The suspects in the slaying of four close friends are a father and son and were known to at least one of the four victims whose bodies were found in a Wisconsin cornfield, her family has confirmed to DailyMail.com.
The older man, Darren McWright, was arrested Wednesday night while his son Antoine Suggs, remains on the loose, believed to be in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Suggs is described by police as armed and dangerous.
Damone Presley, the father of victim Nitosha Flug-Presley, says the last time he saw McWright, 56, was in the Little Six Casino in Prior Lake, Minnesota, when the man now accused of killing his daughter approached him to offer his condolences on the death of Presley’s father.
‘We go way back,’ said Presley, 50, standing outside his home in St. Paul. ‘I wouldn’t say he was a close family friend but he was a well-known friend of the family.
‘He certainly wasn’t a stranger.
‘We go way back,’ said Damone Presley, 50, of 56-year-old Darren McWright, who is accused of killing his daughter Nitosha Flug-Presley and three of her friends. ‘I wouldn’t say he was a close family friend but he was a well-known friend of the family’
Darren Lee McWright, left, was arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of four friends in Wisconsin. Police are looking for Antoine Darnique Suggs, a possible accomplice
‘Just a month and a half ago I spoke to him — or should I say he spoke to me.
‘My father had passed last year in December, so he came up to me in the casino and gave his condolence — we shared our childhood memories and chit-chatted about some of the work I and my parents have done in the community.’
He said he hadn’t seen McWright — who also uses the alibi Darren Osborne — in four years prior to that.
Flug-Presley, 30, was one of four people found shot to death in an abandoned SUV in rural Sheridan, Wisconsin, some 70 miles from the Twin Cities. Also dead were her close friend Jasmine Sturm, 30, and Sturm’s brother Matthew Pettus, 26, and boyfriend Loyace Foreman III, 35,
The four had all gone out to Shamrocks a popular bar in downtown St. Paul on Saturday night. Their bodies were found the following afternoon. None of the victims had any ties to Sheridan, which is in Dunn County, Wisconsin.
However, there is an outstanding Dunn County warrant for the arrest of McWright, the Star-Tribune reported.
Victims Jasmine Sturm (left) and Matthew Pettus (right) were half-siblings, and worked together at Shamrocks Irish bar and grill in St. Paul
Victim Loyace Foreman III (left) was Sturm’s boyfriend, while Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (right) was a friend of Sturm
Presley said his daughter also knew Suggs, 38, who was even in her house at her son’s birthday party earlier this year.
‘He is a friend of two of her cousins and at our last gathering three months ago I remember seeing him there.
‘I am trying to process it all now,’ Presley added.
And he had a message for his erstwhile friend and his son. ‘How dare you?’ he raged. ‘How dare you?
‘But justice will be served. Not only for you but to everyone else involved. Justice will come.’
Presley has been involved in social issues in the Rondo area of St. Paul for years. A yard sign on his front lawn reads: ‘Guns Down St. Paul.’
He said he believed McWright would have stopped the murders if he had known that his daughter was one of the intended victims as disputes in the area are normally settled between family elders
‘It really alarms me that if he had any indication that she was a Presley — because our family is well known in the community — that he would not have stopped this tragic thing that happened.’
He said he is convinced there are more than the father and son involved in the slayings of his daughter and her friends. ‘Four young people died,’ he said. ‘That wasn’t the work of one or two people.’
Pettus’s brother Zach Pettus had earlier told the Star-Tribune that he had an idea knew who had killed the quartet.
But when contacted by DailyMail.com after McWright’s arrest he said he had ‘spoken too soon’ and had no further comment.
Public records show McWright has a long rap sheet going back years. The offences include several DWIs and assaults.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said investigators believe the bodies ‘were randomly brought to’ the Town of Sheridan and that someone intentionally drove the SUV into the tall corn
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said he believed the four bodies were randomly brought to Sheridan from the Twin Cities.
Bygd said that motive in the case remains a mystery, and that all possibilities are under investigation, including the involvement of personal acquaintances, organized crime, or a drug connection.
He said earlier this week there was no preliminary evidence of drugs as a motive, but that ‘it very well could be, and that’s going to be discovered through our investigation.’
Investigators believe the killers brought a second vehicle to the dump site and used it to escape. Police are seeking information about a possible second dark-colored SUV that may have been involved.
Investigators remain tight-lipped about many aspects of the case, and Bygd refused to answer many key questions, including ownership information for the SUV the bodies were found in, and the position of the bodies in the vehicle.
However, audio from a police scanner obtained by the station KSTP revealed that none of the victims were in the driver’s seat.
Autopsies that were performed on Monday by Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office in St. Paul determined that all four victims died from gunshot wounds.
Loyace Foreman III was the son of Loyace Foreman Jr, senior pastor at New Vision Faith Center in Saint Paul.
‘He was stolen from us,’ Loyace’s mother, Jessica, wrote in a post. ‘And we will find the thief. If it takes my very last breath. We will not rest. Loyace PulzeRazr Foreman III was my Prince.’
Presley, 30, Matthew Pettus, 26, Loyace Foreman III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, were found murdered inside the car in a field in Sheridan, rural Wisconsin, Sunday afternoon. Pictured the scene taped off
According to recent social media posts, the 35-year-old Foreman III had two children and was in a romantic relationship with Jessica Sturm.
He worked as a demolition contractor and enjoyed drawing in his free time.
‘He was a doting uncle to his four nieces and nephews,’ Jessica Foreman told Twin Cities. ‘He was the protector of his three sisters. He was not perfect and we loved him unconditionally. He left an unfillable void.’
Investigators remain tight-lipped about many aspects of the case, and Bygd refused to answer many key questions, including ownership information for the SUV the bodies were found in, and the position of the bodies in the vehicle
Sturm, who worked a second job as a paralegal at a law firm, and was raising her two sons, ages 11 and 5. The youngest boy had just celebrated his birthday last month.
Mourners online described Strum and Nitosha Flug-Presley as very close friends.
‘There was never a time where i would see 1 without the other,’ a mutual friend wrote. ‘Y’all were literally inseparable and to think we lost y’all together don’t even sit right.’
Flug-Presley leaves behind a young son and daughter.
‘She was an outgoing person, a very good mother, exceptional daughter,’ Presley’s father said. ‘She was very vibrant, she had a good heart, someone who would lift up your spirits.’