A former mayor and lawman of a small town in Turner County has been charged with three counts of murder, following the Monday night shootings of three people, according to a release from the South Dakota Attorney General's office.
Jay Ostrem, 64, was booked Tuesday morning into the Minnehaha County Jail in connection with the Centerville shootings, which the release said occurred at about 10 p.m. Monday night.
Court documents say that the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office dispatch center received a call at 9:44 p.m. from a man identifying himself as Zach Frankus, who reported a shooting at a residence in Centerville.
Frankus said that his brother had been shot and killed by a man with a shotgun, adding that the shooter had returned to his home. Documents say that after some time, Frankus told the dispatcher that he had been shot, and eventually stopped speaking.
Authorities responded to the scene, where a Game Fish and Parks officer saw Ostrem leaving the home identified at the scene of the shooting. Documents say Ostrem initially ignored commands to stop before laying down on the ground.
Documents say Ostrem was bleeding from his left hand and smelled of alcohol, and had a .380 handgun and an AR-style rifle in his possession, as well as spent shotgun shell casings and a spent rifle casing.
Authorities found three men dead inside the home. Court documents identify them as Paul Frankus, 26, Zach Frankus, 21 and Timothy Richmond, 35.
When authorities went to Ostrem's nearby home, documents say they contacted his wife, who said that on May 23 she and Paul Frankus had been drinking together when he forcibly kissed her and exposed his genitals to her.
Ostrem's wife said she told Ostrem about the incident on the evening of May 27, which led to him "raging out of the house," documents state. She told officers that he did not say anything about where he was going, and that he didn't leave armed — though she said he had weapons inside the home, and possibly in his vehicle.
Outside of the details mentioned in the affidavit, the incident on May 23 has not been confirmed.
Witnesses living nearby described a chaotic scene Monday night, with a significant law enforcement presence arriving to investigate.
Fred Holmberg said he was "perplexed" by the events, and said a shooting in the small town was unusual. Resident Mark Weets agreed.
"Never in a million years would have ever guessed anything like this would happen," he said.
“Jay Ostrem has been arrested and charged with three counts of first degree murder, and law enforcement has secured the scene,” Attorney General Marty Jackley stated in the release. “There is no further threat to the public.”
The release said that the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will be leading the investigation, though agencies including the Centerville Police Department, South Dakota Highway Patrol, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, Beresford Police Department, Viborg Police Department, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department and Turner County Sheriff’s Department are also involved.
Centerville has less than 1,000 people, according to the 2020 Census. The town was named last month as the Community of the Year by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Who is Jay Ostrem?
With 20 years of law enforcement experience, Ostrem played a role in helping the city overcome state-level scrutiny when the city's police chief at the time faced an investigation for a crime not named publicly in 2006 by working for the city police department on weekends after a time when the town had little to no law enforcement, the archives show. That former police chief, Nolan Clark, later pleaded guilty to DUI in 2007 and Ostrem stopped taking those weekend shifts then.
Ostrem, a Gillette, Wyoming transplant, was also a Turner County Sheriff's Office investigator in 2007 and a deputy in 2010, according to Argus Leader archives. He assisted in the 2010 trial of Ethan Johns, who was convicted of killing sheriff's deputy Chad Mechels and sentenced to life in prison.
He was also at the center of a two-year legal battle for Centerville between 2010 and 2012, when the city's former police chief filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ostrem, who was the former mayor by that time. He was mayor in 2010, archives show.
The two settled the lawsuit, but the former chief, Rachel Kopman, had alleged she was "repeatedly inundated with sexually inappropriate comments and remarks from Ostrem," during her tenure. Neither commented about the settlement at the time, Argus Leader archives show.
His law enforcement certification expired in 2016, reported South Dakota Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom.
Ostrem's initial appearance is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday. No attorney has been named yet for Ostrem as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
− Argus Leader visual journalist Samantha Laurey contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Former mayor Jay Ostrem charged with triple murder in Turner County
