SOME DETAILS RELEASED ON RURAL NEW GLARUS KILLING

Nearly a year after Mark Tobin was killed in his rural New Glarus
home, Green County detectives remain baffled about who murdered him
but certain about why he was killed.

Thursday, in the first few details revealed about the unsolved case,
Tobin was described as a large-scale marijuana grower who cultivated
and harvested a layered "grow" in a two-story garage next to his home
six miles west of New Glarus.

The background of the killing remains secret, however, as detectives
will not disclose how Tobin, 38, was killed. A search warrant from
last year remains sealed, and a $10,000 reward put up by Tobin's
businessman father remains unclaimed.

"No, it's not cold," insisted Chief Deputy Jeff Skatrud on Thursday
when asked about the investigation.

"There was a name that entered the equation and our detectives
interviewed that person several times, and that person had an alibi
that was found to be accurate," said Skatrud. "There have been five
people identified as suspects and five people who are not suspects anymore."

Tobin's body was found Nov. 21 inside the farmhouse on Highway 39
where he moved in 2002 and then extensively renovated. Tobin's wife,
Maureen, a student who lived in Milwaukee while attending classes and
returning to New Glarus on weekends, had alerted a friend to check on
her husband because she hadn't been able to contact him. The friend
found Tobin's body inside the farmhouse; he had been dead for 48 hours or less.

A carpenter, Tobin had few local acquaintances and was "very
secretive" and had "two lives," said Skatrud.

"One which involved his family and small circle of social
acquaintances and the other, his contacts that were involved or had
knowledge of his marijuana growing operation and distribution network."

Skatrud would not reveal how Tobin died, a detail that is contained
in the search warrant that remains sealed in the Green County clerk
of court's office.

Authorities are certain that Tobin's marijuana business was the cause
of his death. Thursday they described a large-scale operation.

"It was in a separate building, a detached two-story garage," said
Skatrud, add there were "hundreds" of plants in all stages of cultivation.

Tobin, who had served one year in prison in the 1990s for a
marijuana-related crime, arrived in New Glarus in 2002, Skatrud said.

"We really don't know how (he chose New Glarus).

"We do know why he found a rickety farm house west of New Glarus," he
added. "I believe the specific reason for buying the property was to
do what he ended up doing."

Mark Tobin's father, Monte Tobin, a West Bend area businessman, said
that he is satisfied with the job detectives are doing, and that he
has been kept informed, but "they didn't find anybody yet." His son's
widow, Maureen Waoh-Tobin, lives in Milwaukee and is in regular
contact with Green County detectives.

Noting that three people were shot dead in an incident involving a
marijuana grower in nearby rural Blanchardville in 2006, Skatrud said
Tobin's death shows the reality of that illegal business.

"Anybody who doesn't think that these big operations of
marijuana-growing don't have a shade of violence to them, needs to
take a good hard look at this case. This is not kid's stuff," he said.

Numbers to call

The Green County Sheriff's Department is seeking information on the
year-old murder of Mark C. Tobin, found dead Nov. 21, 2007, in his
rural New Glarus farmhouse. The contact number is 608-328-9400. Crime
Stoppers number is 800-422-7463.