St. Paul Police Take Over Murder Investigation of 4 Friends Found Shot to Death in Wisconsin Cornfield

Four friends who were found shot to death last week in a Wisconsin cornfield were killed in St. Paul, Minnesota, the city's police chief said Monday as he announced his department would be the lead investigators in the mysterious quadruple homicide.

"We have four young lives — with all of their promise — erased. We have families left with only memories. And we have an entire community in search of answers,” said St. Paul Police Department Chief Todd Axtell.

There are now two suspects in custody who were wanted in connection with the case, authorities said. Darren Lee McWright, 56, was arrested Thursday in St. Paul. His son, Antoine Darnique Suggs, 38, surrendered to officers in Arizona on Friday and is awaiting extradition to Minnesota, authorities said. 

Both have been charged with four felony counts of hiding a corpse. 

Axtell said he has met with the families of all four victims.

They have been identified as: Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater, Minnesota; her longtime friend, Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30; Sturm’s brother, Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26; and Sturm’s boyfriend, Loyace Foreman III, 35.

The last three victims were all from St. Paul.

Their bodies were discovered about 2 p.m. on Sept. 12, inside an abandoned Mercedes SUV, which had been driven about 50 feet into a cornfield. The Wisconsin farm is in Dunn County, about 70 miles east of the Twin Cities area. Three bodies were in the back seat, and another in the passenger seat, authorities said.

An autopsy concluded each of them had been shot in the head, Dunn County authorities said. The four had visited at least one bar late Sept. 11 in the St. Paul area, and witnesses later told investigators that Suggs had been seen with Flug-Presley, authorities said. 

A criminal complaint filed Thursday said the Mercedes was captured on convenience store surveillance video pulling up to a gas pump about noon Sept. 12, in the Wisconsin town of Sheridan, which is near the cornfield. A minute later, a black Nissan Rogue is seen stopping at another pump. Investigators said they traced the Nissan Rogue to the mother of Darren Suggs, who told authorities that his brother, Antoine Suggs, uses the vehicle when he’s in town, according to the complaint, The Associated Press reported.

Flug-Presley's father, Damone Presley, told KARE-TV Thursday that McWright "is well known by our family."

Presley said he was shocked to learn of the arrest. "It blew me away to see this individual, and who it was and the relationship that we have had that he was ... involved in what happened," said Presley. Antoine Suggs was also known to the family, and had attended a recent birthday for one of his daughter's two children.

"How dare you, how dare you?" said an emotional Presley. "But justice will be served."

Few details have been released about the shootings, including a possible motive.

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