1 dead, 3 injured in Blue Earth home invasion; suspect arrested

Published 11:33 am Tuesday, February 21, 2012

BLUE EARTH — Investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office and the Blue Earth Police Department Monday night arrested a suspect in a home invasion and homicide that occurred overnight.

The incident left one man dead and three females seriously injured.

Investigators are not seeking additional suspects at this time, according to information from law enforcement authorities

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The perpetrator was at large all day before authorities announced Monday night that they had made an arrest in the case. The suspect is in the Faribault County Jail awaiting charges.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said more details about the investigation would be forthcoming today.

Police responded to a disturbance call around 12:30 a.m. Monday in the 400 block of Fourth Street East in Blue Earth.

Dead is a 37-year-old man, according to a press release from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. His name was not being released, pending notification of relatives.

Two adult females and a juvenile female – 38-year-old Candice Marie Freeman, her 19-year-old daughter, Brittany Kay Devary, and Freeman’s 15-year-old daughter – were taken to United Hospital District in Blue Earth, then airlifted to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester for further treatment.

Another daughter, age 6, was found unharmed at the residence.

The body of the deceased man was taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner, said Jill Oliveira of the Department of Public Safety. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

“We’re hoping to confirm the exact cause of death and his identity,” she said, adding she could not confirm whether the man lived in the house.

Fletcher said the females were still in Rochester and there had been no updates on their conditions.

Oliveira said crime scene personnel from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were still processing the scene at 5 p.m. Monday.

The preliminary investigation revealed a masked man entered the home and bludgeoned the victims with a blunt object, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Around noon Monday, the 400 block of Fourth Street East was blocked off by a Faribault County Sheriff’s cruiser on one end and a State Trooper car on the other. A Bureau of Criminal Apprehension van was parked on the north side of the street in the middle of the block, in front of a large yellow Victorian house. A Blue Earth Police officer prohibited all pedestrian traffic on that block.

By late afternoon, police vehicles were still blocking the street, the BCA van was still parked in the same spot, but yellow crime scene tape had been strung from the yellow Victorian across the street and the sidewalk on the other side.