DARLINGTON — The prosecution Thursday, Nov. 7 was still presenting its case in the Lafayette County murder trial of Shannon Bussan, accused of killing an elderly Benton woman in her home in 2023.

Shannon Bussan, 31, of Elizabeth, Ill., is accused of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Lynne Montgomery, on or close to Feb. 27, 2023. Montgomery was Bussan’s husband’s grandmother.

Bussan was reportedly an occasional companion to Montgomery, and authorities contend Bussan was in the victim’s home just prior to Montgomery’s death, with her baby and two of her youngest children in tow. 

According to testimony, she reportedly went to Montgomery’s to sort through knick-knacks that Montgomery was hoping to get rid of from inside her home.

According to court records, Thursday’s testimony included deputy, Nathan Hoftender and Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation Agent Rafael De La Rosa. It was scheduled to continue Friday and well into the following week. 

Initially, authorities ruled the death accidental and the victim’s body was sent to a funeral home for preparation. But the next day, relatives, aware that the heavy safe had been moved at one point and that notes had been found implicating Bussan, urged police to investigate the death at that home, in the 5000 block of Carr Factory Road. An autopsy was conducted on Montgomery on March 1. The preliminary autopsy report noted “multiple blunt force injuries” on Montgomery’s head, face, and limbs, as well as rib fractures.

The prosecution’s case centers on allegedly incriminating notes implicating Bussan left by Montgomery. She expressed fear that Bussan was trying to hurt her. Moreover, Bussan’s DNA was found under the victim’s finger nails, along with a small amount of Bussan’s blood on the victim’s pillow. A short video reportedly found on a cell phone also contained a roughly three-second clip in which Bussan was heard to say “what’s the combo to the safe.”

But the defense — which has yet to put on its case in chief for the jury — argues that Bussan was framed for Montgomery’s death amid a family dispute, and that much of the state’s evidence can be explained away or questioned, leading to reasonable doubt.

Bussan, who lives in Elizabeth, Ill., has been out on bail pending trial. If she is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, she faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.