'She Was A Jewel': Community Holds Vigil For Victim Of Quadruple Homicide
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A community showed out Saturday in St. Paul to remember one of the victims of a quadruple homicide.
Nitosha Presley, 30, was found shot to death last weekend in an abandoned SUV in Dunn County, Wisconsin, along with three of her friends. They were 35-year-old Loyace Foreman III and siblings 26-year-old Matthew Pettus and 30-year-old Jasmine Sturm.
Friends and family who loved Presley led an emotional celebration of her life.
"Tosha was that driving force for me that I began to see, through my oldest child, how important it was to be a father," said Damone Presley, Nitosha's father.
Damone said his daughter was bright, loving, and caring and called her killing a senseless tragedy.
"There's no rationalization, justification, any excuse that you could come up with to tell me why or when or how you killed my child," he said.
Damone and his mother, Nieeta Presley, Nitosha's grandmother, have long been community advocates for peace and family.
Nieeta remembered her granddaughter with stories of how family-oriented she was.
"She was a jewel," Nieeta said. "She was a light. So funny, and she was the glue that keeps all the families together."
Aunts, uncles, and friends spoke about Nitosha and about the futility of living a life of violence. They thanked St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, who attended and spoke, as well as law enforcement.
Todd Axtell, St. Paul's police chief, pledged his department's support.
"If we determine this crime occurred in St. Paul, everybody in our department and community will be rolling up their sleeves to bring justice to these families," Axtell said.
Other law enforcement and city leaders spoke, including Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington.
The Presley family asked anyone who has information about either the homicides or other unsolved crimes to share it, even if anonymously.
"You're not a snitch if you tell what you know," Nieeta Presley said.
One of the suspects, Darren Osborne, was arrested in St. Paul.
His son, Antoine Suggs, the second suspect, turned himself in in Arizona, where he lives.
