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OZAUKEE PRESS GRAFTON, WISCONSIN A 37-year-old Grafton man was charged Tuesday afternoon with strangling his 14-year-old stepson Sunday, Nov. 15, to punish his wife for telling Grafton police that he had beaten her with a hammer a week earlier.
Charles A. Avey was charged in Washington County court with first-degree intentional homicide for the murder of Cody Reetz, an eighth-grader at John Long Middle School in Grafton.
“This was a savage act, a sickening crime of absolute brutality,” Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens said during Avey’s initial court appearance. “It was a crime of almost incomprehensible brutality, and it was committed against a family member.
“He (Cody) was utterly innocent. He did not deserve what happened to him.”
Washington County Circuit Judge David Resheske set Avey’s bail at $750,000 cash, less than the $1 million sought by the district attorney.
Avey’s attorney, public defender John Kuczmarski, asked for “reasonable cash bail,” noting Avey is indigent and has cooperated with police. 
In addition to homicide, Avey was charged with felony bail jumping for committing a crime while free on bail in another felony case. Avey was charged on Oct. 7 with using the identity of his wife’s former husband to open credit card accounts and purchase merchandise and services with them.
Avey, who said he worked in sales until a few days ago, showed little emotion during Tuesday’s hearing, answering matter of factly when the judge asked him questions.
Also in the courtroom were about a dozen members of Cody’s family, all wearing buttons with the teenager’s picture. They sat quietly, offering each other pats on the back for support during the hearing and sharing a box of tissues when they wept.
Cody’s body was found by Germantown police about 8 p.m. Sunday in his stepfather’s 1999 Oldsmobile Silhouette van, which was in the Germantown Walmart parking lot.
Two neckties were wrapped around the youth’s neck, one of which was also tied to the arm of a seat in the van, according to the criminal complaint.
“This is a hard one for all of us,” Police Chief Peter Hoell said. “It’s hard to get your mind around what happened here.”
According to the criminal complaint, Avey went to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, confessed to strangling his stepson and told deputies where they could find Cody’s body. The sheriff’s department then notified Germantown police.
Avey apparently planned the murders to retailiate against his wife and her family, authorities said.
Several notes written by Avey were found near Cody’s body, the criminal complaint states, including one designated “Special Note” that read, “This boy met Angels all too early!” In it, Avey told his sisters-in-law and mother-in-law “You guys did this to your sister! Are you all happy now?”
Another note was to his three boys, the complaint says, and read in part, “I love you boys with all my heart. This wouldn’t have happened if Trista (his wife) wouldn’t have ran away from me.”
On the day of the murder, Mrs. Avey’s mother picked her up at the couple’s home and drove her to the Grafton police department to report that Avey had beaten his wife a week earlier. Mrs. Avey told police that during the incident, her husband threw her to the ground, began strangling her and “pounded her” head, arms and back with a hammer, the complaint states.
While at the police station, Mrs. Avey and her mother received several text messages from Avey, the complaint states. Avey also left a voice message with his mother-in-law asking where they were because he wanted to speak to his wife.
Grafton Police Chief Charles Wenton said Mrs. Avey asked police to find Cody, who was with his father, and bring him back to her. The department issued an area-wide teletype to law enforcement agencies.
Avey told authorities he saw his mother-in-law’s car at the police station, then went to pick up one of his three sons, a friend of his son and Cody, according to the complaint. Avey dropped the friend at his home, took his son to his ex-wife’s home in Jackson, and then
drove to Germantown with Cody.
While on their way to the store, Avey stopped for gas and called a friend to ask her to pick him up at the Germantown Walmart, the complaint states.
Avey told police that after arriving at the Walmart store, he became upset because his wife would not return his calls. He was also angry about money problems and thought about ways to retaliate against his wife’s mother and sisters and Cody’s father for meddling in his business, the complaint states.
Cody was lying on the floor of the van, Avey told police, so he went to the back of the vehicle, slid a necktie under the teen’s head and strangled him with it, according to the complaint.
Avey’s friend told police she picked him up at the Walmart store and they drove back to his Grafton home. They saw police there and Avey told her to keep going, the woman said, and they then went to Jackson, where he met his ex-wife Krista Avey and their children, the complaint states.
Avey and his former wife dropped their sons off, and at Avey’s request drove to the cemetery where his mother is buried. Avey then told Krista Avey that he had to turn himself in to police because he had killed his stepson, the complaint states. He said he killed the
boy because Cody’s father was not a good dad and he wanted to get back at his wife for going to the police, the complaint states.
Krista Avey told police that her ex-husband gave her their sons’ medical cards and wrote out a statement giving her full custody of the children, the complaint states.
She also said Charles Avey must have sent a text message to his wife about the murder because Trista called her to ask if it was true, according to the complaint.
Avey borrowed his ex-wife’s phone to send a text message to one of his sisters-in-law that read “U lied to me u had a plan. I guess so did your mom she decided Codys fate,” the complaint states.
Avey, who faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and six years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted of bail jumping, will make his next court appearance on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
That is the same day he is to make an appearance on five felony identity theft charges, which were filed by the Washington County District Attorney’s office. The complaint alleges that Avey, who insisted his wife knew nothing about his actions, used Allen Reetz’s identity to open charge accounts, ringing up more than $22,000 in charges for jewelry, furniture, items at Toys R Us, Home Depot and Tires Plus.
Avey was free on a $7,500 signature bond in connection with the identity theft case when the murder occurred.
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