Skip to content

Suspect in Sheridan quadruple homicide charged in Dunn County with hiding a corpse

ANTOINE SUGGS

ANTOINE SUGGS

DARREN OSBORNE (MCWRIGHT)

DARREN OSBORNE (MCWRIGHT)

By LeAnn R. Ralph

Editor’s Note: According to a news release issued by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department at about 4 p.m. Friday, September 17, Antoine D. Suggs is in custody in Maricopa County, Arizona.

According to a news release issued by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department on the afternoon of Thursday, September 16, Darren L. Osborne was arrested on a Dunn County warrant by the St. Paul Police Department and was being held in the Ramsey County Jail.

MENOMONIE — A 56-year-old St. Paul man has been charged in Dunn County with four felony counts of hiding a corpse in connection with the quadruple homicide in the Town of Sheridan.

A criminal complaint in the case against Darren L. Osborne was filed in Dunn County Circuit Court on Wednesday, September 15.

According to a representative for the Dunn County Jail, as of Friday, September 17, jail staff did not yet know when Osborne would be transported to Dunn County and did not know when Osborne would be making a court appearance in Dunn County.

Osborne is charged with four counts of hiding a corpse with the modifier as a party to a crime.

According to the criminal complaint, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department received a report on Sunday, September 12, at about 2:18 p.m. of multiple people who were not moving in a vehicle. The vehicle was located in a corn field near E3705 County Road VVV in the Town of Sheridan.

Law enforcement officers responded and located the vehicle, which was identified as a 2008 black Mercedes Benz with Minnesota registration.

Officers observed four people in the vehicle, all of whom appeared to be deceased. Two of the people had suspected gunshot wounds to the head.

The four victims were later identified as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, female, age 30, of Stillwater, Minn.; Matthew Isiah Pettus, male, age 26, of Saint Paul, Minn.; Loyace Foreman III, male, age 35, of St. Paul, Minn.; and Jasmine Christine Sturm, female, age 30, of St. Paul, Minn.

Autopsies were performed on all four victims Monday, September 13 and all four died from gunshot wounds, said Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd.

The vehicle was registered to Luxury Auto Sales LLC, and when officers contacted the 55 year old woman listed as the registered owner of the vehicle, the woman said the co-owner of Luxury Auto Sales, a 35-year-old woman, was in possession of the vehicle and had planned to drive it to Georgia.

The 35-year-old woman told law enforcement officers she had given the vehicle to Antoine D. Suggs, according to the criminal complaint.

Crime lab

The next day, Monday, September 13, members of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab Scene Response Team transferred the Mercedes to a secure location, the complaint states.

The response team processed the 2008 Mercedes Benz GL for evidence and removed the victims.

A sergeant with the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department saw a significant pooling of blood on the floor of the backseat of the vehicle and also noticed that it was dripping out of the vehicle.

The response team also located a substance that appeared to be blood on the driver’s side wheel well, and the substance subsequently tested positive for blood, according to the criminal complaint.

The deceased victims removed from the vehicle were Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (front passenger seat); Jasmine Christine Sturm (rear passenger side); Loyace Foreman III (center rear seat); Matthew Isiah Pettus (rear driver’s side).

The driver’s seat was unoccupied.

The crime lab response team also located an Arizona photo identification card in the vehicle for Antoine D. Suggs, the complaint states.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office performed autopsies on all four victims on Monday, September 13, and determined the manner of death to be homicide.

Each of the victims had sustained at least one gunshot wound to the head, according to the complaint.

Tip

The Dunn County Sheriff’s Department issued a news release about the death investigation on Monday, September 13, and after the news release had been distributed, the sheriff’s department received a tip from an individual who had seen two vehicles driven by black men near the Sheridan Town Hall between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the criminal complaint.

One of the men was wearing an “I am black history” shirt.

Wheeler gas station

After receiving the tip, a Dunn County deputy went to the Bridge Stop gas station in Wheeler to review video surveillance from shortly after noon on Sunday, September 12, according to the complaint.

A black Nissan Rouge can be seen pulling up to the gas pump at the Bridge Stop at about 12:07 p.m.

