Still no answers in Diddie Cooper murder
The Times-Picayune newspaper described Diddie Cooper, a New Orleans television personality and mother of three, as an attractive young socialite from a prominent Louisiana family. Her seven-year-old daughter, the newspaper said, found her mother dead in their home on November 30, 1952.
Someone had strangled and bludgeoned Diddie to death with a blunt instrument, one never identified or recovered by the police. The victim wore a blue translucent negligee, turned inside out, and drenched in blood.
New Orleans police made arrests, and the state tried a suspect. Still, today, over a ...
South Louisiana mourns the missing at Christmas
For some, the holidays are not happy times. Instead, it is time to remember and mourn friends and relatives who have vanished without a trace. Perhaps we can help change that for one family this week.
Hammond dentist tarred and feathered
Before I started this column, when someone said “Bayou Justice,” I usually thought of this story. My great-grandfather, W. O. “Paw Bill” Courtney, retold it routinely when I was a kid. My grandmother, “Maw Telliua,” insisted he had embellished some of it. I never cared. I loved the story regardless.
Poultry pioneer’s suicide revisited
According to a March 22, 1953, multi-page feature in the Advocate newspaper, poultry breeders from across the state flocked to hear lectures from Luke Lea, hoping to take home the secrets of his success. The Associated Press picked up the feature and distributed Lea’s story nationwide. Two months later, the State Times celebrated news of Luke and Beatrice Lea’s newborn son. No one imagined that eight months later, Luke Lea would be dead.