[October 26, 2012] Lepsch bound over for trial in May's Photo homicides Tweet Oct 26, 2012 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Minnesota man charged in the shooting deaths of a downtown La Crosse store owner and his son sold a camera stolen from the shop the day before his arrest, investigators testified Thursday in a hearing that provided new details in the case. The serial number recovered from the item sold by Jeffrey Lepsch matched a list of items stolen from May's Photo on Sept. 15, the day Paul Petras, 56, and his 19-year-old son, A.J., were shot to death, La Crosse police investigator Tony DeLap testified. Investigators recovered video of Lepsch on Oct. 9 at the Target in Winona, Minn., where he told his buyer he was selling the camera because he was upgrading equipment. Authorities arrested Lepsch, 39, the next day for the killings and robbery. A convicted felon and hobby photographer, Lepsch denies a role in the deaths. He stood mute during his preliminary hearing in La Crosse County Circuit Court to counts of first-degree intentional homicide, armed robbery with use of force and being a felon in possession of a firearm after a judge found enough evidence to bind him over for trial. Investigators were called to the photo store at 423-425 Main St. about 5:25 p.m. after Sherri Petras found her husband and son dead when she went to check on them. A.J. Petras was on the floor in the office area near a safe. His father was in the bathroom, the door's latch broken. Both were shot in the head. Paul Petras also was shot in the neck, while his son had blunt force trauma to his head, Sgt. Mike Blokhuis testified. Twenty-three items worth about $20,000 were missing from the store, police Sgt. Jake Jansky testified. "Two of three display cases had been virtually cleaned out," he said. Investigators gathered serial numbers of the stolen items from empty boxes in the store. One safe in the office area was open, but authorities could not determine whether anything was missing. Another locked safe had two bullet holes in the front. Surveillance video from the Azara hookah shop across the street shows a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head and a backpack enter May's Photo at 1:53 p.m. An employee reported seeing a customer in a gray hooded sweatshirt talking to Paul when he left the store about 2:30 p.m. Video shows the man in the hooded sweatshirt leave at 2:58 p.m. with two large bags and backpack, Blokhuis testified. He drives his blue minivan with an upside down trailer hitch north on Fourth Street and is seen again about one minute later driving past the Festival Foods on Copeland Avenue, police Lt. Matt Malott testified. Rahn Pischke narrowed the van to a 2001-07 Dodge Caravan, and state transportation departments identified about 50 to 75 registered in La Crosse and Winona counties, Malott said. A Wisconsin special agent found a blue Dodge Caravan with an upside down trailer hitch at Lepsch's house at 27317 Fern Glen Road in Dakota. Inside, investigators found 14 items stolen from May's, including cameras, lenses and flashes in his kitchen and basement, police Sgt. Pat Marco testified. Police also seized Lepsch's van to search for DNA. "We did not find any guns in the home," Marco said. Call records between 3:02 p.m. and 3:36 p.m. show the victim's cellphones move from Copeland Avenue to Onalaska, where Lepsch bought a $24 memory card at Best Buy at 3:25 p.m., Malott said. The phones last are located near Interstate 90 in the town of Campbell at 3:45 p.m., when police believe Lepsch was driving on the interstate toward his Minnesota home. Lepsch had $126 in one bank account and was negative $118 and $136 in two others, Malott testified. The state crime lab in Madison continues to process evidence in the case, which is set for a status conference next month. Lepsch, who did not look at his family during Thursday's hearing, remains jailed on a $2 million cash bond. ___ (c)2012 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) Visit the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) at www.lacrossetribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]