Case against man accused of killing 4, leaving bodies in SUV in Wisconsin field, finally moves forward

It's been more than six months since a Wisconsin farmer made a gruesome discovery: the bodies of four Twin Cities friends left in an SUV that had been dumped in the middle of a rural cornfield. 

The case made national headlines as investigators unraveled the disturbing mystery. But for the past half year, murder charges against the man believed to be responsible remained in a holding pattern, unable to move forward as the 38-year-old sat in an Arizona jail.

This week, that finally changed.

Antoine D. Suggs on Tuesday made his first Minnesota court appearance in the disturbing September case, according to court records. 

Prosecutors allege Suggs fatally shot Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, Matthew Isiah Pettus, Loyace Foreman III and Jasmine Christine Sturm while in an SUV in St. Paul, then drove that vehicle to rural Dunn County, Wisconsin, and left it there, with the bodies of the four friends still inside.

Suggs was charged in September with four counts of second-degree murder nine days after the victims were found. He had been arrested after turning himself in to Arizona authorities that same week.

So why did it take six months to get the case moving?

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office told Bring Me The News there were two main factors. First, COVID delayed courts across the U.S., including in Arizona where Suggs had been held since last fall. Second, Suggs would not waive extradition, which meant getting the Scottsdale man to Minnesota required more time as authorities went through appropriate legal processes. 

It took until this week to have Suggs extradited, and he was booked into Ramsey County Jail around 7 p.m. Monday, according to online records.

He'll have his next court hearing on April 5. 

Suggs was also charged in Dunn County, Wisconsin, with four counts of hiding a corpse, and has yet to make a court appearance there.

All four victims shot in the face, head

The four victims were found shot to death inside an SUV that had been abandoned in a rural Dunn County, Wisconsin, cornfield. The criminal charges allege Suggs shot all four while on Seventh Street in St. Paul, then drove them to the cornfield, with investigators using surveillance video, traffic cameras and blood splatter to trace his actions that morning.

When authorities arrived, the charges state, they found Flug-Presley slumped over in the front passenger seat, with a fatal gunshot wound to the mouth; Sturm was in the rear passenger seat, and died from a bullet that went through her left palm, then into her cheek; behind the driver's seat was her brother, Pettus, who had two gunshot wounds to the back of his head; and between Sturm and Pettus was Foreman III, who had suffered a gunshot wound to his face and head. 

You can read more details from the criminal charges here. 

Suggs' father, Darren Osborne, also faces charges in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Ramsey County prosecutors allege he lied to investigators in the days following the discovery of the bodies, and that he traveled to the Dunn County cornfield with his son, though in a separate vehicle.

An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for May 2, with a jury trial currently slated to begin June 27.