DNR beginning to clean out hidden bunker used by Wisconsin fugitive

Wausau Daily Herald

RINGLE – Family-sized bags of cereal.

Cases of ramen noodles.

A messenger bag stuffed with notebooks, papers and binders.

A plastic tote crammed with paperbacks — "The Da Vinci Code," "Hannibal" and books by Stephen King.

Camouflage clothing.

Those are some of the items Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff members pulled out of a bunker hidden in the woods off the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Ringle on Wednesday morning. Jeremiah Button, a Portage County man accused of multiple sex crimes against children, called that bunker home for three years after he disappeared less than two weeks before his trial.

He was arrested Aug. 9 after a hiker found Button sleeping in his bunker and reported it to police.

DNR warden supervisor Korey Trowbridge led a reporter and photographer from USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, along with reporters from other local news organizations, to the bunker Wednesday morning. It's hidden in thick woods on state land off Poplar Road in Ringle.

Trowbridge said the cleanup process began Monday, when DNR cleanup crews cleared a new path to the bunker to make it easier to access. Staff members removed the roof of the structure, made of tarps and logs.

Peering in from up above, the bunker was cluttered and dirty. A pair of boots hung from the ceiling. Food wrappers, bags, jars and other items were stuffed into between the beams used to hold up the roof. Ropes and rolls of tape were stacked on a shelf, while another shelf held cans of instant coffee, food and cans of fuel.

Police say Button made frequent trips to the Marathon County Landfill to gather food and other supplies for his bunker. He had solar panels and a generator used to power a TV, lights, fans and other electronics.

The goal of the cleanup process is to clear out all of the items from inside the bunker and restore the area to make it safe for the public, Trowbridge said. Hazardous materials, like fuel and batteries, will need to be properly disposed of, Trowbridge said. Other items will be taken to the landfill or recycled.

The DNR is asking the public to stay away from the bunker for their safety until the cleanup is finished.

The Marathon County Sheriff's Office was on scene to take any additional items into evidence. Deputies previously executed a search warrant after Button was arrested.

Prosecutors in Portage County charged Button in 2014 with repeated sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography. According to a criminal complaint, a girl told police that Button touched her inappropriately, had intercourse with her and forced her to perform oral sex on him several times between 2010 and early 2014. She also told officers that Button took pictures of her and him without their clothes on and made her wear special clothes for him.

Button is now in custody at the Portage County Jail on a $100,000 cash bond. His next court appearance in the 2014 sexual assault case is scheduled for Sept. 16.

Contact Natalie Brophy at (715) 216-5452 or nbrophy@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @brophy_natalie or Facebook at facebook.com/bynataliebrophy.