Hey, all my fellow Crime Connoisseurs, I'm your host, Grace D! Today's case is one I have been following since the beginning. This case is one that should've made national headlines but quickly was put on the back burner by the nation because of another case that happened the very next day. We are going back to September 2021. This is the case of the St. Paul Quadruple Homicide.
On Sunday afternoon, September 12, 2021, 63-year-old farmhand Dennis Scheffer was driving a tractor in Sheridan Township, Wisconsin. While on the tractor, Dennis noticed cornstalks had been knocked down and saw vehicle tire tracks. Dennis and the landowner, Neil Schlough, went to inspect the situation in the cornfield. They soon came across a dark-colored SUV parking in the cornfield.
They walked over to the Mercedes-Benz SUV and looked inside. Here they found a woman slumped over in the front passenger seat. There was also a man with his head tipped back and a blank stare in his eyes. Dennis called 911, and the Dunn County Sherriff's Department began their investigation.
When investigators arrived, they quickly learned of the gruesome scene. Inside the Mercedes-Benz SUV were not two but four bodies fatally shot. Blood had pooled beneath the Mercedes-Benz, and there was blood spatter in a rear wheel well, leading investigators to believe the murders occurred elsewhere and that the bodies had been transported and abandoned at that location. After investigating what happened before and after the bodies were discovered, it was determined the killings occurred in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The black Mercedes-Benz SUV had Minnesota tags, and inside, along with the bodies, investigators found six shell casings and an Arizona identification card covered in blood of a man named Antoine Suggs. Investigators also found a receipt for the White Squirrel showing a purchase had been made at 1:38 am on September 12, 2021. Investigators recovered phones belonging to each of the victims in the Mercedes-Benz.
The victims were 35-year-old Loyace Foreman III, 26-year-old Matthew Pettus, 30-year-old Nitosha Flug-Presley, and 30-year-old Jasmine Sturm. Jasmine and Matthew were siblings, and Loyace and Jasmine were a couple who each had two children of their own and were starting to blend their family. Matthew had a daughter of his own, who was a year and a half that he was so excited about. Nitosha was a mother of two children as well. She had a thing going on with the man whose ID was found in the SUV.
The Ramsey County medical examiner's autopsy report revealed that each victim had been shot in the head at least once. Nitosha was found in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound that entered her mouth, went through her cervical spine and spinal cord, and exited the back of her head. Matthew had two gunshot wounds to the back of his head and a third gunshot wound to his left arm.
Loyace had a gunshot wound to his face and a gunshot wound to the top of his head. The cause of his death is cerebral lacerations and exsanguination due to gunshot wounds to the head.
Jasmine, this one got me; she had a gunshot wound that entered, exited her left palm, and reentered her left cheek, transecting her spinal cord. It was as if she had her hand up in hopes she wouldn't be shot.
Three days later, on Wednesday, September 15, St. Paul officers arrested 56-year-old Darren McWright, who goes by the last name Osborne, of St. Paul, Minnesota, in connection to the murders. Osborne was held in the Ramsey County Jail. Two days after this, on September 17, Osborne's son, 37-year-old Antoine Suggs, turned himself in to the police in Gilbert, Arizona, after investigators announced he was wanted for questioning.
According to Dunn County District Court records, both men were charged with four counts of hiding a corpse. On Monday, September 20, 2021, the St. Paul Police Department announced their department's Homicide Unit would now lead the investigation. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the FBI, and ATF also worked on the case. The Dunn County Sheriff's Office, which initially took the lead, continued to assist in the case to help bring all parties responsible to justice.
Suggs was seen at the same bar as the four victims on September 12, and an employee saw him arguing with a woman resembling Nitosha. The employee said Suggs said something about "having six children and this happening every time he comes back to Minnesota."
Investigators believe the four victims were killed somewhere along West Seventh St in St. Paul between 3:30–3:48 am. At 4:30 am, Suggs attempted to call his dad, but he didn't pick up. Suggs and his mom showed up at Osborne's sometime around 5 am. They got into Suggs' mom's Nissan Rogue and drove around for a while before eventually ending up at the mom's house.
According to Osborne, he told police Suggs said, "Dad, I need you to drive my mom's car and follow me and don't ask no questions." Osborne said, "it's devastating when it's your own kid." He said Suggs told him that the shooting happened in the car on West Seventh St, which is what police suspected.
