(WatchDogReport.org) – Former South Dakota Republican Mayor Jay Ostrem allegedly killed three people on May 27 at a house in Centerville. Court documents revealed he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder as the killings occurred under “premeditated design.”
The state Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a statement that the shooting happened on Main Street’s 1000 block. He added that police officers arrested the 64-year-old former conservative leader a couple of minutes after the incident and immediately “secured the scene.”
While records from the Minnehaha County Jail showed that Ostrem was booked there with no bond on May 28, Jackley’s office said in a separate statement that the former mayor’s bond was $1 million cash. Journalists said on social media that the Turner County Sheriff’s office is managing his charges and that the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
The victims have been identified as 21-year-old Zachary Ryan Frankus, 26-year-old Paul Wyland Frankus, and 35-year-old Timothy E. Richmond.
A probable cause document revealed that a man called police at 9 pm to report that his brothers were fatally shot across the street. The document said he could be heard yelling a minute later that the shooter had just shot him too, and detailed that police officers found a pistol in Ostrem’s pocket and an AR rifle on the ground when they arrested him.
A family member of the former mayor claims she informed him that a neighbor had sexually assaulted her while he was sleeping. She also told police that the two of them had been consuming alcohol. According to the victim, Ostrem got up and “raged out of the house” upon learning of the incident. She claims she was unaware of where Ostrem went, if he was armed, or what his intentions were when he left.
Before becoming the mayor of Centerville in 2010, Ostrem worked as an investigator for the Turner County Sheriff’s Office in 2007. He was known for playing a crucial role in helping the city overcome massive media scrutiny when Centerville’s police chief was formally investigated for an alleged crime in 2006.
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