TOWN OF BENTON — A 30-year-old Elizabeth, Ill., woman is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the Feb. 27 death of an 83-year-old woman.
Shannon C. Bussan made her first Lafayette County Circuit Court appearance Monday afternoon after she was arrested at the Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Office in Galena Wednesday.
Bussan is accused of killing Lynne I. Montgomery in her home on Carr Factory Road Feb. 27.
Circuit Judge Duane Jorgenson set Bussan’s bond at $1 million cash with requirements she have no direct contact with Montgomery’s family except for Bussan’s own husband and their children. Bussan is also prohibited from leaving Jo Daviess County if bond is posted except to attend Lafayette County court hearings.
Bussan’s preliminary hearing will be held Tuesday. She faces life in prison if convicted.
Bussan, Montgomery’s granddaughter-in-law, told authorities she found Montgomery unresponsive in her home Feb. 27 around 4 p.m., saying “she said she took a fall,” according to the criminal complaint. Montgomery was taken to MercyOne Dubuque, where she was pronounced dead.
An autopsy on March 1 determined that Montgomery had multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, face, limbs and back, according to the criminal complaint. Medical examiner Dr. Robert Corliss said the cause of death may have been being smothered by a pillow, impaired breathing by a hand over Montgomery’s mouth and nose, or compression asphyxia, in which breathing is prevented by external pressure on Montgomery’s body.
One day after Montgomery’s death, on Feb. 28, according to the criminal complaint, relatives of Montgomery reported things that were out of place in her home, including a notepad in Montgomery’s bedroom with what appeared to be her handwriting with statements including “Help Shannon is hurting me” on one page and on another page “She dragged me from the basement to try and get in my safe she [illegible writing] Help!”
The criminal complaint also said that a door east of the garage had a lock on it similar to what real estate agents use that appeared to have been tampered with. The criminal complaint also noted dolls in a wood and glass case that appeared to have been knocked over, and what appeared to be a drag mark from the living room carpet through the kitchen linoleum floor to a bedroom with a computer, along with scratches on the garage floor.
According to the criminal complaint, Bussan’s husband, who is Montgomery’s grandson, noticed a large safe in the garage next to Montgomery’s vehicle the day Montgomery died. One day later, the safe was back in its usual location in a spare bedroom closet, the criminal complaint said.
Bussan is quoted in the criminal complaint as asking her husband “are the cops there,” ‘I’m so sorry about all this,” “they’re going to kill me,” “you are setting me up,” “I don’t want to go to prison,” “why would grandma say I hurt her,” “I am not OK,” “I wish I would die; kill me,” and “they’re going to put me in jail.”
Bussan denied in a March 1 interview with Lafayette County detectives hurting Montgomery, saying, “I could never hurt anyone. I won’t even kill a mouse at our house,” according to the criminal complaint.
A search warrant of Bussan’s cellphone revealed that she had deleted messages sent the afternoon of Feb. 27, but included phone calls and messages to her husband and that Bussan had been in Benton the afternoon of Feb. 27, according to the criminal complaint. The search warrant also revealed an unsent Gmail message with directions on how to open a safe, the criminal complaint said.
The Sheriff’s Office and Benton police are investigating the death along with the state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Wisconsin State Patrol and Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office news release said the incident is “believed to be isolated and presents no danger to the public.”
Anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious or odd activity in the 5000 block of Carr Factory Road Feb. 27 or 28 is asked to contact the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office, 608-776-4870.