By William Morris

Owatonna People’s Press

OWATONNA — Two men have been arrested as suspects in last week’s slaying of a Medford man.

Richard Jurgensen, 22, was found dead on the side of a road in northeast Steele County early in the morning of June 26, and investigators with the Steele County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension characterized his death as a probable homicide.

On Tuesday, Steele County deputies arrested Cyrus Trevino,  at the Waseca County Courthouse where he was appearing at a probation violation hearing in a 2014 case in which Trevino was convicted of driving after revocation and received a stay of adjudication on fifth-degree drug charges. Trevino was booked into the Steele County Detention Center on probable cause of second-degree murder, jail records show.

Steele County Attorney Dan McIntosh and Sheriff Lon Thiele confirmed that Trevino was a suspect in Jurgensen’s death, and said a second man, Gerald Blevins, also was arrested Tuesday on probable cause for homicide. McIntosh said he expected both men would make initial court hearings Thursday morning, although he stressed that as of Tuesday afternoon, neither man had been formally charged.

Police still have not released the cause of death or other information about the case. McIntosh said he expected more details about the incident would be included in the full complaint against Trevino and Blevins, which he said would be filed by Wednesday afternoon.

Information continues to emerge about Jurgensen, who lived in the Lazy U Mobile Home Park outside Medford with his girlfriend. Jurgensen’s mother, Tracy Sandell-Kessler, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a memorial to Jurgensen.

“I have received many notes from people I don’t know who shared how Rick had touched their lives in some very meaningful ways,” she said. “He was so generous and loving … always ready to pitch in to help others and support them in any way he could. I always knew how special he was, and it’s reassuring to me that so many others feel the same way. Rick’s passing will leave a void in our lives.”

Attempts to reach Sandell-Kessler and other relatives directly over the past week about Jurgensen’s death were not successful.