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Man facing nine felony counts after witness in car trunk reports assault via Snapchat

Man wasn’t aware of woman hiding in trunk as he argued with girlfriend

BROWN COUNTY — A Snapchat conversation from a witness hiding in a car trunk led to a 20-year-old New Ulm man being charged on nine felony accounts.

Dylan James Zeitz of New Ulm was charged Thursday with third-degree sale of narcotics, fourth-degree sale of schedule 1, 2, 3 but not marijuana, two counts of fifth-degree sales of marijuana mixture except small amount of marijuana with no remuneration, threats of violence and four counts of possession of a schedule 1,2, 3,4 not small amount marijuana.

According to police reports, at approximately 8:41 a.m. on June 1 the New Ulm Police Department (NUPD) was requested to respond to the area of German Heights Apartment, 407 S. 15th Street in New Ulm.

Brown County Dispatch had received a call from a person reporting they were receiving Snapchats from another individual who was in the trunk of a vehicle. The vehicle was described as a gray Pontiac Grand Prix and Zeitz was the possible driver.

Officer T.J. Ibberson located the vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment complex just off 15th S. Street. Ibberson saw Zeitz standing in front of the vehicle and a female, later identified as Madison Schiller, seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle with the door open.

Ibberson approached them and asked who was in the truck of the vehicle.

Zeitz said there was no one in the trunk. Ibberson then asked Zeitz to open the trunk, but Zeitz was unsure how to open the trunk as the vehicle was one Schiller usually drives. Schiller opened the trunk and the female witness was found in the trunk. Officer Chris Davis spoke with her further.

The witness explained Schiller picked her up that morning. The witness was originally seated in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, but after Zeitz contacted Schiller to pick him up the witness willingly climbed into the trunk. The witness said she went into the trunk because she did not want Zeitz to be upset with Schiller because Schiller was with her and not Zeitz.

The witness believed Schiller picked up Zeitz at the German Heights Townhomes and claimed Zeitz wanted Schiller to come inside his townhome, but Schiller refused.

The witness said Zeitz and Schiller got in the vehicle and drove around for 20 to 30 minutes. The witness was unsure of where they drove, but heard what she believed to be Zeitz assaulting Schiller and heard Schiller say “Stop.”

The Witness also claimed she heard Zeitz threaten to kill Schiller and bring her to a boat landing and beat her. Concerned for her own and Schiller’s safety, the Witness contacted a friend via Snapchat and asked them to contact law enforcement.

The police reported indicated Zeitz seemed surprised a person was in the trunk and said he had no idea she was in there.

When speaking with Zeitz, Ibberson smelled marijuana. Officer Dustin Fleck also located a small amount of marijuana as well as a pipe inside the vehicle.

A search was conducted of Zeitz’s backpack.

Ibberson located what he believed to be marijuana packaged in Ziploc bag, illegal mushrooms, prescription only Buprenorphine and Naloxone sublingual film, a large amount of cash and a large amount of THC vape cartridges, a scale and several small empty baggies commonly used for distributing and selling smaller amounts of illegal drugs. At this time Zeitz was placed under arrest. Zeitz claimed not all the items in the bag were his.

A total of 327.38 grams (0.72 of a pound) of leafy marijuana were seized from Zeitz. The marijuana was split between numerous Ziploc baggies. Also seized were five individual packaged strips of Buprenorphine and Naloxone sublingual film, 29.99 grams of illegal mushroom, an envelope labeled “Bud” containing $1,775 in cash, an envelope labeled “Carts” containing $1,330 in cash, forty-two DANK vape cartridges all with a THC content of 88 percent or higher, nine Kingpen Super Lemon Haze vape cartridges with 77.65 percent THC, one Kingpen King Louis OG vape cartridge containing 76.17 percent THC and 1.19 percent CBD oil, one AWS brand scale and two Psilocybin/Psilocin NIK tests.

Zeitz first court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 25.

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