MENOMONY, Wisconsin. – Four people found dead in an abandoned SUV in a cornfield in western Wisconsin had been shot dead and were all from Minnesota, authorities reported Tuesday a case they described as a mystery.
Preliminary results of autopsies conducted Monday by the Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office showed the two men and two women died from gunshot wounds, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office said.
The victims were identified as Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26, Loyace Foremann III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, all of St. Paul; as well as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said Tuesday during a news conference that authorities do not believe the person or persons responsible for the killings are local or in the area. He said investigators have no reason.
“This is a mystery,” he said.
Authorities believe the four residents of the Twin Cities area died less than 24 hours after they were found and the location “was a place where these victims were taken at random,” Bygd said.
“Everyone is suspicious right now,” he said. “We’re looking at everyone and all the possibilities.”
Plug-Presley’s father, Damone Presley Sr., told St. Paul Pioneer Press that the four victims were in a St. Louis bar. Paul on Saturday night and they got into someone’s vehicle when they left.
“Why would that happen?” he said Tuesday. “… It just doesn’t make sense.”
A 911 call alerted deputies to the black SUV that was off a country road in Sheridan City on Sunday, according to the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s officials said earlier that there may be a second dark-colored SUV traveling with the vehicle that was abandoned.
The Wisconsin Criminal Investigation Division and the Wisconsin State Patrol are collaborating in the investigation.