Milford man detained on drug, murder charges

Lint also faces drug charges in Dickinson County for activities that may have a connection with the discovery of a frozen body Jan. 4 in Sioux Falls.

Minnehaha County State's Attorney Aaron McGowan charged Lint with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery in the death of 19-year-old Michael James Stevens of Sioux Falls.

In South Dakota, it is common to issue two different counts of murder for the same crime. At some point, authorities will determine which murder count is supported by the most provable facts in the case.

A count of robbery stems from the disappearance of money possessed by Stevens. The second robbery count relates to the disappearance of drugs, according to court documents.

"It all centers around one victim," said Minnehaha County (S.D.) Sheriff Mike Milstead.

Stevens was first reported missing by his stepfather, Raymond Pool, on New Year's Day. Pool told officers Stevens didn't show up for his restaurant shifts on Dec. 30 and 31.

On the evening of Jan. 4, the Minnehaha County (S.D.) Sheriff's Office received a call from an employee at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds' Expo Building in Sioux Falls. The call related to a person, slumped over onto the passenger's seat of a 2002 Toyota Carolla.

"Just outside the passenger side front door of the vehicle, lying on the ground was a 20-gauge shotgun shell," an affidavit from Minnehaha County Deputy Jeff Gromer said. Investigators think Lint shot Stevens three times and took two shells with him.

Lint and Stevens knew each other, according to Milstead, who said Stevens "was certainly in the middle of this group of people who were heavily involved in drug use and drug trafficking."

"Fairly early on in the investigation, officers here on our homicide investigation saw a connection between Samuel (Lint) and the victim, Michael Stevens," Milstead said. "And we knew there was activity, with Samuel Lint going from Sioux Falls to Iowa. So, we sent investigators to Iowa to conduct some interviews on any activity or any involvement of Samuel Lint with the victim in the case. Our investigators worked with Iowa authorities and, through that cooperative work, their investigation resulted in drug charges in Iowa on him. Those drug charges basically stemmed from the investigation of this homicide."

In a financial statement needed for court-appointed attorney consideration, Lint said he had a job, but when the form asked for an employer's name, he responded with "under the table/it changes." He listed 1102 Okoboji Avenue in Milford as his address.

District Associate Judge David Larson approved Michael Johnson as a court-appointed attorney to represent Lint. Johnson was in court in Emmetsburg on Tuesday and was not available for comment.

Lint was charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver on suspicion of having "99.5 grams of marijuana continued within 21 separate packages," according to Dickinson County court documents.

He also was charged with failure to affix a drug tax stamp. Both are Class D felonies.

The charges in both jurisdictions were filed after the discovery of the apparent murder weapon Monday afternoon.

"We focused, eventually, on the activity of the victim on the evening of Dec. 29 and the early morning hours of Dec. 30, which is when he was last seen alive," Milstead said. "Interestingly enough, the last person who we identified as seeing him alive was through our investigation was Samuel Lint."

Investigators also received a tip that the sawed-off shotgun allegedly used by Lint was buried in a snow bank at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds.

"Because of the amount of snow we've had this year, snow was piled 15 feet high and hundreds of feet long, so it was going to be a huge task to try to sift through these snow banks," Milstead said. "These are all from cleared parking lots because the Expo Building is very busy, even in the winter, with farm shows and flea markets, so there is a lot of activity at that facility."

The Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department brought in additional deputies and city workers to help with the search. Heavy equipment on the scene included an excavator and some pay-loaders.

"In addition to that, a Sioux Falls public works director had suggested they also bring in someone from public works who uses a metal detector to find some of the meters and some of the water lines," Milstead said. "It was a supervisor from that department that was walking a snow bank area that was destined to be excavated -- but it may have taken us days to get to that point in the snow bank. He got a hit on his metal detector."

The search ended 47 minutes after it began.

"Certainly the weapon used in a shooting is always a crucial piece of the puzzle in a homicide investigation," McGowan said. "We were actually fortunate to find it as quickly as we did."

Milstead said others associated with the drug trafficking or the death investigation "may have a few sleepless nights," both in northwest Iowa and Sioux Falls. Marijuana is the primary drug circulated, but ecstasy is involved as well.

"Many of the people we investigated or interviewed were in this group of people who knew each other and dealt with each other," the sheriff said.

"Especially considering there was interstate movement of these people, there could certainly be additional charges at some point involving either the person already arrested or others that were involved in the drug trafficking part of this investigation," he said, later adding, "I would imagine there are a few nervous people out there on that part alone."