Miller County victims linked to homicide suspect by ex-wife

UNION COUNTY, SD (KMIZ)

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that two people found dead in Miller County on Wednesday were linked to JT McLean through one of his ex-wives.

McLean is accused of killing four people, including a Boone County mother and 11-year-old daughter and two people from Miller County. McLean was found dead in South Dakota.

According to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, JT McLean, 45, was found in the area near Dakota Dunes late Wednesday night in a vehicle parked at a motel. This was after the Miller County Sheriff’s Office said it found the bodies of a man and woman in the 300 block of D Road in Kaiser. The sheriff has identified McLean as a suspect in these murders.

Watch an update on the case and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office press conference in the player below.

The Sheriff’s Office later identified the Miller County victims as Daniel Stephan, 74, and Pamela Stephan, 64. Authorities have not disclosed how the Stephans died.

MPs said OnStar helped investigators locate McLean after stealing the vehicle from one of the victims.

A drone was used to fly over the vehicle to make contact with McLean, according to the sheriff’s office. MPs said he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Union County, SD, Sheriff Dan Limoges said he was convinced McLean’s death was suicide and that he would not order an autopsy. Authorities in Missouri will be able to take custody of McLean’s body once authorities in South Dakota release him, he said.

Limoges said he didn’t know why McLean was in the area, but noted a family connection to the area.

Click on the text windows in the timeline below for more details.

The US Marshal’s office in Sioux City, Iowa, also reported that McLean had family in the area. According to the sheriff’s office, these family members have been moved from their homes to a safer location.

McLean is accused of killing Allison Abitz, 43, and her daughter, Jose Abitz, 11, at their home in south Columbia on August 22.

He is also wanted in Miller County in connection with two other homicide investigations.

During the Miller County investigation, MPs found an unregistered motorcycle with McLean’s name in the woods near the Stephans’ residence that authorities believed McLean had used to leave the crime scene ago two weeks.

Captain Brian Leer, of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, said the department was using technology to figure out what McLean was doing over the past two weeks. Captain Leer says there were indications McLean was in the middle of Missouri this week.

Boone County prosecutors charged McLean last month with two counts of first degree murder in the death of the Abtizes. Investigators say witnesses and surveillance video link him to the house where they died the night before their bodies were found.

Court documents show McLean was ordered to stay away from his ex-wife and child in August 2017.

Check back for updates to this developing story.