Loyace Foreman III, 35, was identified on Tuesday as one of the four people who were found shot dead inside an SUV parked in a Wisconsin cornfield on Sunday
Authorities in Wisconsin on Tuesday identified the two men and two women who were found murdered inside an SUV with Minnesota license plates that was found abandoned in a cornfield over the weekend, revealing that all four had been shot to death.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd named the victims as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, from Stillwater, Minnesota; Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26; Loyace Foreman III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, all three from Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Autopsies that were performed on Monday by Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that all four victims died from gunshot wounds.
‘Our hearts go out to the family and friends of these victims,’ Bygd stated. ‘I wish we could release more details of our investigation but we have to balance the public’s desire to know the details with running the risk of harming our investigation and losing evidence for building a good homicide case.’
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Law enforcement officials in Wisconsin are pictured investigating a homicide involving four people who were found dead inside an SUV in the middle of a cornfield on Sunday
The crime scene is located in the town of Sheridan in Dunn County, Wisconsin, located about 70 miles east of Minneapolis
Deputies are seen walking through the field in search of clues as part of the homicide investigation on Tuesday
The sheriff’s has not disclosed a possible motive behind the killings. It is also unknown at this time what the four Minnesota residents were doing in rural Wisconsin at the time of their deaths.
The case began unfolding at around 2.20pm on Sunday when a 911 caller alerted deputies to the black SUV that was off a rural road in the Town of Sheridan, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office.
In a Facebook post Monday, sheriff’s officials said the victims do not appear to have any connection to the area. The posting also said there may have been a second dark-colored SUV traveling with the vehicle that was abandoned.
Dunn County, Wisconsin, is located about 70 miles east of Minneapolis.
The man who made the 911 call that set off the homicide investigation told News 18 he was working in a cornfield on Sunday afternoon when he came across the SUV. He approached the vehicle and saw multiple people inside who appeared to be dead.
Loyace Foreman III was the son of a pastor. He and victim Jessica Sturm were in a relationship
Audio from a police scanner obtained by the station KSTP has revealed that none of the victims was in the driver’s seat.
‘Do we have an accident, or we got something else?’ one officer asks.
‘It’s gonna be something else, from what I can tell,’ another replies cryptically.
Meanwhile, devastated family and friends have been flooding Facebook with tributes honoring the four victims.
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.’
According to recent social media posts, the 35-year-old man was in a romantic relationship with Jessica Sturm.
Sturm worked 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 are 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.
According to public records, Matthew Pettus was a relative of Sturm. He leaves behind a young daughter under the age of two.
No arrests have been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.
A man working in the field came across the abandoned black SUV and saw multiple dead bodies inside, which he then reported to the authorities
Officials have not revealed the identifies of the victims, or how they died
Investigators are asking local residents to come forward if they saw or heard someone who was walking in the Sheridan area
‘As we have learned more throughout our investigation, we do not believe there to be present danger to the public in the area,’ the sheriff’s office stated.
The Dunn County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Patrol and assisting in the investigation.
Investigators are asking local residents to come forward if they saw or heard someone who was walking in the Sheridan area, or going to a home to ask for a ride early Sunday morning or late Saturday night, reported WQOW.
Neighbors are being urged to lock their doors and be aware of their surroundings.
Source: Daily Mail
