A naked fight with a woman who was helping him with his divorce, a violent attack on a man who brushed into him at a gas station and frequent threats to kill people are all in the past of one of the suspects in the Wisconsin murders-in-the-cornfield case, DailyMail.com has learned.
And a no-contact order was issued against Darren McWright on the day he was arrested for the quadruple killings, according to official court papers.
McWright, 56, was nabbed shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday in St. Paul. His son Antoine Suggs, 38, turned himself in to police in Arizona — where he now lives — on Friday. Both have been charged with four counts of hiding a corpse
McWright was on bail awaiting trial for the brutal beating of Seth Whitman, who had brushed into him at a gas station in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, according to court papers.
A judge in St. Paul ordered on Thursday that he must stay away from Whitman and must ‘have no contact, whether direct or indirectly through others, by telephone, or in writing’ with him.
It was not clear from court papers whether the judge knew at the time that McWright was a quadruple murder suspect. He has so far been charged in Wisconsin with four counts of hiding a corpse.
Court files show both McWright, who is now being held for the shooting deaths of four people whose bodies were found in an SUV in a cornfield across the state border in Wisconsin, and Suggs, 38, have extensive criminal records.
McWright — who also uses the last name Osborne — is still awaiting trial for the alleged May attack on 48-year-old Seth Whitman at a Speedway gas station in St. Paul, the court papers show.
Seth Whitman, pictured, was stomped in the head at a gas station by a man now arrested over the brutal killings of four people found dead in a Wisconsin field
The vicious attack is said to have happened at this Speedway in St Paul on May 18 this year
DailyMail.com has obtained a probable cause statement detailing the horrific attack
McWright was also arrested in 2019 for trying to strangle a naked ex, with further details shared in this probable cause statement
Darren Lee McWright, left, was arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of four friends in Wisconsin. His son Antoine Darnique Suggs, right, was also being sought by cops, and handed himself into police on Friday
The two men entered the store at the same time and appeared to have an exchange, the report said.
When they walked out Whitman — who is identified in the papers by his initials SJW — took out his phone and took a picture of McWright.
‘The suspect (McWright) then approached SJW aggressively, tackled him to the ground and stomped on SJW’s head four times,’ before getting into the passenger side of a gold Ford Explorer which drove off.
‘The owner of the Speedway store told officers … SJW was unconscious for five minutes following the assault and prior to police arrival.
‘SJW vomited several times upon regaining consciousness,’ the report states.
He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a fractured cheekbone, loss of consciousness and bruising.
When contacted by DailyMail.com Whitman expressed surprise that the man that had beaten him so badly is now a suspect in a mass killing.
Suggs also has a lengthy criminal record, obtained by DailyMail.com He and his father have so-far been charged with concealing a corpse
‘No-one has told me that,’ he said. He declined further comment.
Minnesota court records show McWright has a history going back to 1996 when a charge of disorderly conduct against him was dismissed. Charges against him include three DUIs and several domestic assaults.
In March 2015 he was arrested for trying to strangle a woman in a third-floor apartment in Minneapolis.
‘When officers arrived at the scene, they ‘could hear a woman crying hysterically; they also heard her say “I don’t want to die,” or words to that effect,’ the police report states.
This is the home in St Paul where McWright lived prior to his arrest over the killings
Both McWright and the woman — a former lover who was helping him with his divorce paperwork — were naked, cops say.
‘Victim explained that she and Defendant (McWright) began to argue and that Defendant slapped her in the face, which split Victim’s lip.
‘Defendant then strangled Victim — once with his arm and a second time with his hand. Victim said that the pressure Defendant put on her neck led her to believe she was going to die because she was unable to breathe.
After his arrest McWright said he was intoxicated and he didn’t remember trying to strangle the woman. He was sentenced to 90 days in the Hennepin County Workhouse but it was stayed for two years.
