Minnesota farmhand deeply in debt found guilty in death of 79-year-old boss

A jury found a longtime farmhand in southern Minnesota guilty in the killing of his boss, a man whose death prosecutors argued would bring the debt-ridden worker a “significant financial benefit.”

Travis Joel Bauer, 48, of Winthrop, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in Sibley County District Court on Friday. The jury, after deliberating until 9 p.m., also found him not guilty of first-degree murder with premeditation.

Bauer was arrested last year in connection with the 2022 shooting of his boss, Dennis D. Weitzenkamp, 79.

Winthrop police found Weitzenkamp in his machine shed, slumped over to the left side of his body, with a bloody 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.

Bauer had helped Weitzenkamp “farm his land for many 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 was 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 added.

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

Sibley County Attorney Don Lannoye said prosecutors were pleased at the verdict.

“We believe the evidence in this case only pointed to one person,” Lannoye said in a statement Friday.

The court took Bauer into custody pending sentencing within the next two months, the statement said.

At sentencing, prosecutors will “argue for accountability in taking the life of another,” Lannoye said.