The former mayor of a small South Dakota town who was previously charged with three counts of first-degree murder has now been indicted on nine felony counts in a triple homicide. Jay Ostrem, 64, is accused of shooting three people to death last week in Centerville. He was indicted by a Grand Jury Wednesday on three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, and three counts of first-degree murder during a burglary.
Victims named in Centerville triple homicide
The victims were 26-year-old Paul Frankus, 21-year-old Zachary Frankus, and 35-year-old Timothy Richard.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation
When investigators spoke to a female family member of Ostrem’s, she told officers that she had been sexually assaulted by a neighbor while they drank in her home, including forcible kissing, genitalia exposure and him pressing against her. On the night of the shootings, the family member claimed she reported this to Ostrem and he then got up and left the home in a rage. That was the last time the family member saw Ostrem before authorities arrived.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation. The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case.
On the night of the shootings, one of the victims called police to say he and his brother had been shot by a guy from across the street and the shooter went back home. Court records say Ostrem’s wife told police that Paul Frankus sexually assaulted her a few days before the shootings and after she told Ostrem, he “got up and went raging out of the house.”
Ostrem was arrested at his home a short time after the shootings were reported. Officers found him with an AR-style rifle and a handgun in his pocket. Ostrem served as mayor of Centerville about 15 years ago and worked in law enforcement in Wyoming and South Dakota. He is being held on a $1-million cash-only bond.
