Supernatural suspect fled Halloween murder
On Halloween night, 1978, Joel A. Vernon, 23, owner of the Cave Bar in Leesville, Louisiana, stood in the back room of the club with employees James Regallis, 22, and Timothy Bray, 19. The trio stood over Private First-Class Michael E. Melcher, a Madison, Wisconsin soldier stationed at Fort Polk, pressing him to repay his debts, according to police. However, relatives of the bar owner later insisted something supernatural prompted Vernon’s meeting that night with Melcher.
Louisiana child sex traffic worse than most admit
A multi-agency South Louisiana task force operation headed by the United States Marshal Service resulted in the arrest of 18 alleged human traffickers and saw fourteen missing children return home to their families. However, the problem of juvenile sex and labor traffic in Louisiana is far greater than most realize or are willing to admit.
Unsolved serial shootings still plague I-10
In July, I reported on several potentially related shootings on two New Orleans interstate highways. Three months later, the shootings continue, now listing a honeymoon couple and an off-duty police officer among the victims.
Some murders bring empathy, others do not
Throughout September, two deaths mesmerized our media. Following long periods of waiting and wondering, this week law enforcement officials issued an arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie and confirmed that the DNA in the belly of a 12-foot alligator belonged to Timothy Satterlee of Slidell.