Jefferson Downs jockey murder still a mystery
Two nights before his death, Jimmy Sibille of Sunset, Louisiana, riding a horse called Joe Top, became the last jockey to win a night race at the Jefferson Downs track. Kleindorf found Jimmy on his back in bed, his head covered in blood with a .22-caliber revolver laying across his chest. “My God,” Kleindorf said to LeBlanc and the girls as he backed out the door, “He’s shot himself.”
Steel Magnolias murder featured in new book
Hollywood filmed the movie Steel Magnolias, in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1989. The owner of the house confessed to raping and strangling her when she arrived at his door, selling candy for school. The police never found her body, and today, officially, 12-year-old Averie Evans remains a missing person. Although I have never reviewed the grisly crime in this newspaper column, I feature an exhaustive look at Averie’s disappearance and alleged murder prominently in my new book, More Bayou Justice: South Louisiana Cold Case Files, released to book stores this week from Bogart Books.
Don’t blame the serial killer for Kassie’s murder
Three years ago, Bayou Justice examined the 1999 murder of Ponchatoula native, Kassie Federer. We revisit today because Kassie Lynn Federer’s killer may still walk among us. Police have conveniently blamed a serial killer for her murder, but DNA can be fallible, and even monsters need motive and opportunity.
Serial shooter targeting New Orleans highways?
Thursday night, July 1, 2021, at 7:48, a 911 call alerted the New Orleans Police Department to another interstate highway shooting. Someone shot a man driving in a westbound lane on I-610 near Paris Avenue. Emergency Medical Services transported the victim to a hospital in critical condition. Officials released no additional details from the shootings, no description of the sniper or sniper vehicle, and no likely motives, nor have they confirmed connections between the shootings.