Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang provided an update on the ongoing investigation into two suspected fatal overdoses of a Minneapolis couple in a Brainerd Lakes area vacation home.
Sheriff shares more details on suspected fatal overdoses in Brainerd Lakes area vacation home
The sheriff clarified that the man was still alive when deputies arrived but died at the scene.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 10, 2024 at 4:53PM
Earlier this week, Klang told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the deaths of Jodi Lynn Lysne, 59, and Brett Steven Shelstad, 53, were initially believed to be suspicious. But he clarified on Monday that there is no threat to the public and the engaged couple likely died of an overdose.
The couple was supposed to have dinner with family Sunday night, he said, but family hadn’t heard from them since Friday. Deputies made a welfare check and secured a search warrant around 3 p.m. Sunday for the vacation home on Lougee Lake about 20 miles north of Brainerd and 8 miles south of Crosslake
Klang shared more details into the investigation in a news release Wednesday. The release said deputies and Breezy Point police officers arrived at the home in the 11000 block of Shelstad Drive in Pelican Township.
“Upon arrival, an officer discovered a deceased woman inside the home. A man was also found in the residence and was escorted outside. Shortly afterward, the man experienced a medical emergency and, despite efforts to save him, he passed away.”
Klang elaborated in a phone interview Thursday that Shelstad was not conscious when officers were pounding at the door. They could see Lysne on the floor with traumatic injuries to her face, he said. Officers made entry and Shelstad eventually came to.
“He got up, he followed verbal commands. We got him handcuffed. We walked him out to the car and he collapses right there,” Kland said, adding that Shelstad died at the scene.
Cocaine presumably laced with fentanyl was located in the vacation home, Klang said.
“It looks like they got, you know, a bad batch... They said down in Minneapolis that there was a bad batch running around down there, and so I’m just surmising that,” Klang said. “They’re from Minneapolis, so we’ve had a lot of overdoses in Minneapolis with this batch.”
Klang said deputies are still investigating as they await autopsies to determine the official cause and manner of death.
Passenger volume at Rochester International Airport is down nearly 50% since the start of the pandemic as travelers migrate to MSP for cheaper flights without layovers.
