'This Is Not A Freak Accident': 4 Found Dead In Abandoned SUV In Western Wisconsin Identified
UPDATE (Sept. 16): One person is in custody and another person is still at large, according to the Dunn County Sheriff's Office. Read the latest update here.
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Four Minnesotans were found killed in western Wisconsin this weekend.
The victims were discovered in an abandoned SUV in the town of Sheridan in northern Dunn County.
The Dunn County sheriff says all four died of gunshot wounds.
"I'm numb. I feel empty," said Damone Presley, the father of Nitosha Presley, one of the victims. Nitosha was 30 and lived in Stillwater.
"She was a beautiful mother, granddaughter, just an inspiration and joy in my life," Damone said. "Good heart, a teddy bear as a person. Well-liked."
Nitosha leaves behind two children, ages 4 and 11.
One of the other victims was also a parent.
Loyace Foreman III had a 7 and a 13-year-old, according to his mother, Jessica Foreman. He was 35 and from St. Paul.
Jessica said in a text message, "He was loving, funny, connected and human. We loved him unconditionally. He leaves an unimaginable void in our life." She also noted he was an artist.
The sheriff says the two other victims are Matthew Pettus, a 26-year-old, and Jasmine Sturm, a 30-year-old, both from St. Paul. They were brother and sister.
Damone says the four were friends.
"I'm lost for words," he said. "[Nitosha] doesn't know nobody in Wisconsin, let alone to be in Wisconsin."
Damone says the black SUV the victims were found in belonged to someone his daughter knew.
Police are looking for information about the vehicle as well as a second dark SUV that may have been traveling with the first.
"Somebody knows something. This doesn't just happen," Damone said. "This is not a freak accident. Please somebody say something."
A GoFundMe for Foreman's burial and to provide for his children has been created.
"We are confident this is a place these victims were randomly brought to," Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said.
The sheriff's office is also looking into who owned the SUV, and how the suspect or suspects left the area.
They are asking for tips about a second dark SUV with Minnesota license plates.
"We don't believe they're from area, therefore we believe they left in a vehicle," Bygd said.
We're told the victims were last seen in St. Paul on Saturday. One of the victims worked that night at Shamrock's Bar and Grill on West Seventh Street.
The bar held an employee dinner Tuesday so they could grieve together.
