Small town mayor shoots and kills three men after one ‘forced himself on his wife and exposed his genitals’ in Memorial Day rampage

A former law enforcement officer who served as mayor of a small South Dakota town has been charged with the murders of three people.

Jay Ostrem, 64, was jailed on $1 million bond on three counts of first-degree murder, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said.

An affidavit of probable cause identified the victims as two brothers Paul Frankus, 26, and his 21-year-old brother Zach and Timothy Richmond, 35.

Ostrem worked in law enforcement in Wyoming and South Dakota for more than 20 years.

He was mayor of Centerville, a small town of less than a thousand people about 40 miles south of Sioux Falls, about a decade and a half ago, but exact dates were not immediately available.

The probable cause document stated that a Centerville man, who identified himself as Zach Frankus, called police at 9:44 PM Monday night to report that his brother had been shot by “a man from across the street” and that the shooter had returned home. .

Frankus was still on the phone with a dispatcher when he said he had also been shot. He was described as ‘Frankish’. Frankus then stopped talking and loaded the documents.

Authorities rushed to the scene, where a Game Fish and Parks officer saw Ostrem leaving the home identified as the scene of the shooting.

Ostrem initially ignored orders to stop before lying on the ground. He was arrested a short time later.

An AR-style rifle lay on the ground next to him and he had a pistol in his pocket.

Police noted that Ostrem was bleeding from his left hand and that he smelled of alcohol.

Officers then went to the home where the call came from and found all three victims there.

Ostrem’s wife, who is British, told police that a neighbor, Paul Frankus, sexually assaulted her on Thursday, and she told Ostrem about the attack on Monday evening.

The pair had been drinking together when he forcibly kissed her, exposed his genitals and pressed himself against her, the report said. Argus leader.

She said Ostrem “got up and left the house in a rage,” the document said.

She explained to officers that her husband had not told her where he was going and that he had not left armed, although there were weapons in the house and he probably had some in his car.

Ostrem was booked into the Minnehaha County Jail Tuesday morning in connection with the Centerville shootings.

“Jay Ostrem has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and law enforcement has secured the scene,” Attorney General Jackley said in a news release.

“There is no further threat to the public.”

Ostrem’s first performance is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m.