Two men have been charged in the murder of a man who has ties to western Racine County.

John S. Kintop, 37, who had briefly resided in the Union Grove area, died Tuesday at Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff, where he was taken for injuries sustained in a fight at a bar earlier in the day in Lac du Flambeau.

According to court documents, Brian Dale Cross, 26, and Clinton T. Graveen, 23, both of Lac du Flambeau, were charged with homicide Friday morning in Vilas County Circuit Court.

Kintop was the son of a cousin of Norway Town Supervisor Chet Kintop, who said Sunday that he was hoping to travel soon to Vilas County to assist family members.

Court reports show that John Kintop had resided at the mobile home park on Durand Avenue in Yorkville. He is survived by three children, Chet Kintop said. John Kintop had resided in many locales and had a variety of jobs, but was born and educated in the Lac Du Flambeau area, Chet Kintop said.

According to reports published in the Wausau Daily Herald, the Vilas County Sheriff's Department received a call at about 1:50 a.m. Tuesday requesting an ambulance for an intoxicated man who was thought to have fallen at Club 47 in Lac du Flambeau. Later, however, it was reported that the man, Kintop, had been involved in a fight.

The Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police and the Vilas County Sheriff's Department, coroner's office and district attorney's office are investigating the incident with assistance from the Wisconsin Crime Lab Field Response Unit, the paper reported.

Court records indicate that bond was at $25,000 Wednesday in Vilas County Circuit Court for Cross and Graveen. Both are scheduled for a preliminary hearing court on Feb. 7.

On Wednesday, the Rhinelander Daily News published a report from the Lac du Flambeau Police Department about what allegedly happened outside the bar.

According to the report, Graveen said Kintop starting yelling at him in the parking lot and challenged him to a fight. Graveen stated that he felt threatened and threw three punches at Kintop, with one of them striking him in the left neck area. After another individual pulled Graveen to the ground, he said Cross then kicked Kintop in the head.

After Cross was arrested, he allegedly denied striking or kicking Kintop. Cross also stated that Graveen threw punches at Kintop, but claimed that he and others were breaking up the fight, according to the report.

The Daily News reported that District Attorney Al Moustakis said the specific cause of death had been undetermined as of Wednesday's hearing, though Kintop sustained "profuse bleeding." Moustakis said there was a break in the facial area, a large amount of blood in the nasal passages and a great amount of trauma to the facial and neck area. He also said Kintop was also "highly intoxicated."

Moustakis said Cross has a probation hold on him and also faces a pending battery charge in another case.

"Both of these individuals (defendants) are not strangers to our (court) system," Moustakis said in The Daily News report.

Chet Kintop said he was acquainted with John S. Kintop from hunting trips.

"That shouldn't happen to anyone," Chet Kintop said of the beating. "It's a loss on both sides, even for the family of the person who did the beating."