UPDATE - Wednesday, April 30, 12:00 noon

After deliberate homicide suspect Markus Kaarma and his family had received death threats following his release from jail on Monday afternoon, his attorney, Paul Ryan discussed the possibility of security at the Kaarma home. 

"Law enforcement has made no indication that they would provide 24-hour surveillance or anything of that nature, but if the threats continue, we would be asking for that, Ryan said. "If they won't, then I guess we'll have to hire private security, or move them out of their residence to an undisclosed location."

Public Information Officer with the Missoula Police Department Travis Welsh, said that though the department could not provide an officer to guard the home, extra patrols in the area are definitely available.

"We wouldn't place a guard, or an officer on the property, however it's not uncommon for people to call and request an extra patrol for different things," Welsh said. "Oftentimes when a person is going on vacation and is worried that their home will be unoccupied, they may request what we call a vacation check, or we may just provide extra patrols, where we're just making our presence known in the area. If someone is receiving some kind of threat, if they can articulate that concern, then we'll provide extra patrols when we have the opportunity."

On the subject of the death threats, Welsh said those who send those threats could face criminal charges.

"It could be intimidation, depending on the language used and the statement made, the charge could be disorderly conduct if someone is challenging to a fight or using quarrelsome language. It just depends on the scenario and what the circumstances are."

Public Information Officer Travis Welsh

 

Markus Kaarma, 29, the man who stands accused of deliberate homicide in the death of a teenage foreign exchange student, is now receiving death threats, both at his home and online.

Kaarma's attorney, Paul Ryan said on Tuesday night, that the threats began not long after Kaarma was able to bond out of the Missoula County Jail on Monday afternoon.

"Starting last evening, there have been several anonymous death threats, both on the telephone, as well as on his Facebook page," Ryan said. "People have even come up to the house, one individual in particular late this afternoon would not leave the residence. Law enforcement was contacted, and 17 minutes later the police arrived, but the man had already left."

Ryan said the Kaarma's are virtual prisoners in their own home at this point.

"It's been a difficult time for them," Ryan said. "They didn't get much sleep last night and now they're in great fear, and certainly now they have no weapons in their home, and with the death threats it has become very difficult, and they feel they are trapped in their house now.. Law enforcement has made no indication that they would provide 24-hour surveillance or anything of that nature, but if the threats continue, we would be asking for that. If they won't, then I guess we'll have to hire private security, or move them out of their residence to an undisclosed location."

Ryan said he hopes that people will remember that Kaarma is in the legal process at this point, and is to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

"He is presumed innocent at this point, and we hope that people will let him have his defense and his day in court, if necessary," Ryan said. "We understand that people respond emotionally in a case like this, and I hope that they will leave my client and his family alone so he can live as normal of a life as he can while he attempts to defend himself in this case."

Markus Kaarma Attorney Paul Ryan

KGVO news-partner KECI recently obtained a photo from an unspecified source which claims the photo below is Diren Dede, supposedly taken just moments before Dede was shot.

Surveilance Photo
Photo courtesy of KECI/NBC Montana
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