Sheriff's Office continues investigation
Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino speaks with a neighbor following a homicide on Lenwood Lane in Evergreen on Monday evening, July 15. According to Heino one person is in custody and being questioned.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Juan Rivera Strangberg of the Flathead County Sheriff's Posse stands guard at the scene of a homicide on Monday evening, July15, in Evergreen. The identity of the man killed was not available as next of kin had not yet been able to be contacted.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
The Sheriff's Line - Do Not Cross tape is up around a house on Lenwood Lane in Evergreen on Monday evening, July 15.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Juan Rivera Strangberg of the Flathead County Sheriff's Posse stands guard at the scene of a homicide on Monday evening, July15, in Evergreen. The identity of the man killed was not available as next of kin had not yet been able to be contacted.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Investigators are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the Monday afternoon death of a Kalispell man who appeared to die by homicidal violence at a Lenwood Lane residence.
According to Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino, the victim was a man in his 60s. He had been assaulted and suffered a severe injury to head, but it wasn’t immediately known if he had also been shot.
Heino said the scene was in disarray and that a struggle had taken place.
Authorities were waiting on the results of a forensic exam Tuesday at the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula to determine exactly how the man died.
Heino said crime-scene investigators were still working at the scene of the homicide Tuesday.
“Right now, we don’t have a motive for why this happened, but we don’t believe there is cause for concern among the general public,” Heino said.
The sheriff also said his department is looking for a vehicle that may have been involved. It was described as a blue Ford single cab pickup truck, late 1980s or early 1990s model with Rhino-lined rocker panels that was seen leaving the scene prior to the call, which came in about 3:30 p.m.
Witnesses said there were other people in the vicinity of where the murder happened and law-enforcement officers were busy canvassing the neighborhood and speaking with people who may have information about the crime.
One man authorities believe may be involved in the incident was taken into custody Monday at a different location. Leigh Garrett Medina, 43, was arrested Monday on a probation violation. He is currently in the Flathead County jail.
Medina has a prior criminal history in the Flathead dating back nearly a decade. In November 2009, Medina was accused of stealing several power tools and related items. He later pleaded guilty to an amended charge of theft and also to bail jumping. He received a five-year sentence with three years suspended for the theft charge.
Then, in April 2014, Medina pleaded no contest to criminal endangerment after assaulting a man with a metal object at a Shadow Lane residence in Evergreen. The criminal complaint alleged Medina punched the victim in the face and struck him in the back of the head with a metal object that left the man bloody. The man fended off the attack with a rake he was using for yard work.
Medina also served time for those offenses.
Heino said the deceased man also had a criminal record, but nothing since 2014. His identity has not yet been released.
Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.