DNA identifies ‘Lady in the Lake’ after 38 years
Nearly four decades after her murder, authorities in St. Tammany Parish say advanced DNA testing has identified the “Lady in the Lake” as Pamela Lee Hupp, a.k.a. Deborah Gail Justice, born in April 1958. According to the sheriff’s office, Hupp was in her early twenties at the time of her murder.
On June 19, 1986, an outdoorsman fly-fishing snagged the woman’s nude body just east of the Interstate 10 twin spans, about fifty yards from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. An autopsy revealed the woman, who had a plastic bag duct-taped over her head and a 22-pound weight tied to ...
DNA identifies victim in Slidell cold case
This week, several readers contacted me asking if authorities had identified Slidell’s Lady in the Lake. Unfortunately, the answer is no. However, a similar cold case is now one step closer to being resolved due to DNA.
Laughing Bandit betrayed by Pumpkin Center nurse
Baton Rouge Police last captured William Aeby, a reputed escape artist, womanizer, and holdup man on May 12, 1956, but his most publicized arrest came during Mardi Gras 1949. That week, the Pumpkin Center girlfriend of the “Laughing Garage Bandit” helped New Orleans police nab him in an arranged hotel rendezvous.
Rapper to receive clemency in Slidell murder
On Monday, February 22, 2021, The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole voted unanimously to grant clemency to a New Orleans entertainer prosecuted for manslaughter 20 years ago by disgraced District Attorney Walter Reed. Governor John Bel Edwards must now decide whether to accept the board’s recommendation and set the man free.