Osborne admitted he gave his son a ride from Wisconsin to Minnesota after they left the Benz in a cornfield. He said that Suggs didn't tell him the bodies were in the SUV until after they returned to Minnesota, and he denied going into the cornfield. Osborne said Suggs told him that "he snapped and shot a couple of people."
Investigators obtained multiple surveillance videos tracking the movements from the murder to the dumping of the bodies and talked with several witnesses. Witnesses told police that Jasmine, Matthew, and Loyace hung out on the patio at Shamrock's, located at 955 Seventh Street West in St. Paul, after midnight until closing at 1:00 am on September 12, 2021. Surveillance video from the bar showed Jasmine, Matthew, and Loyace walking away from the bar's patio area around 1:26 am.
An employee at the White Squirrel at 974 Seventh Street West in St. Paul told investigators that Jasmine and Matthew entered the bar after 1:00 am on Sunday morning. The employee said a photo of Nitosha looked like the woman in the bar with Jasmine. The employee said Nitosha was with a man the witness argued with.
The employee picked Suggs out of a photo lineup as the man she argued with in the bar. Another witness told police that she went to Shamrocks and a second bar with Nitosha. When they left the second bar, Nitosha got into the front passenger seat of a black SUV. The witness said Jasmine got into the back of the black SUV with her brother, Matthew. The witness left in her own vehicle. The witness said Nitosha did not make any posts to her Snapchat after they left the second bar.
Suggs phone and surveillance video shows that he and the black Mercedes SUV returned to the White Squirrel at about 2:50 am and remained parked until 3:30 am. The SUV then drove around West Seventh St before passing a surveillance camera at West Seventh and Walnut St at about 3:48 am, where the video shows Nitosha slumped over in the front passenger seat.
Several hours later, the SUV is seen again on surveillance videos at 7:42 am near University Ave and Eustis St, this time with a Nissan Rogue following and Nitosha still able to be seen slumped in the front seat. At 9:48 am, the SUV is seen at a Holiday gas station at Snelling Ave North, with Nitosha's body in the front seat. Next, Suggs gets out of the SUV and enters the store, clearly visible.
With phone tracking data and surveillance videos, investigators were able to follow Suggs and Osborne as they drove around St. Paul for several hours before going to Wisconsin. At 10:06 am on September 12, 2021, cell phone tower data show that Matthew's phone was in the area of Interstate 94 and Dale Street heading east towards Wisconsin.
At around 10:26 am on September 12, a Department of Transportation video showed the Mercedes-Benz and Nissan Rogue at the Minnesota and Wisconsin border. Between 10:13 am and 11:16 am, Suggs' and Osborne's phones only received incoming calls that went straight to voicemail. The phones stayed in the area of Lexington Parkway and Interstate 94. They left their cell phones behind in Minnesota when they drove to Wisconsin in the Mercedes-Benz and Nissan Rogue.
Surveillance videos show the Mercedes and the Nissan at a gas station in Wheeler, Wisconsin, around 12:08 pm the day the bodies were discovered. The gas station is about ten miles from the cornfield where the Mercedes-Benz was recovered. The Nissan Rogue's driver went into the store, purchased items, and walked to the Mercedes-Benz, where he handed something to the driver through the Mercedes driver's window. Suggs' father was identified as the man who drove the Nissan Rogue.
Suggs' father also approached and stood at the Mercedes-Benz's open passenger window while it was in the gas station parking lot. They left the gas station in both vehicles, heading in the direction of the cornfield where the Mercedes-Benz would later be discovered. When investigators went to the gas station, they found blood evidence in the parking lot where the Mercedes was parked.
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, Osborne was charged with aiding an offender in connection with the quadruple homicide. Suggs was charged with four counts of second-degree murder. It's now March, and it took six months to get Suggs into court for two main reasons.
At this time, COVID was still delaying courts across the US, including Arizona, where Suggs had been since the fall. On top of that, Suggs would NOT waive extradition, meaning getting him from Scottsdale to Minnesota required more time as authorities went through the appropriate legal processes. Two Ramsey County sheriff's deputies went to Arizona, took Suggs into custody, and flew back to Minnesota with him on March 28, said Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin.
