The suspect’s father was convicted of a quadruple murder in Saint-Paul. The victim’s father left with questions.
Why didn’t the father of a four-time murder suspect advise his son to do the right thing? That’s what one of the victims’ fathers demanded on Friday after a judge sentenced Darren Lee Osborne to nearly five years in prison for helping his son.
“You teach your kids to be responsible, to be caring, to be accountable,” said Damone Presley, Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley’s father. “And for that parent to get involved in that act with their son, what kind of parenting is that?”
Osborne, 57, pleaded guilty in October to aiding an offender by being an afterthought accessory in the shooting of siblings Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, and Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26; Sturm’s boyfriend, Loyace Foreman III, 35; and their friend, Flug-Presley, 30.
Osborne’s son, Antoine D. Suggs, is charged with four counts of murder. The victims were hanging out at two bars on West Seventh Street in St. Paul and were seen getting into an SUV early on September 12, 2021. Police say Suggs was driving and shot them in the vehicle.
Suggs went to Osborne and told him “he broke and shot a few people,” according to the criminal complaint, which does not otherwise describe a motive. He asked his father to follow him in another vehicle. Suggs drove to Dunn County, Wis., and dumped the SUV — with the bodies inside — in a cornfield and Osborne drove it to Minneapolis, the complaint alleges.
In a plea deal with Osborne, prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of four years and 10 months, which is “in the middle of the box” under state sentencing guidelines, and that’s the sentence that Ramsey County Judge Mark Ireland imposed on Osborne on Friday. Osborne has been jailed since his arrest in the case and has 458 credit days served, court records show.
Flug-Presley was a mother and her children are now 5 and 12. Presley said his life hasn’t been the same since his daughter was killed.
“With the holidays approaching, I have this feeling of loss,” he said.
Suggs, 39, has pleaded not guilty and is expected to stand trial next year. He remains incarcerated.
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