St. Paul police said Tuesday that they are assisting in the investigation of the discovery in western Wisconsin of four homicide victims in an SUV with Minnesota license plates.
The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office said they were alerted Sunday afternoon by a 911 caller to the black SUV being abandoned in a standing cornfield off a rural road near the town hall on County Road VVV in the Town of Sheridan.
The Sheriff’s Office’s disclosed details of the discovery Monday night, more than 30 hours later, in a posting on Facebook that also said there may have been a second dark-colored SUV traveling with the abandoned vehicle.
Authorities have said nothing about who the victims are, where they came from or what makes them believe they were killed. No arrests have been announced.
Other than revealing that the abandoned SUV had Minnesota plates, the posting did not explain why the Sheriff’s Office believes that “the victims do not appear to have any connection to the area.” Dunn County is about 60 miles east of St. Paul.
St. Paul Police Department spokesman Steve Linders did tell the Star Tribune that “our homicide unit investigators are providing assistance when requested.” Linders declined to say more about St. Paul’s connection to the deaths.
Authorities in Wisconsin did reach out Monday to the Police Department in Minneapolis, where there has been a surge in homicides this year. MPD spokesman Garrett Parten said Tuesday morning, “We are not involved in any way, shape or form.”
The Sheriff’s Office said that other agencies involved in the investigation are the County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab. The list did not include any agencies from Minnesota.
The Sheriff’s Office is asking that anyone with information about the deaths to call investigators at 1-715-232-1348.
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