On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, Suggs appeared in court for his bail hearing. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Andrew Johnson requested that Suggs' bail be set at $10 million. He cited the seriousness of the offenses and said Sugg was a flight risk. Suggs' attorney, Kevin DeVore, did not make a bail argument during the hearing. Senior Judge Janet Poston set Suggs' bail at $10 million. His trial would be set for March of 2023.
On December 9, 2022, Osborne was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Osborne pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding an offender being an accomplice after the fact as part of a plea agreement. He was sentenced to 58 months in jail with 458 days of credit for time served.
Osborne offered a lengthy apology in the courtroom, telling the victim's families he would gladly trade places with the four victims. He called them "heroes" in death and added, "I thank God no one else was killed."
Loved ones wanted to know why Osborne did not call the police and hold his son accountable. Ashli Jones said, "Absolutely, he has a part in this. If he would have called, as my mother said, their heart was still beating. If there was blood still flowing, one of them could have been saved."
According to the Department of Corrections records, Osborne is expected to be released from prison with time served on November 26, 2024, and then be placed on supervised release. He is currently serving his sentence at Minnesota Correctional Facility - Lino Lakes.
Jury selection for Suggs' trial began on March 20, 2023. In his opening testimony, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Andrew Johnson during his opening statement told the jury, "A camera caught the audio as it was driving by...boom, boom...boom, boom." Suggs' attorney, Kevin DeVore, told Judge JaPaul Harris the defense would defer its opening statement until later in the trial.
The prosecution entered into evidence photos of the victims taken by crime scene investigators. The photos showed blood splattered across seats, pooled onto floorboards, and caked on the faces of the victims. Due to the graphic nature of the images, Judge Harris had to call a brief recess after people in the courtroom gallery gasped and sobbed. After the break, Judge Harris addressed the court. He said, "I really and fully appreciate the gravity it is for all of you and how hard it is for you to see what you're seeing."
Another photo was presented as evidence. It was Suggs' Arizona ID on the floor of the SUV, most of it covered in blood. The prosecution then showed the jury a video taken just shortly after noon on September 12 at the Bridge Stop gas station in Wheeler, Wisconsin.
In the footage, you see a Nissan Rogue pull up, then a black Mercedes-Benz. The drivers appeared to exchange something, then the Benz drove away, followed by the Nissan.
So just to recap, according to the police investigations, the timeline of events leading to the murders unfolded over a two- to three-hour timeframe in the early morning hours of September 12 and were presented to the court as follows:
- 1 am — Witnesses told police Jasmine and Loyace, who were dating, and Matthew were hanging out on the patio at Shamrocks bar.
- After 1 am — An employee at the White Squirrel Bar told police that Jasmine had come in and that Nitosha was with a man who looked like Suggs.
- 1:38 am — Investigators found a receipt for the White Squirrel from a purchase by Loyace. A witness told police the group got into a black Mercedes SUV.
- 2:50 am — Suggs returns to the White Squirrel.
- 3:08 am — According to phone data, Loyace creates a phone contact for Suggs.
- 3:30 am — Suggs' phone and the Mercedes park for a bit. This is within the timeframe that police believe Suggs shot the four victims.
- 3:48 am — Surveillance video shows the Mercedes driving west on Seventh Street toward the McDonald's near Madison Street. The SUV heads toward Shepard Road but returns to Seventh Street and heads east. Video surveillance captures the passenger side, and Nitosha is slumped over in the seat.
- 4:30 am — Suggs calls his father, Darren Osborne, 56, of St. Paul.
- 5:00 am — Suggs meets up with his dad. He tells Osborne he shot a couple of people, asks him to follow him in another vehicle so he can get rid of the car, and then give him a ride back.
- 7:42 am — Surveillance video from University Avenue and Eustis Street shows the Mercedes following a Nissan Rogue. Nitosha is seen slumped in the same position she was found dead in hours later.
- 9:48 am — Video from the Holiday gas station at 281 N. Snelling Ave. shows the Mercedes at a gas pump. Nitosha's body is visible. Suggs entered the store.
- 10:06 am — Cell tower data show Matthew's phone in the area of I-94 and Dale Street, heading east toward Wisconsin.
