Charges: St. Paul father says he didn't know 4 bodies were in SUV son drove

A felony case has been filed against the father of a man charged earlier with fatally shooting four people in St. Paul and leaving their bodies in a vehicle abandoned in a western Wisconsin farm field.

Darren L. Osborne, 56, of St. Paul was charged late Wednesday afternoon in Ramsey County District Court with aiding and abetting an offender after the fact in connection with the killings that occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 12.

Osborne, who also goes by the surname McWright, appeared in court Thursday morning and remains in the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $2 million bail before a court appearance Thursday. A public defender has yet to be assigned to him; his next court appearance is Oct. 28.

The criminal complaint alleges that Osborne and his son Antoine Darnique Suggs, 38, went in separate SUVs to the Town of Sheridan in Dunn County, then Osborne drove his son back after the Mercedes-Benz SUV and the bodies were abandoned on Sept. 12 in the cornfield about 60 miles east of St. Paul.

What Osborne doesn't acknowledge, according to the complaint, is knowing there were bodies in the SUV. Once Osborne realized what his son may have done, the father had no insight for investigators about a motive behind the killings, the complaint continued.

Suggs, 38, surrendered on Sept. 17 in his home state of Arizona and has been charged with four counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Matthew Pettus, 26, and half-sister Jasmine C. Sturm, 30, both of St. Paul; Sturm's boyfriend, Loyace Foreman III, 35, also of St. Paul; and Nitosha Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater, a close friend of Sturm's who also may have been dating Suggs at some time.

A motive has yet to surface for the killings, other than Suggs allegedly telling law enforcement that he just "snapped."

The criminal complaint against Osborne echoes much of what the charges against Suggs say regarding the movements of the four from one W. 7th Street bar in St. Paul on Sept. 12 to another before Suggs allegedly shot all four as they sat in the SUV.

Prosecutors say in the criminal complaint against Osborne that the father drove to a gas station about 10 miles south of the farm field after the killings and met with his son, who was there with all four bodies in the Mercedes SUV early the next afternoon.

"Osborne … approached and stood at the Mercedes-Benz's open passenger window next to [Flug-Presley's] hunched-over body while in the gas station parking lot," the complaint against the father reads. "Both vehicles left the gas station headed in the direction of the cornfield where the Mercedes-Benz was discovered."

Earlier street surveillance video in St. Paul shows the Mercedes near the intersection of W. 7th and Walnut streets shortly after 3:45 a.m., and "it appears that [Flug-Presley] is already slumped over in the front passenger seat," the complaint continues.

According to the complaint:

Additional surveillance video showed the Mercedes and Osborne's SUV both at University Avenue and Eustis Street in St. Paul about 7:40 a.m. Shortly after 10 a.m., traffic video showed both SUVs at the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

After his arrest, Osborne told Dunn County investigators that he knew nothing about the killings and did not see anyone with his son when he was near the Mercedes in the gas station parking lot.

Osborne explained that during those overnight hours, his son said to him, " 'Dad, I need you to drive my mom's car, and follow me and don't ask any questions,' " the complaint read.

That's when Osborne got in the mother's SUV and followed Suggs to Wisconsin.

Osborne said he thought the trouble was over a drug deal and couldn't see the bodies inside the Mercedes because of the heavily tinted windows. He said he didn't know about the killings until hearing about them on the news.

"It's devastating when it's your own kid," the complaint quoted the father as telling homicide investigators.

Osborne, who brought Suggs back to the Twin Cities after the Mercedes was abandoned, said his son told him that "he snapped and shot a couple of people," the complaint continued.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482