In the pre-dawn hours of October 8, 2020, Clay Douglas Stubbs, 36, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso after reports of gunfire near 57th Street and Baneberry Drive in Sioux Falls. A separate call to a nearby gas station reported a vehicle crash; officers found Stubbs at the crash and he died at a local hospital. Investigators traced the shooting to an apartment complex parking lot on West 56th Street and described the incident as a drug deal that went wrong. Court documents say Stubbs had arranged to sell a pound of marijuana and the buyers planned to rob him over a prior debt; texts recovered by police allegedly show the buyers discussing the plan and acknowledging firearms. Stubbs was armed but police said he did not fire his weapon.

Detectives identified two suspects within a week: Lowell Patrick Loberg, 39, and Ryan Noel Aadland, 34. Loberg was arrested first; Aadland was arrested in Pierre on October 17, 2020. Both were charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and first-degree manslaughter. Loberg later pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a felony and the murder counts were dismissed against him in June 2021. Aadland’s trial concluded in early 2023 with a jury acquittal on the murder and manslaughter charges, though he was convicted of possession of a firearm by a former violent offender and received credit for time served.

Did anyone in the area witness the transactions or the shooting that night?