LAKE CRYSTAL — Nearly 36 hours into their investigation, Blue Earth County sheriff’s deputies were revealing little information Wednesday about a man found dead at his home south of Lake Crystal early Tuesday morning.

The gravel road in front of 26-year-old James Mervin Nibbe’s home was open Wednesday morning, but yellow tape saying “sheriff’s line do not cross” was wrapped around the house at 51275 176th Street. Investigators with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were still working at the house Wednesday afternoon, said Capt. Rich Murry of the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department.

“They worked all night,” Murry said. “The crime lab people are still there processing evidence.”

Murry said he could not release any more information about how Nibbe died. Investigators are only saying that Nibbe was found dead by deputies responding to a burglary call at about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. There was no one in custody as a result of the investigation Wednesday evening.

Investigators are not saying if deputies found anyone else in the house, where Nibbe lived with his wife, 33-year-old Jennifer Lee (Gilman) Nibbe, and Jennifer’s teenage son, Brady Brown. Any additional information could jeopardize the investigation, Sheriff Brad Peterson said during a press conference Tuesday.

Jennifer Nibbe was brought to Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she was treated and released Tuesday.

Ken Oldenborg, who lives across the road from the Nibbes’ house, said he heard the deputies responding to the initial call Tuesday morning.

“I really didn’t think it was serious until they put the tape up,” he said.

Oldenborg grew up on the farm where he now lives. Jennifer Nibbe was raised on her parents’ farm a short distance down the road, Oldenborg said. She built the house across the road about five years ago on property that had been owned by her father or uncle. After she married Nibbe about two years ago, he moved in with her and Brown.

After the tape went up and Oldenborg started hearing about a burglary, a death and rumors about the possibility of foul play, he went over to the Nibbes’ driveway to ask deputies if they were looking for anyone. Investigators said they couldn’t give him much information about what had happened.

“They just assured me that we didn’t have anything to worry about,” Oldenborg said. “I just wanted to make sure nobody was lurking in the corn.”

Cody Oldenborg, who said he knows Brown from Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial High School, said he saw Brown drive up to the house at about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

At that time the road was blocked off at its intersections with Blue Earth County Road 20 and Garden City Township Road 125. Cody Oldenborg said the road was still blocked when he returned home at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, but it was open by 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Friends and relatives of James Nibbe gathered Wednesday at his parents’ house southwest of Vernon Center. They declined to comment, except to say they haven’t been given any more information than the media about the situation.

Jennifer Nibbe and Brown could not be reached for comment Wednesday.