Investigators are probing whether drugs were involved in the murder of four friends from St. Paul whose bodies were found inside an SUV that was dumped in a cornfield about an hour away in Wisconsin.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said investigators believe the victims 'were randomly brought to' the Town of Sheridan and that someone intentionally drove the SUV with the bodies into the tall corn.
The victims were identified as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, from the St. Paul suburb of Stillwater; and Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26; Loyace Foreman III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, all three from Saint Paul, Minnesota.
A farmer discovered the bodies on Sunday afternoon in the field about 65 miles east of St. Paul. All four had been shot dead.
Bygd said that motive in the case remains a mystery, and that all possibilities are under investigation, including the involvement of personal acquaintances, organized crime, or a drug connection.
He said as yet there was no preliminary evidence of drugs as a motive, but that 'it very well could be, and that's going to be discovered through our investigation.'
Victims Jasmine Sturm (left) and Matthew Pettus (right) were half-siblings, and worked together at Shamrocks Irish bar and grill in St. Paul
Victim Loyace Foreman III (left) was Sturm's boyfriend, while Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (right) was a friend of Sturm
Sturm and Pettus both worked at this Irish bar and restaurant in St Paul, a family member said
The victims, who included two bartenders at the Irish bar Shamrocks, had last been seen out drinking together in St. Paul on Saturday night, before leaving together in an unknown vehicle.
Bygd said that there was no connection between the victims and the area where their bodies were found, and that investigators suspect the killers did not a have a local connection either.
'We can't find any connection to this area, other than possibly randomly driving out of the Twin Cities,' the sheriff said.
Investigators believe the killer or killers brought a second vehicle to the dump site, and used it to escape. Police are seeking information about a possible second dark-colored SUV that may have been involved.
Investigators remain tight-lipped about many aspects of the case, and Bygd refused to answer many key questions, including ownership information for the SUV the bodies were found in, and the position of the bodies in the vehicle.
However, audio from a police scanner obtained by the station KSTP revealed that none of the victims were in the driver's seat.
Deputies are seen walking through the field in search of clues as part of the homicide investigation on Tuesday