The driver of the Nissan, an adult black male, wearing an “I am black history” shirt, goes into the store to purchase some items and then exits the store.

A black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot next to the Nissan Rouge.

The Mercedes had a sticker in the upper and lower corners of the windshield, and the last three numbers on the registration plate were “325” — which were consistent with the vehicle in which the four victims had been found, the complaint states.

The driver of the Nissan made contact with the driver of the Mercedes and appeared to exchange something. The Mercedes can then be seen traveling north on state Highway 25, followed by the Nissan.

The deputy searched the spot were the Mercedes, as seen on the surveillance video, was parked at the gas station and saw reddish, dark-colored droplets of an unknown substance that was suspected to be blood.

The license plate of the Nissan Rouge can be seen on the surveillance video, and the vehicle is registered in Minnesota to Derek Ramon Brown, according to the criminal complaint.

Nissan owner

An investigator with the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department went to St. Paul on Monday, September 13, to the residence of Darren E. Suggs, the step-son of Derek Brown, who is the registered owner of the Nissan, according to the complaint.

The investigator saw the same Nissan from the Wheeler gas station surveillance video parked near the residence of Darren E. Suggs.

While law enforcement was watching the Nissan, a woman got into the vehicle and started to drive away, and a traffic stop was conducted. The occupants of the vehicle were Derek Brown and a woman named Trudy.

Darren E. Suggs, age 34, walked up to the traffic stop and agreed to go to the St. Paul police station to talk with the Dunn County investigator.

Brothers

During the investigator’s conversation with Darren E. Suggs, Suggs confirmed that he has two brothers and one of them is Antoine D. Suggs. Darren Suggs explained that his brother, Antoine, is in town visiting from Arizona and that Darren had just talked to Antoine on Saturday, September 11, according to the complaint.

Darren Suggs explained that the Nissan is his mother’s vehicle, that she lets people use it to help them out, and that Antoine Suggs uses the Nissan when he is in town.

The investigator showed Darren Suggs a photograph from the Bridge Stop surveillance video, and Darren Suggs explained that the man leaving the Bridge Stop is his biological father, Darren Lee Osborne (the defendant charged with four felony counts of hiding a corpse).

Darren Suggs said he does not talk to his biological father very much, but the last time Darren had spoken with Osborne was about 9 p.m., Sunday, September 12, and that Osborne “sounded excited” and told Darren Suggs that he had Trudy’s car, the Nissan, and would leave the keys in the car, the complaint states.

During the interview with the Dunn County investigator, Darren E. Suggs provided a telephone number for Antoine D. Suggs, which was saved in his phone under the name “Tweezey,” according to the criminal complaint.

Boyfriend

Also on Monday, September 13, a captain with the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department had a telephone conversation with an aunt of Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, the complaint states.

The aunt said that Flug-Presley had “a thing” with Antoine Suggs and that he would fly in from Arizona to see her.

On September 12, another investigator had a conversation with Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley’s mother, who said she knew her daughter was recently with a man named “Antoine.”

A forensic download was completed of the cellular phone that was found on Flug-Presley’s lap.

A Snapchat contact was created on Flug-Presley’s phone at around 2:17 p.m. Saturday, September 11, for “King Tweezey.” Three other contacts were on Nitosha’s phone for Suggs and “Suggsss,” the criminal complaint states.

Bar in St. Paul

Minnesota law enforcement officers interviewed Witness No. 1 on Monday, September 13.

Witness No. 1 said she had last seen Nitosha Flug-Presley, Jasmine Sturm and Matthew Pettus near an unknown bar in St. Paul in the early-morning hours on Sunday, September 12, according to the criminal complaint.

Witness No. 1 saw Flug-Presley, Sturm and Pettus get into a black SUV and described the driver as a black male who the witness could not identify.

A forensic download was completed of the cellular telephone located in Pettus’s front pants pocket.

Investigators discovered a new contact had been created on Pettuss’s phone at 3:08 a.m. Sunday, September 12, and the new contact was named “Tweezey.”

The telephone number was the same telephone number associated with Antoine D. Suggs.

