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The man accused of shooting and killing four people whose bodies were found in an SUV hidden in a Wisconsin cornfield told his father he had “cracked,” according to charges on Tuesday.
The charges revealed that the four men were shot dead in the 7th Street W area of St. Paul before being driven 60 miles east to the Dunn County field, the charges say, with a surveillance video capturing images of a victim slumped in the front seat. Along the route.
The Ramsey County District Attorney’s Office has charged Antoine Darnique Suggs, 38, with four counts of second degree murder in the quadruple murders. Suggs surrendered to authorities in his home state of Arizona last week after authorities announced he was wanted for questioning.
He told his father that “he broke down and shot a few people”, according to the charges. Her father, Darren McWright, 56, is being held at Ramsey County Jail in connection with Suggs’ attempt to hide the victim’s bodies on the ground, authorities said.
“We are very relieved that the police investigation has provided enough information to initiate criminal proceedings today in this very disturbing matter,” County District Attorney John Choi said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims.”
The charges did not indicate a motive.
The bodies of Nitosha Flug-Presley of Stillwater, 30, Jasmine C. Sturm, 30, Matthew Pettus, 26, and Loyace Foreman III, 35, all of Saint-Paul, were discovered on September 12 in an SUV. Bloodied black Mercedes who had been trained in the field. The four were killed between 3.30am and 3.48am, depending on the charges.
Flug-Presley, who family members said was dating Suggs, was shot in the mouth, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner. Pettus had been shot twice in the head and had a third gunshot wound to his left arm. Foreman was shot in the face and on the top of his head. Sturm was shot, the bullet passing through his left palm before entering his left cheek and through his spinal cord.
Suggs roamed the Twin Cities for several hours, with surveillance video in three locations showing Flug-Presley’s body in the front passenger seat of Suggs vehicle.
Witnesses and surveillance video placed Suggs with the victims at the White Squirrel bar on W. 7th Street shortly after 1 a.m. on September 12. A witness told authorities she had an argument with Suggs at the bar while he was there with Flug-Presley, Sturm and Pettus.
“The man said something about having six children and it happens every time he comes back to Minnesota,” the charges say. The witness later identified Suggs among a series of photos as the man she had argued with.
Another witness said she was with Flug-Presley and saw her get into a black SUV with Pettus and Sturm, adding that Flug-Presley had not posted any messages on her Snapchat after leaving the bar. Suggs’ phone and surveillance video show that he and the black Mercedes SUV returned to the white squirrel around 2:50 a.m. and stayed parked there until 3:30 a.m.
The SUV then rounded W. 7th Street before passing a surveillance video camera at 7th and Walnut Streets at around 3:48 a.m., and the video shows Flug-Presley slumped in the front passenger seat, according to the charges.
Suggs called his father at 4:30 a.m. A few hours later, the SUV was again seen on surveillance video near University Avenue and Eustis Street at 7:42 a.m., this time with a Nissan Rogue leading the SUV. Flug-Presley can again be seen in the front seat.
The SUV is again seen on surveillance video at 9:48 a.m. at a Holiday gas station in Snelling Avenue North, still with Flug-Presley’s body in the front seat.
Suggs exited the vehicle and entered the store. He was not wearing a face cover and can be clearly seen, according to the charges.
Investigators used phone tracking data and surveillance video to track Suggs and his father as they drove through St. Paul for several hours before heading to Wisconsin. Both men left their phones in St. Paul as they headed east on Interstate 94, investigators said.
McWright was arrested first and he told investigators Suggs showed up at 5 a.m. on September 12 with his mother at the spot where McWright spent the night.
Suggs told her mother and father to look after her children and get along, and then Suggs’ mother left, according to the charges. Suggs then told his father to follow him in his mother’s vehicle, the Nissan Rogue.
Suggs eventually told his father that he shot “a few people” and that the shooting took place in a vehicle on West Seventh Street. McWright told authorities he took Suggs back to Minnesota after leaving the SUV in a cornfield, but denied knowing there were any bodies in the Mercedes.
Choi, in his statement on Tuesday, thanked the St. Paul Police Department, which is now the lead agency in the deaths, and other law enforcement agencies for their work in the case.
Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329
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