Month-Long Trial Set For Man Charged With 3 Rapid City-Area Murders In 2020

      A month has been set aside early next year for the murder trial of a New York City man accused of killing 3 people in 2 separate but related incidents in the Rapid City area nearly 2 years ago.

    The 1st-degree murder trial of 37-year old Arnson Absolu is scheduled to start January 9th and run through February 12th, 2023. He’s due back in court for another status hearing in September.

      Prosecutors decided last month not to seek the death penalty if Absolu is convicted of the shooting deaths of 29-year old Ashley Nagy, 26-year old Charles Red Willow, and 22-year old Dakota Zaiser.

       Nagy was from Greeley, Colorado, while both Red Willow and Zaiser were from Rapid City.

     The bodies of Red Willow and Nagy were found in a car in the parking lot of a Rapid City park on August 24, 2020. Authorities believe their deaths were drug-related.

     Absolu became a suspect after a vehicle linked to him turned up in surveillance video near the crime scene. He was arrested in New York City a little over a week later and eventually extradited to Rapid City.

     Zaiser was sought by police as a possible witness, but disappeared a few days later. His body was found in a wooded area near Sheridan Lake about a month after that, but Absolu wasn’t formally charged with his death until January of this year.