CENTERVILLE, S.D. (KELO) — A 64-year-old Centerville man is facing charges for three counts of first degree murder, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
According to a filed complaint, former Centerville mayor and city councilor Jay Edward Ostrem killed three victims on Monday, May 27, 2024 “with a premeditated design.” According to lawsuits filed against him, Ostrem previously served as a city councilor and as mayor in Centerville in 2010.
Ostrem was booked into the Minnehaha County Jail on a $1 million cash only bond.
According to the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office, the incident happened around 10 p.m. Monday at a residence in Centerville.
Court papers say that at 9:44 p.m. Monday, a man described as “frantic” called 911 and reported a shooting, telling the operator that his family member had been shot and killed with a shotgun.
The caller told 911 the shooter was a man from across the street, and he had gone back to his house. While on the phone with 911, the caller told the dispatcher he had also been shot, and shortly thereafter stopped communicating with the dispatcher.
When law enforcement arrived on scene, they saw Ostrem leave his house. Despite being told to stop, he continued walking west along Main Street. According to the affidavit, a Game, Fish and Parks officer who responded made contact with Ostrem down the street and demanded he get on the ground.
Ostrem obeyed this command and told the officer he had a gun in his pocket.
As officers approached Ostrem, they saw what they described as an AR-style rifle on the ground near him. They noted that Ostrem was bleeding from his left hand and that he smelled of alcohol.
In Ostrem’s pocket, officers found a .380 handgun, as well as spent shotgun shell casings and at least one spent rifle casing.
Entering the residence from which the 911 call had been made, law enforcement found three people dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Law enforcement next went to Ostrem’s house where they made contact with an adult family member of Ostrem.
DCI agents interviewed the family member who told them that on Thursday, May 23, 2024 a neighbor had been at their house while Ostrem was sleeping.
The family member stated that she and the neighbor had been drinking when he sexually assaulted her; forcibly kissing her, exposing himself to her, and pressing himself against her.
According to the family member, she told Ostrem about the assault on Monday when they were both at home. She told DCI that after hearing about the assault, Ostrem “got up and went raging out of the house.”
The family member told DCI agents that Ostrem had not said anything to her as he left, that she did not know where he was going, and that she did not see him again before law enforcement arrived. She told them that Ostrem was former law enforcement and that he had weapons in the home and possibly in his vehicle.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating with assistance from other agencies.
This is a developing story. Stay with KELOLAND News online and on-air for more coverage.