ANTIGO, WI (WSAU) — The Antigo man who was found guilty of killing Susan Reece in October of 2021 will be sentenced this spring, but that wasn’t the only development against him on Tuesday.
Court records unsealed earlier today show Derek Goplin is accused of exposing his genitals to a child and one count of child neglect. Those charges stem from an incident in Waukesha County
The charges against Goplin were filed in late February of 2022 and immediately sealed, meaning they would not show up in a court record search. The seal was lifted by a Waukesha County judge earlier this month after Goplin was found guilty of killing Reece.
A hearing for that case has been scheduled for March 14th. Court records show those proceedings began while Goplin was in the Langlade County Jail awaiting trial for first-degree homicide charges. He entered a not guilty plea in April 2022.
The judge then sealed the case just before the homicide trial began in order to keep potential jurors from finding the records.
Goplin will be sentenced for the homicide charge on April 6th at 1:30 PM. The 39-year-old was found guilty at trial earlier this month for stabbing Reece during an argument in her Antigo home. Her body was found during a welfare check the next day.
Officers believe Goplin’s son was also in the home at the time of the murder. He was found at a Milwaukee-area hotel, where he told police that his grandmother had tried to kill his dad. According to the boy his father then told him to leave the room, and stabbed his grandmother.
Goplin and the child were then seen leaving the home on video doorbell footage. Goplin was taken into custody a few days later in the Racine area.
A presentence investigation is being completed. Goplin faces a mandatory life sentence, though a judge does have some leeway to grant the possibility of parole after 20 years.
The incident was the first homicide in Antigo in over 30 years.