In a case from December 2013, a woman identified as EMW, who said she was McWright’s live-in girlfriend, said he had been drinking heavily and started arguing with her at 5 a.m. before he went out to work as a snowplow operator.
‘McWright became enraged after asking EMW for gas money. McWright threw a ceramic bowl at her face, then hit her with a storage bin cover on her head, arms and hand.
‘McWright then bloodied EMW’s nose by striking her face with his hands. The woman told police he had threatened to kill both her and her daughter.’
In another case he allegedly sent threatening text messages to his wife, son and daughter.
McWright’s son, Suggs, had stayed out of trouble in Minnesota since 2014 when a case of aggravated first-degree robbery against him was dismissed because the victim had left the country and could not give evidence in court.
The police report says Suggs was staying with the victim at a Hilton Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. He brought a second woman up to their room and the two women started fighting.
Victims Jasmine Sturm (left) and Matthew Pettus (right) were half-siblings, and worked together at Shamrocks Irish bar and grill in St. Paul
Victim Loyace Foreman III (left) was Sturm’s boyfriend, while Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley (right) was a friend of Sturm
The four friends whose deaths McWright and his son were last seen alive at this bar in St Paul, Minnesota, last weekend
As they clawed at each other, Suggs allegedly took at least $1,200 from the first woman’s purse and ran out of the room.
He was also sentenced to a year in jail in 2002 for illegal weapons possession and 36 months in 2008 for the same offense.
Recently Suggs has been living in Scottsdale, Arizona. A search of court records there show he accepted a plea deal on an assault charge in 2019. No details of the case were immediately available
McWright and Suggs are suspected in the deaths of Jasmine Sturm, 30, her brother Matthew Pettus, 26, boyfriend Loyace Foreman III, 35, and close friend Nitosha Flug-Presley, 30.
The four bodies were found in an abandoned 2008 Mercedes Benz GL in a cornfield in Sheridan, Wisconsin, 70 miles east of the Twin Cities.
Police have not revealed any possible motive for the killings.
Flug-Presley and Suggs were earlier seen together at the White Squirrel bar in St. Paul, where she bought him a tequila shot.
According to a police complaint in Wisconsin, Flug-Presley’s aunt said her niece had a ‘thing’ for the man who is now suspected of being involved in her murder.
He frequently flew back to Minnesota from Arizona, she allegedly said.
On Thursday, Flug-Presley’s father, Danone Presley, explicitly denied to DailyMail.com that she was romantically involved with Suggs, although he said she knew him and he had been at her son’s birthday party earlier this year.
Presley, 30, Matthew Pettus, 26, Loyace Foreman III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, were found murdered inside the car in a field in Sheridan, rural Wisconsin, Sunday afternoon. Pictured the scene taped off
Street camera footage outside the White Squirrel showed a dark SUV at 2:08 a.m. Sunday. The footage showed Sturm run into the passenger side of the vehicle. A witness said she saw Flug-Presley, Sturm and Pettus get into a black SUV in the early morning hours.
All four victims were shot once in the head, according to the complaint. Flug-Presley was found in the front passenger seat of the Mercedes and the other three victims were in the backseat.
Surveillance video at the Bridgestop convenience store near Sheridan Town Hall in Wheeler, Wisconsin, showed the Mercedes pulling up to a gas pump just after noon on Sunday. A minute later, a black Nissan Rogue is seen pulling up to another pump. Police traced the Rogue to the mother of Darren Suggs, who told authorities that his brother, Antoine Suggs, uses the vehicle when he’s in town.
The two male victims also had criminal records. Minnesota court records show Foreman had served at least three jail terms for crimes including burglary and possession of burglary tools.
In 2018 he was involved in a high-speed car chase through the streets of St. Paul which ended when he ran off and police dogs found him hiding in a tree.
Pettus had a record including domestic assault and drug offences. In 2017 he was convicted of domestic assault by strangulation. A charge of cocaine trafficking against him was dismissed.