Former mayor of South Dakota charged with three murders

Three people were killed in a small South Dakota town, and a former law officer who used to be the town’s mayor is accused of the murders.

Jay Ostrem, who is 64 years old, is in jail with a bond of $1 million cash. He is accused of three counts of first-degree murder, according to South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley. It wasn’t right away known if Ostrem had a lawyer. No one answered when people called the phone number for Ostrem.

A legal document said that the victims were two brothers, aged 26 and 21, and a 35-year-old man.

Ostrem worked as a police officer for over 20 years in Wyoming and South Dakota, according to news reports. He was the mayor of Centreville fifteen years ago, but we don’t know the exact dates yet.

The document said that a man in Centreville called the police at 9:44 pm on Monday, he said his brother got shot by someone from the neighboring house and the shooter went back home. The person who called was still talking to a dispatcher when he said he had also been shot. The document said that he stopped talking.

The document didn’t say how the third victim was related to the brothers.

Ostrem was taken into custody shortly after. He had a rifle and a handgun with him, according to the document.

Police then went to the house where the call came from and found all three people who were hurt.

Ostrem’s wife said to the police that a neighbor named Paul hurt her in a sexual way on Thursday. She told Ostrem about it on Monday night, the paper said. She said Ostrem “got up and left the house angrily,” according to the document.

Centreville is 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Sioux Falls.