JAMESTOWN, N.D. - The body of a homicide victim found Saturday in a Stutsman County ditch has been sent to Bismarck for an autopsy, and a man and woman remain in custody pending charges, Sheriff Chad Kaiser said Sunday.
Authorities have been unable to determine the cause of death or the identity of the victim, described by Kaiser as a young adult black male.
"We know nothing about him," he said, adding autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office should be available today.
A motorist passing by discovered the body about 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the ditch at the edge of a dirt field west of County Road 62, about 1½ miles north of the Spiritwood exit on Interstate 94, Kaiser said.
At 6:43 p.m., the sheriff's office issued a statewide bulletin for authorities to be on the lookout for a vehicle in which the male suspect was a passenger, Kaiser said. He said he couldn't divulge how authorities identified the suspects or release their names, citing the ongoing investigation.
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The bulletin was canceled at 7:20 p.m. after authorities stopped the vehicle in Jamestown and took the male suspect into custody.
The female suspect was located in a separate vehicle around the same time and taken into custody, Kaiser said.
Both suspects are young adults from the Jamestown area, he said.
The two suspects were in custody at the Stutsman County Correctional Center in Jamestown
The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is assisting the sheriff's office in the investigation. The North Dakota Highway Patrol and Jamestown Police Department also provided assistance.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are both Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
