Sentencing in Dunn County quadruple homicide delayed

MENOMONIE — Sentencing has been delayed until February for a 59-year-old man who was convicted in October of helping to hide four corpses in Dunn County in September 2021.

Darren L. Osborne, also known as Darren McWright, was convicted by a Dunn County jury of four counts of hiding a corpse—party to a crime. The jury deliberated about 80 minutes Oct. 30 before reaching their verdict.

Osborne was slated to be sentenced last week, but defense attorney Brian Braziel asked for it to be postponed so he could obtain an alternate pre-sentence investigation. While a PSI is not open to the public or the media, it is common for defense attorneys to seek an alternate PSI if they deem a recommended sentence by the Department of Corrections is too high.

Judge James Patterson reset sentencing for Feb. 14.

District attorney Andrea Nodolf was reached for comment but she said she is declining to talk about the case until after sentencing has concluded.

Osborne’s son, 40-year-old Antoine D. Suggs, was sentenced in Minnesota in May 2023 to serve consecutive life sentences totaling 103 years in prison. Suggs was convicted by a Ramsey County jury in April 2023 of killing Jasmine Sturm, 30; Matthew Pettus, 26; Loyace Foreman III, 35; and Nitosha Flug-Presley, 30.

The murders took place Sept. 12, 2021, after a night of drinking at a bar in St. Paul, Minn. The criminal complaint does not give a motive for why Suggs shot and killed the four people.

The bodies of the four victims were found dead of gunshot wounds in an SUV that was abandoned in a Dunn County cornfield near the town of Sheridan. Reports at the time said the four were together in a St. Paul bar the night before the bodies were found. Suggs turned himself in to police in Gilbert, Ariz., after a warrant was issued by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office.

Suggs, who had lived near Phoenix, Arizona, traveled to Minnesota shortly before the murders occurred.

Judge Peterson previously determined that Osborne was competent to stand trial.

At the time of the shooting, Osborne was already charged in Minnesota with assaulting a man outside a gas station in St. Paul, and was out on bond.

Nodolf previously said Osborne was sentenced in Minnesota for his role in hiding the bodies, but he could be released from a Minnesota prison as early as November. However, the conviction in Minnesota didn’t eliminate the charges Osborne faced in Dunn County, Nodolf explained.

Suggs reportedly told the judge at sentencing he was wrongfully convicted, and Suggs showed no remorse or sympathy and “cast blame on others.” Suggs also had been charged in Dunn County Court with four counts of hiding a corpse, but those charges were dismissed in July 2023.