Abusive boyfriend charged with murdering woman found in Hopkins apartment

A man with multiple prior domestic violence convictions is now facing charges that he killed his girlfriend last month in Hopkins.

Hennepin County prosecutors charged 39-year-old Matthew Scott Brenneman with two counts of second-degree murder on Wednesday morning, the same day he was scheduled to be sentenced in two separate domestic assault cases. A judge delayed his sentencing until a later date in those cases but did enter convictions on both, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

The murder charges stem from the death of 33-year-old Danicka Marie Bergeson.

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Charging documents state that Hopkins police found Bergeson’s body wrapped in several blankets and partially covered with a plastic bag after responding to her apartment along Van Buren Avenue on July 8. At that point, she had been dead for at least a day.

The building manager, who called police, and the officers who responded heard groaning, yelling, and banging noises coming from inside the unit, a criminal complaint states. Inside, they found Brenneman incoherent in the bathroom with “an overwhelming odor of bleach” in the room. He was taken to a hospital for apparent bleach ingestion before being booked into jail.

After finding Bergeson’s body, officers found men’s clothing with what appeared to be blood on them and a note on the table to Bergeson’s and Brenneman’s families and friends. In that note, Brenneman wrote that he wouldn’t say what happened but he “never meant to disrespect Bergeson,” the complaint states.

Officers also found other partial drafts of the letter in the trash that included statements saying he’d never been physically abusive or aggressive with any other women until Bergeson.

Court documents note multiple prior domestic assault and abuse cases against Brenneman. In an April incident for which he later pleaded guilty to domestic assault, he punched and bit the victim. The incident he was being sentenced for Wednesday stemmed from a similar incident a month later where he also threatened to kill Bergeson, according to court documents.

“Investigators learned of other instances of domestic violence committed by Defendant against Victim other than these instances as well,” the complaint adds.

At the time of Bergeson’s death, she also had a domestic abuse no-contact order in place against Brenneman.

While Bergeson’s body had significant bruising and abrasions, the manner of her death was deemed undetermined by the medical examiner, the complaint states.

Brenneman was in court on the murder charges Wednesday morning, and if convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison. Prosecutors say Brenneman’s bail was set at $1.5 million.