The Faribault Police Department has had a significant development in their investigation into the murder of 76-year-old Gary Lehmeyer that includes the detention of a suspect.
When Faribault police discovered Lehmeyer’s body last week, they also realized that his vehicle was missing. After putting out a regional alert for the law enforcement community, they soon found the vehicle was in the possession of Iowa law enforcement.
On the morning of February 5th, prior to the discovery of Lehmeyer’s body, Arlene Theresa Bell, 32, of Bemidji, was stopped in Dallas County, Iowa, by the Iowa Highway Patrol, and taken into custody.
According to a report in the Perry (Iowa) News, while searching the van, the Iowa State Trooper found a meth pipe with burnt residue and multiple needles with Narcan, as well as three open 12-ounce cans of beer. The trooper also found a large amount of 12-gauge ammunition in the rear seat of the van. Bell was charged with second-offense OWI (Operating While Impaired), felon in possession of a firearm, providing false identification information, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and fifth-degree theft. She was also issued citations for open container, speeding, driving without a license and no insurance.
The alert issued by Faribault police revealed that Bell had been driving Lehmeyer’s van. Bell and Lehmeyer, according to a statement issued by the City of Faribault, were involved in a “legally qualifying domestic relationship” at the time of his death. After learning of the situation, Iowa authorities also charged Bell with second-degree theft of a motor vehicle under $10,000.
Lehmeyer’s vehicle has since been transported to St. Paul at the request of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for further examination and processing. Bell has now been named in the Faribault Police investigation as a person of interest.
While Bell remains in custody in Iowa, Faribault detectives have worked with the Rice County Attorney’s Office to issue a warrant for Bell’s arrest and extradition on a charge of Motor Vehicle Theft once her Iowa case is resolved.
The Faribault statement said this remains an open and active case as they await forensic testing results and further investigation.
Pursell begins session with early voting for college students bill
The 2024 Minnesota Legislative Session begins today. February 12th is the latest start for the state legislature in recent memory.
The especially long interim is due to the extra-long 2023 session. As laid out in the Minnesota Constitution, the state legislature is allowed to meet over the course of 120 days per biennium. Because 2023 was a budgeting year, and there was a budget surplus of $17.5 billion, the legislature was in session for 77 days, or almost ⅔ of the allotted time.
Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) of District 58A said the plan is to be as efficient as possible with the allotment they have left.
“We only have 43 legislative days to work with this year as per the constitution over the biennium. A legislative day only counts when we take to the house floor, so we have a 15-week session, but there are some breaks in there for Easter, Passover, and Eid. We’re going to use 6 legislative days in the first 2 weeks of session so we’re trying to get our ducks in a row.”
Heading into the session, Representative Pursell said she has already pre-filed four bills. Pursell, who is the Vice-Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, and also sits on the Education Finance, Environment and Elections Committees, said she will present her first bill Wednesday morning to the Elections Committee.
The bill seeks to give college administrations the ability to request a one-day polling place be established on their campus for early voting. With both St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges in her district, she said she was the obvious choice among her colleagues to be the chief author of this bill. She said, while St. Olaf students have a polling place on campus, Carleton does not, and this bill is designed to make voting for all college students as easy as possible.
“Trying to just make sure that it’s as easy as possible for these young people to vote, especially because this is probably the first election a lot of them are going to be participating in. We want them to participate in democracy. We want them to have that responsibility and to have that choice. So, I’m hopeful that this is a nice fix, just that one day.”
Both the House and the Senate will convene today at noon.
School Board will here presentation for ‘24-’25 Operating Capital Budget
The Northfield School Board will meet tonight in the boardroom of the Northfield School District office building.
Among the items on tonight’s agenda, Val Mertesdorf, the Director of Finance for the Northfield School District, will present the 2024-2025 Operating Capital Budget and there will be a discussion of the ten-year Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Plan. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Matt Hillmann, will review the site visits he made with Director Daryl Kehler, to both Prairie Creek and Arcadia Charter Schools, and there will be further discussion of the possible bond referendum to address the problems with the Northfield High School facility, with an emphasis on the tax impact of the passage of the various options.
Hillmann will also provide the School Board with a preview of the Minnesota Legislative Session that began today. He will go over the platforms and legislative goals of both the Minnesota School Boards Association and the Minnesota Association of School Administrators.
The School Board will always invite public comments from those who live in the Northfield School District. Time for those comments is scheduled at the beginning of each meeting. Registration is required to address the School Board. Those wishing to do so may sign up beginning at 5:30 pm.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
