In the quiet Bug Hill area of Onamia, Minnesota, the evening of March 2, 2015, was shattered by a grim discovery. Jason Carl Stoltz, a 39-year-old Caucasian male from St. Cloud, was found deceased in a parked car. An autopsy would later reveal that he had died from a gunshot wound to the chest, turning a missing person's case into a homicide investigation. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Tribal Police Department, assisted by the Mille Lacs and Pine County Sheriffs' Offices and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, began to piece together the events that led to this violent end.
Initially, investigators were uncertain whether the shooting was a random act or if Stoltz had been specifically targeted. As the investigation progressed, the focus began to narrow. Through tips from the public, law enforcement identified three individuals in connection with the death. The first arrests were made on March 19, 2015, when authorities took 25-year-old Lauren Jana Sue Day of Onamia and a juvenile suspect into custody.
A few days later, on March 22, the third and final suspect, 31-year-old Leslie James Gahbow, also of Onamia, was apprehended. With all three suspects in custody, the Mille Lacs Band Tribal Police Chief expressed hope that the arrests would bring some measure of closure to Jason Stoltz's family. The case was then forwarded to the Mille Lacs County Attorney for the preparation of formal criminal complaints against the three individuals arrested in connection with the murder.
