RAPID CITY (AP) – Police in Rapid City have tied the slayings of three people in recent weeks to one suspect and say the case may be drug-related.
The latest victim was found Tuesday in near Sheridan Lake, about 25 miles from where two people were found fatally shot in a Rapid City park. Twenty-two-year-old Dakota Zaiser, of Rapid City, had been missing since the two were found dead in Thomson Park Aug. 24.
Detectives believe Zaiser was hanging out with the suspect and may have been in the area during the shooting at the park, according to police spokesman Brendyn Medina. Detectives wanted to talk to Zaiser to see if he had information about the shooting, he said.
Charles Red Willow, 26, of Rapid City, and Ashley Nagy, 29, from Greeley, Colorado, were found fatally shot inside a car at the park.
“It’s a very unique series of homicides for Rapid City, technically this guy is involved in a triple homicide,” Medina said of the suspect, a 37-year-old man who is in custody in New York and awaiting extradition to South Dakota.
Information gathered during the investigation into Zaiser’s disappearance led law enforcement to search a forested area north of Sheridan Lake where they found his body, which had been covered up, the Rapid City Journal reported.
Medina said he can’t comment on how Zaiser died because of the ongoing investigation. Based on decomposition, police believe Zaiser was killed hours or days after the double homicide, Medina added.
All three killings may be related to drugs, police said. Medina said he couldn’t comment on what specific evidence leads police to believe that.