- 10:26 am — Minnesota Department of Transportation video shows the Mercedes and Nissan at the Minnesota and Wisconsin border.
- 2:18 pm — The Mercedes and the four bodies are discovered in a Dunn County, Wisconsin, cornfield.
Nitosha's cousin, Dominique Neal-Hill, testified that he sold Suggs the Mercedes-Benz through his parents' small auto dealership a few days before the killings. He said that Suggs gave him half of the $7,000 sale of the SUV and that he would keep the certificate until Suggs gave him the rest of the money.
The prosecution's last witness was Suggs' younger brother, Darren Suggs. Darren did not cooperate with the prosecution. When asked if either of his parents ever owned a Nissan, he said he couldn't recall and stated, "I don't see why I'm here."
Darren then exercised his 5th Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination after the prosecutor asked if he had spoken with his father after the murders. After a recess, Judge Harris said Darren would be appointed an attorney in order to continue his testimony throughout the trial.
Suggs testified that he shot the four victims in self-defense because he thought they were going to rob him. Prosecutors said his motive was unclear but that Suggs meant to kill the victims after a night of drinking in St. Paul.
On March 31, 2023, a jury found Antoine Suggs guilty on four counts of murder in the second degree of Nitosha Flug-Presley, Matthew Pettus, Jasmine Sturm, and Loyace Foreman III. On Monday, May 15, 2023, Suggs returned to court to face his sentencing.
The prosecution requested a consecutive sentence, while the defense requested a concurrent sentence. Nine people gave victim impact statements, and Suggs had 26 people write to the judge on his behalf.
When Suggs was allowed to speak on his behalf during the sentencing, he painted himself as the victim. He said that the four were trying to rob him, and he had no choice but to act in self-defense. I'm going to play a clip of his statement to the judge.
(INSERT AUDIO)
Suggs went on to say, "Their actions were the cause of their untimely death." After everyone made their statements, Judge Harris called for a short recess. He took a 15-minute break to consider what the loved ones said in their impact statements. When he returned to the courtroom, he told the loved ones that they were "never going to get an answer as to why Mr. Suggs did what he did."
I have a clip on Judge Harris addressing Suggs that I'm going to play for you guys.
(INSERT AUDIO)
Judge Harris said it was clear during the trial that Suggs expressed no remorse for what had happened. Judge Harris handed down a sentence of 1,244 months to be served consecutively. He said, "Each one of these individuals...deserve that you serve time for each one of them." He directly addressed Suggs saying, "You cast blame on others, and this is a sentence you now have to take responsibility for."
According to an article from Fox 9, after the sentencing was imposed and the court was adjourned, loved ones of the victims and Suggs exchanged words. The groups were escorted out separately by some of the 12 Sheriff's deputies assigned to the courtroom for security purposes.
Antoine Suggs is serving his time at Minnesota Correctional Facility - St. Cloud and will have to serve a minimum of just over 69 years. Suggs's anticipated release date is October 30, 2090; he will be 107 years old.
Nitosha was a beautiful, vibrant, loving mother, sister, daughter, niece, grandchild, and genuine friend to those she extended herself to. She had a zeal for life and an energy that radiated and lit up the space around her.
Matthew was a loving father, son, brother, and friend, who was always on the move, and he questioned everything. He was creative and gifted musically. Those who knew him well would tell you he knew every song written by Frank Sinatra, and if you stuck around long enough, he might even break into song.
Jasmine was a loving mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Jasmine's zest for life and infectious smile captivated everyone around her. She loved fashion, all things Audrey Hepburn and was very involved in community activism. Those lucky enough to call her a friend knew her to be fiercely loyal and someone they could always count on.
Loyace was a son, father, brother, and friend. He loved art and music. He was a sweet, friendly, and funny guy, leaving behind the broken hearts of his two sons, parents, siblings, and many friends.
And that's the case of the St. Paul Quadruple Homicide. A tragic murder that we may never know the real answer as to why Suggs pulled the trigger so many times, taking the lives of four loving souls. You can listen to Crime Connoisseurs wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to follow on Instagram at Crime Connoisseurs. Click the link in the bio and fill out the form for any case suggestions you have. In the meantime, keep it classy, Connoisseurs, and I'll catch ya on the next case.