WYOMING, Mich. -- For Andrew Weener, it's a time of shock and mourning.
He said the man who was his best friend and served as a groomsman in his wedding is the same man Wyoming police named a suspect in the killings of a local couple and their unborn child.
"I'll never be able to put this entirely behind me, but just to know what happened exactly so I can explain it to myself," Weener said.
Like so many across the state, Weener wants answers as to what went wrong.
On July 16, police found Charles Oppenneer beheaded in a wooded area off Gezon Court in Wyoming. By the following day, Oppenneer's girlfriend Brooke Slocum, 18, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was reported missing. That same night, police got into a chase with the suspect, Brady Oestrike, which ended in a crash where police said Oestrike committed suicide.
Brooke's body was found inside Oestrike's trunk. She was strangled.
"It's just hard to process the way things come together and if they planned to go this way," Weener said. "I don't know if other people were involved or if someone was trying to get back into the picture and it got into a big mess. I really don't know."
Police said Slocum and Oppenneer met Oestrike on Craigslist. They tell FOX 17 the trio arranged to meet for sex, which Oestrike would pay the couple for on the night of July 12.
After searching Oestrike's home on Taft Avenue, investigators said they found more than 400 pieces of evidence, which included firearms, ammunition and knives.
"I heard all the details at first and I'm like this doesn't fit, there's something missing here," Weener said.
While Weener told FOX 17 that Oestrike had some firearms and collected swords, he said it was all part of a hobby. ,Oestrike enjoyed renaissance festivals and was never violent, he said
"There were a couple times, like ya know, I came on hard times, and I could always talk to him," Weener said.
It's an ending for Oestrike that Weener said he can't make sense of after meeting him at church more than a decade ago.
"He always wanted to meet a good woman, settle down and have a family," Weener said. "I lost my best friend, and I know they [Oppenneer and Slocum] had friends, and that's got to be hard, too. Whatever the situation was, a lot of people died and it's just never--it's not good any way you look at it. It's gonna be sad for everyone involved."
