By Shereen Siewert
More than three years after a missing man’s body was discovered in a Marathon motel closet, a Wausau man has been sentenced in connection with his death.
Daniel D. Allen, who also goes by the name Daniel Mitrovich, initially faced a single felony charge of hiding a corpse in connection with the death of 28-year-old Brian Kienast. But during a plea hearing Monday in Marathon County Circuit Court, Circuit Judge Greg Strasser agreed to amend the charge to delivery of heroin and sentenced Allen to four years in prison.
Police were called in April 2018 to the Village Inn in Marathon after the property owner discovered Kienast’s decomposed body.
Police said Kienast likely died on or around Nov. 22, 2017, possibly the same day he was reported missing from his Adams County home. According to toxicology results, Kienast died of a suspected heroin overdose.
Detectives suspected, based on the position of Kienast’s body, that he was pushed into the closet by another person who was present at the time Kienast overdosed and died.
The hotel room where Kienast’s body where discovered was unoccupied for the winter months. Police say the hotel owner discovered the body after detecting a foul odor in the room.
Kienast was reported missing Nov. 22, 2017 from Adams County.
Police say Allen, 43, was renting a room in the motel across the hall from the room in which Kienast was found.
A witness told police Allen was in the room when Kienast overdosed and tried to revive Kienast with Narcan but was not successful. Allen then allegedly hid the body because he was afraid of returning to prison, where he served several years on earlier drug charges. Court records show Allen was released in July 2017 after serving nearly 10 years in prison on cocaine charges. He was arrested again in February 2018, two months before Kienast’s body was discovered.
Judge Strasser also ordered Allen to spend five years on extended supervision following his eventual release from prison.
