The deaths of four friends from Minnesota whose bodies were found in an SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield have baffled local police, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.
Jasmine C. Sturm, 30, Matthew Pettus, 26, Loyace Foreman III, 35, and Nitosha Flug-Presley, 30, the apparent victims of gun violence, were found in the abandoned vehicle on Sunday, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.
The suspected quadruple homicide occurred less than 24 hours before the bodies were found, said Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. It is believed the SUV intentionally drove off the road and into the cornfield for about 50 yards.
Damone Presley Sr., the father of Flug-Presley, told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press that he was able to piece together that the group was at a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday night, before leaving in a vehicle with someone.
“We knew something was wrong when [Sturm] didn’t respond to our messages,” Zach, Strum’s half-brother and Pettus’ brother, told the Star Tribune. Sturm and Foreman left behind the five children, he added.
No arrests had been made as of Tuesday, and investigators will start looking into acquaintances of the victims, Bygd said. He noted with “a high degree of certainty” that the suspects left in another vehicle and were no longer in the area.
Police officers arrive at record producer Phil Spector’s home on February 4, 2003 in Alhambra, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
“We can’t suspect somebody locally of randomly killing four people from the Twin Cities,” Bygd said, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Bygd said there were no indications that the killings were related to drugs or organized crime, but he admitted that this could change, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported. Wisconsin authorities found no connection between the quartet and Dunn County, where the vehicle was found.
“We’re confident that this was a place these victims were randomly brought to,” Bygd said. “Everybody’s a suspect at this point.” (RELATED: 184 Die Over Independence Day Weekend As Violent Crime Continues Its Rise)
“That is the mystery,” Presley told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. “Hopefully, through the investigation we’ll get that answered.”
The FBI Minneapolis field office is assisting the local sheriff’s office, according to Kevin Smith, an FBI spokesman, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. The investigation will likely become a joint operation if it is determined that the quadruple homicide occurred in Minnesota.
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