining Gazette)

The remains of a 7-year-old boy who was found in a culvert in Mequon, Wisconsin, 65 years ago was laid to rest last Friday, Nov. 15.

A funeral Mass of Christian Burial was held Friday at St. Peter of Alcantara Church in Port Washington, Wisconsin, according to the Associated Press, followed by burial at a local cemetery.

A children’s choir sang hymns and pews were filled with law enforcement officers and community members.

The boy, known as Markku Jutila, disappeared in 1958. It was the name given to him by his adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, who resided in Coburntown, Houghton County, Michigan.

Records and DNA tests conducted earlier this year revealed that his birth name was Chester Breiney, the Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, sheriff’s office announced on Nov. 8.

Markku Jutila, or Chester Brieney, was murdered by his adoptive mother in the summer of 1958.

They were arrested in Chicago on March 26, 1966, by the Chicago police and charged in his death and extradited to Houghton County.

On March 28, 1966, The Daily Mining Gazette reported that Houghton County Deputy Sheriff Frans Heideman said the complaint was filed by Jutila’s brothers.

The brothers told Heideman they had visited William and Hilja two months before and became suspicious after hearing conflicting stories explaining the continued absence of Markku. The sheriff’s office contacted the Chicago Police, who contacted the Milwaukee Police.

Subsequently, the couple confessed that Hilja had beaten the boy to death, at their Coburntown home and they fled to Chicago, placing Markku’s remains in a culvert in Mequon, Wisconsin, where they were found in 1958.

The Gazette reported that after Markku died, the adoptive parents put his body in their car and drove away. They never returned to their Coburntown home. Clothing was left on the clotheslines, and food was left on the stove.

The Jutilas said they drove into Wisconsin and placed the body in a culvert, then drove to Chicago, where Hilja found work as a cleaning woman in an office building.

Despite confessions and incriminating statements, the case against them was ultimately dismissed in Houghton County because of a lack of solid evidence connecting the couple to the skeletal remains.