National

Four friends were found dead in an abandoned SUV in a cornfield. Police say the motive is ‘a mystery.’

By Timothy Bella
Yesterday at 5:20 p.m. EDT

Four young adults from Minnesota were found dead in an abandoned SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield, police said, in a quadruple homicide case that has more questions than answers now and has left families shattered.

The victims, friends all from the Twin Cities area, were probably driven to the small town of Sheridan, Wis., where they were found on Sunday, Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said at a Tuesday news conference. Autopsies performed Monday found that all died of gunshot wounds, police said.

“Obviously we’ve had homicides in the last several years,” Bygd told reporters, “but something of this magnitude … this is a first.”

The victims were identified as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater, Minn.; Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26, of St. Paul; Loyace Foreman III, 35, of St. Paul; and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, of St. Paul. Pettus and Sturm were half-siblings. Foreman and Sturm were in a relationship, while Flug-Presley was a close friend of Sturm.

Days later, police are still grappling with a case in which few details are known.

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By Timothy Bella
Timothy Bella is a staff writer and editor for the General Assignment team, focusing on national news. His work has appeared in outlets such as Esquire, the Atlantic, New York magazine and the Undefeated. Twitter https://twitter.com/TimBella