OFFICIALS FIND MARIJUANA OPERATION AT SCENE OF 3 DEATHS

The investigation into three shooting deaths in rural Blanchardville
expanded over the weekend to include two drug arrests in Green County
and the discovery of a large, "extremely concealed" indoor marijuana
cultivation effort.

The marijuana operation - "several hundred live plants" - was
discovered on the property off Highway N, west of Blanchardville,
where Bradley Fandrich shot and killed two armed intruders and
himself Thursday morning, said Lafayette County Sheriff Scott Pedley.

State investigators joined a special State Line Area Narcotics Team
to execute search warrants at the property Saturday night. They found
the plants, estimated to have a value of $450,00 to $500,000, in an
undisclosed area equipped with cultivation equipment, video cameras
and weapons.

"The guns were ready for action, loaded and in place for ease of
access," said Pedley.

He refused to pinpoint where on the property - in the house or
elsewhere - the marijuana operation was located.

In addition to the Lafayette County operation, the Green County
Sheriff's Department and the SLANT team, with information from the
Blanchardville investigation, on Friday night searched a home in
rural Belleville, in the town of Exeter on Highway 92.

The team arrested husband and wife Paul Olsen Sr., and Carol Olsen,
both 48, at the home on tentative charges of possession of marijuana
with intent to deliver, maintaining a drug trafficking place and
possession of drug paraphernalia. Green County Sheriff Randy Roderick
said live marijuana plants and bags of dried marijuana were
recovered, and there was a marijuana growing area in the house.
Authorities have been acting on new information on illegal drugs
almost daily since Jeanna Fandrich's frantic 911 call to Lafayette
County dispatchers at 3:15 a.m. Thursday. She reported two intruders
had been shot in her home and that more shots were fired at a minivan
driving away.

Deputies responding to the call interviewed homeowner Bradley
Fandrich, a some-time self-employed gunsmith, who revealed a vault
containing many weapons - handguns and military rifles - and a
several bottles of the prescription drug oxycodone, a controlled
substance and habit-forming pain reliever.

As Fandrich was being searched by detectives, he removed a small
handgun from his clothing and fatally shot himself once in the head.

Dane County authorities on Thursday recovered what they believe is
the minivan in Mount Horeb.

Friday night, Erin Van Epps, 22, a friend of one of the two men shot
by Fandrich, surrendered to Dane County authorities on an existing
arrest warrant. Her friend, Jaeson C. Shepard, 29, of Dodgeville, and
Eddie Harris, 24, of Mount Horeb, were the two killed by Fandrich.
Epps, who is facing unrelated charges of possession of narcotics, was
released the next day.

In addition, a white Chevy Suburban registered to Dahlman Van Epps,
of Dodgeville, was found about 1.5 miles from the Fandrich home the
morning of the shooting, according to information supporting a search
warrant request filed Monday with the Lafayette County clerk of
courts. The warrant noted that officers confiscated from the Suburban
a billfold belonging to one of the two men shot by Fandrich

In a second search warrant issued for the home and three vehicles,
Lafayette County Detective Jerrett Cook reported finding eight
handguns, a shotgun, five rifles, unspecified drugs from the home and
a pickup truck, several boxes of ammunition, video surveillance
equipment, a Taser and a stun gun, an electronic listening device, a
"heat-seeking" device, and diverse literature about growing marijuana
and mushrooms.

One of the handguns, a Glock Model 30 .45-caliber, was the one used
by Fandrich to kill the intruders.

Also listed on the warrant was a footprint on the front door of the
residence, plastic tubs used for potting soil, carbon-dioxide
cylinders and back packs with drug paraphernalia.

According to Cook's statement in the search warrant, Fandrich said
the oxycodone came from a friend and was not prescribed to him. The
warrant for the search that revealed the marijuana Saturday night was
not filed with the court Monday.

Pedley has been the point-person in responding to questions and
issuing brief press releases, though the investigation has drawn
participation from the Justice Department's Division of Criminal
Investigation, and deputies and detectives from Green, Dane and other
counties. The SLANT narcotics squad includes Illinois law officers.

Lafayette County District Attorney Charlotte Doherty told the
Associated Press Monday that Bradley Fandrich shot Shepard while
Shepard was shielding himself with Jeanna Fandrich. Shepard was still
alive when deputies arrived at the home, but died without saying
anything, officials said.

Pedley said there were no other arrests or arrest warrants currently
outstanding in the case, but every public statement from that office
mentions that the investigation is continuing.