Dunn County judge finds Minn. man accused of hiding 4 corpses competent to proceed
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by LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has determined that a Minnesota man accused of being a party to the crime of hiding four corpses in northern Dunn County is competent to proceed.
Darren L. Osborne, age 59, appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court with his attorney, Shirlene Perrin, before Judge James Peterson on August 9 for a competency hearing.
Perrin had filed a motion with the court for a competency hearing on June 17.
Judge Peterson, who had noted that he had observed Osborne becoming upset because Osborne’s orders were not followed, ordered a competency hearing by the Wisconsin Forensic Unit and also warned Osborne about firing his second attorney, according to on-line court records.
Osborne had previously been represented by attorney Travis Satorius.
During a court hearing May 10, Osborne said he wanted to fire Satorius, and Judge Peterson relieved Satorius of representing the defendant.
During the August 9 hearing, Osborne told the court he is competent to proceed with the case.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf told the court that she believed Osborne was competent to proceed as well.
Judge Peterson had received a competency report from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and subsequently found that Osborne is competent to proceed with the case.
According to Wisconsin statute 971.14(4)(b): “At the commencement of the hearing, the judge shall ask the defendant whether he or she claims to be competent or incompetent. If the defendant stands mute or claims to be incompetent, the defendant shall be found incompetent unless the state proves by the greater weight of the credible evidence that the defendant is competent. If the defendant claims to be competent, the defendant shall be found competent unless the state proves by evidence that is clear and convincing that the defendant is incompetent.”
Attorney
During the August 9 hearing, Osborne also told the judge that he wanted an attorney to represent him who would do what Osborne wanted the attorney to do and said that he also wanted a change of venue for his case.
There has been no arraignment yet in this case, and if Osborne wants a substitution of a different judge, then the substitution must be completed prior to an arraignment hearing, Judge Peterson said.
In addition, Osborne told the judge he wanted to fire Perrin as the attorney representing him.
Judge Peterson relieved Perrin of her duties and then told Osborne that he would not request another public defender appointment and also would not appoint a court-appointed judge if Osborne is eligible for a public defender.
When Osborne had fired Satorius in May, Satorius had told the court that if Osborne wanted a new attorney, then the public defender’s office would have to hire outside counsel to represent Osborne.
After Judge Peterson relieved Perrin of her duties, Osborne told the judge he wanted time to think about the idea of a substitution with a different judge.
The arraignment hearing for Osborne is scheduled for August 15.
Judge Peterson set bail at $50,000 cash for Osborne on May 31.
At the time of the August 9 hearing, Osborne remained in custody at the Dunn County jail.
Victims
Osborne is charged in connection with a quadruple homicide that occurred in Minnesota in September of 2021.
The bodies of the four people who were murdered were left in a vehicle in a corn field in the Town of Sheridan after being shot to death by Antoine D. Suggs, who is Osborne’s son.
Suggs drove the vehicle containing the four bodies, and Osborne accompanied him in another vehicle so Suggs would have a ride back to Minnesota after abandoning the vehicle with the bodies in a corn field.
Suggs and Osborne stopped at the Bridge Stop in Wheeler before proceeding north on state Highway 25.
Suggs was convicted by a Ramsey County, Minnesota, jury on four counts of second degree murder (with intent, not premeditated) in March of 2023, and was sentenced in May of 2023 to 103 years in prison.
The victims were Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (age 30) (found in the front passenger seat of the SUV); Jasmine Christine Sturm (age 31) (rear passenger side); Loyace Foreman III (age 35) (center rear seat); Matthew Isiah Pettus (age 26) (rear driver’s side seat).
Suggs previously was charged with four counts of hiding a corpse in Dunn County, but those charges were dropped.
Judge Peterson dismissed the case against Suggs on August 2, 2023, after Suggs had been convicted of the murders and sentenced to serve more than 100 years in prison.
Bridge Stop
When Osborne agreed to talk to investigators, he told them that he had followed Suggs around to various gas stations in St. Paul, that Suggs had told his father “he snapped and shot a couple people,” and that Suggs said the shooting happened in the vehicle on Seventh Street in St. Paul.
Osborne denied knowing the bodies of the people his son had shot were in the vehicle that he and Suggs had abandoned in the corn field.
After receiving 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., 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, 2021, according to the criminal 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, identified by investigators as Osborne, goes into the store to purchase some items and then exits the store.
A black Mercedes, which Suggs was driving, pulled into the parking lot next to the Nissan Rouge.
Osborne went over to the Mercedes to talk with Suggs and the two appeared to exchange something.
The Mercedes can then be seen traveling north on state Highway 25, followed by the Nissan.
The body of Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (age 30) (found in the front passenger seat of the SUV) appears likely to have been in the front seat of the vehicle at the Bridge Stop when Osborne talked to Suggs.
According to the statement of probable cause from Ramsey County, Minnesota, surveillance video from Seventh Street and Walnut Street in St. Paul showed the Mercedes at 3:48 a.m., and it appears one of the victims is already slumped over in the front passenger seat.
“Investigators believe that Suggs killed the four victims in the area of Seventh Street in St. Paul, Ramsey County, between 3:30 a.m. and 3:48 a.m. on September 12, 2021,” according to the statement of probable cause.