Another investigator reviewed a booking photograph of Antoine D. Suggs and noted that Suggs has a tattoo on his right forearm with the words “baby tweezey,” according to the criminal complaint.

White Squirrel

Law enforcement officers spoke with personnel at the White Squirrel Bar in St. Paul on Tuesday, September 14, the complaint states.

Witness No. 2 said he/she had seen Flug-Presley in the White Squirrel with Antoine D. Suggs during the evening of September 11 and the early hours of September 12.

Witness No. 2 was able to positively identify Antoine D. Suggs from a photo line-up, and the witness was 90 percent certain Antoine Suggs was the person the witness had seen with Flug-Presley, according to the criminal complaint.

Witness No. 3 recalled seeing Flug-Presley with Antoine D. Suggs in the White Squirrel early Sunday morning, September 12.

Witness No. 3 also recalled that at 1:43 a.m., Flug-Presley had bought a shot of tequila and had handed it to Antoine Suggs.

All of the patrons were out of the White Squirrel by 2:08 a.m., Witness No. 3 said.

Law enforcement officers looked at street camera footage from around the White Squirrel and saw a dark SUV at around 2:08 a.m.

The passenger side door is open, and officers are able to see Jasmine Sturm run and then get into the dark SUV. The door in which Sturm got into the vehicle was the same location where Sturm’s deceased body was found in the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Positive ID

A deputy met with Witness No. 4 at the Bridge Stop in Wheeler on Tuesday, September 14, to do a photo line-up that had been provided by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which included a photo of Osborne.

Witness No. 4 positively identified Osborne as the individual who came into the Bridge Stop on Sunday, September 12, according to the criminal complaint.

St. Paul airport

A Dunn County investigator spoke with St. Paul airport police on Tuesday, September 14.

The airport police located a vehicle on surveillance video footage matching the description of the Mercedes Benz on Saturday, September 11, at 4:13 a.m.

The vehicle had the same license plate as the vehicle in which the four homicide victims were discovered in the Town of Sheridan, according to the criminal complaint.

In a still-frame photograph from the airport surveillance video, a man is getting out of the Mercedes Benz whose appearance matches the booking photograph and physical description of Antoine D. Suggs. A front seat passenger appears to be a woman, but she does not get out of vehicle, the complaint states.

Delta Airlines

An agent with the Minnesota BCA contacted Delta Airlines on Tuesday, September 14, about a flight that was purchased on Sunday, September 12, at 5:54 p.m. for Antoine Suggs that was scheduled to depart from Phoenix, Arizona, to Minneapolis on Sunday, September 12, at 6:51 p.m., according to the criminal complaint.

Delta Airlines confirmed that Antoine Suggs did not check in for the flight or scan onboard for the flight. The telephone number provided for the flight was the same telephone number that is associated with Antoine D. Suggs, the criminal complaint states.

Suggs

At the time the criminal complaint was filed in Dunn County on Wednesday, September 15, law enforcement officers had not been able to locate or speak to Antoine D. Suggs, according to the criminal complaint.

According to a news release from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department issued Friday afternoon, September 17, Antoine Darnique Suggs  had turned himself into the Gilbert, Arizona, Police Department on the Dunn County warrant that had been issued for Suggs’ arrest.

Suggs has been living in the Phoenix, Arizona, area before traveling back to Minnesota in the last couple of weeks, according to the news release.

At the time the news release was issued, it was not known how Suggs had gotten back to Arizona this week.

Suggs will be transported to the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix, Arizona, where he will await extradition to Wisconsin, the news release states.

The investigation will continue with the assistance of the St. Paul Police Department, the Minnesota BCA and the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigations, according to the news release.

According to online court records, Darren L. Osborne has been known to go by 12 different names, including Darren L. McWright, Darren McWright, Darren Lee McWright, Darrin K. Osborne, Darren K. Osborne and Darren Keith Osborne.

On Monday afternoon the St. Paul Police Department announced that they were taking over the lead investigation of the incident after it was determined that the murders occurred in St. Paul. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, FBI, and ATF are also working on the case.

Leave a Comment