Two slain, three arrested

The Daily Inter Lake

and the Associated Press

POLSON - A man and woman believed to be in their 20s were found dead in a home on the Flathead Indian Reservation and police have arrested three men in connection with the deaths, investigators said Friday.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office said a woman had been shot and a man had been shot and stabbed Thursday morning.

Their names have not been released.

"We've located a few relatives but not the ones we need to contact," Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron said Friday.

Barron identified the three men arrested as Glen Gardipee, 29; Jeremy Green, 19; and Troy McDonald, 19. Their hometowns were not immediately available. Formal charges against all three were pending on Friday.

In a joint news release, Barron and tribal Police Chief Craige Couture said one of the suspects showed up at the tribal police office in Pablo Thursday morning claiming to have been harassed.

"After a very short interview with him, it was determined that wasn't the case," Barron said.

The interview revealed that two people had been shot at a home between Ronan and St. Ignatius and that the shooters were still there.

Officers went to the home on Eagle Pass Trail, discovered the bodies and arrested the other two men. The bodies were taken to the state crime lab in Missoula, where examination on Friday "verified statements given to us by the suspects," Barron said.

"It's still real early in the investigation, but the motive looks like it was robbery," Barron said. "We still don't know the exact time of death. We're confident that the three suspects we have right now are all that are involved."

Barron said it is unclear whether the suspects knew the victims.

"We're still trying to iron that out," he said. "They were all tribal members."