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South Dakota Man Charged With 1st Degree Murder After A Body Is Found In A Spencer Alley

August 27, 2025

(Spencer)– A South Dakota man has been charged in the death of a man who’s body was found Tuesday night in an alley in downtown Spencer.

A criminal complaint filed by Spencer police says officers were called to a report of a man who was unconscious and bleeding badly in the alley west of the 200 block of Grand Avenue. The Spencer Ambulance arrived and determined the man, identified as 38-year-ol Djay Loudner of Spencer, deceased.

The document states that upon reviewing surveillance video from a neighboring business, there had been a physical altercation between Loudner and another man, identified as 44-year-old Wade St. John of Eagle Butte, South Dakota. St. John is accused in the complaint of striking Loudner several times even after he appeared to be unconscious and defenseless, and that St. John then walked away, grabbed a bottle of clear liquid, and allegedly dumped it on Loudner’s face, before kicking him in the face multiple times.

St. John was arrested and charged with 1st degree murder, a class A felony. He’s being held in the Clay County Jail on a $750,000 bond.