Suspect, Victim in Triple Homicide Connected on Craigslist: Police

Police in Wyoming think a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, whose bodies were discovered days apart, may have met their assailant on the Craigslist online classified and social networking site.

Police have been looking for Brooke Slocum, 18, who was eight months pregnant, since Wednesday, when they found the body of her boyfriend, Charles Gerard Oppenneer, 25, in a wooded area near a Wyoming park, MLive/The Grand Rapids Press reports.

Authorities identified Brady Oestrike, 31, of Wyoming as the the chief suspect in the case, and he fled in a yellow 2005 Chevrolet Colbalt about 9:15 p.m. when authorities were about to serve a search warrant at his residence, which had been under surveillance,  WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids reports.

Oestrike died Thursday night after crashing into a barrier along the on-ramp to U.S. Highway 131 at Burton Street during a police chase. Authorities say Oestrike died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

When they searched Oestrike’s car, they found Slocum’s body in the trunk.

Police are calling it a triple homicide.

“We have three victims: Charles Oppenneer, Brooke Slocum and her unborn child,” Wyoming Police Chief James Carmody said.

Slocum was just a few weeks away from her due date, family members told the television station.

After examining Slocum’s computer, authorities  discovered Oestrike contacted Slocum on the Craigslist site shortly before midnight on July 12.

Carmody said Friday authorities have “no idea” of the motive for the slayings or whether Oestrike acted alone, and they haven’t said how the victims were killed. Autopsy reports are pending.