7-29-16
A HOUSE FIRE DESTROYED A HOME THIS MORNING AROUND 2:45 THIS MORNING AT THE 100 BLOCK OF HOLLY STREET IN LAFAYETTE. NO ONE WAS INJURED AND THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE HAS NOT YET BEEN DETERMINED.
LAKE CHARLES POLICE RELEASED INFORMATION YESTERDAY AT A NEWS CONFERENCE ABOUT A BABY THAT WAS FOUND DEAD WITH ALCOHOL IN HIS SYSTEM A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. POLICE GOT CALLED OUT TO 1713 FOX RUN APARTMENT NO. 1 AND FOUND THE 4 MONTH OLD BABY LYING FACE DOWN DEAD, WITH NO SIGNS OF INJURIES. THE AUTOPSY CAME BACK WEDNESDAY INDICATING THAT THE BABY HAD A .0475 BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT IN HIS BLOOD. POLICE HAVE ARRESTED THE MOTHER, COURTNEY MORRIS, 25 AND THE FATHER LARRY CHAMP, 40 IS AT LARGE. BOTH OF THEM FACE SECOND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES.
ANDREW McCOY LAMBERT, 55 OF LAKE CHARLES IS ACCUSED OF MAKING A DEATH THREAT ON A LAKE CHARLES POLICE OFFICER. LAMBERT CALLED THE PARENTS OF THE OFFICER AND THREATENED HIS LIFE. THE OFFICER IS A 23 YEAR VETERAN OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. LAMBERT BLOCKED HIS PHONE NUMBER, BUT THE POLICE WERE ABLE TO TRACE THE CALL BACK TO LAMBERT. THE LAKE CHARLES POLICE SWAT AND DETECTIVES ARRESTED LAMBERT AT HIS HOME WITHOUT INCIDENT. LAMBERT’S BOND WAS SET AT $75,000.
IT TOOK THE JURY CLOSE TO FIVE HOURS TO DECIDE TO FIND MARIO VILTZ GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER, BUT NOT GUILTY OF WHAT HE WAS CHARGED WITH, SECOND DEGREE MURDER. VILTZ BRUTALLY BEAT A’TASHA HARDY, 25, A MOTHER OF THREE SMALL CHILDREN ON OCTOBER 29TH 2014, WHICH LED TO HER DEATH TWO DAYS LATER. VILTZ MANTAINED HIS INNOCENCE AS HE TOOK THE STAND YESTERDAY AND SAID HE DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH KILLING. THE FAMILY OF HARDY WANTED A SECOND DEGREE MURDER CONVICTION WHICH WOULD MEAN LIFE IN PRISON. VILTZ WILL BE SENTENCED ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28. THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE FOR MANSLAUGHTER IS 40 YEARS.
AN UPDATE TO A REPORT EARLIER THIS WEEK ABOUT AN INSURANCE FRAUD RING IN JEFF DAVIS PARISH, THE EIGHTH SUSPECT, MARLO LATASHA DIGGS, 28 OF ABBEVILLE, TURNED HERSELF IN YESTERDAY MORNING. DIGGS IS CHARGED WITH AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE FRAUD AND FELONY THEFT. ALL EIGHT ARE ACCUSED OF STAGING CRASHES TO COLLECT INSURANCE MONEY.
JOSHUA WILLIS, ONE OF THE SUSPECTS ACCUSED OF KILLING ASHLEY METZ AND BROOKLYN HILL AND BURNING THEIR BODIES IN SEPARATE CARS, REQUESTED TO BE MOVED OUT OF THE LAFAYETTE PARISH JAIL. NEWS 10 HAS LEARNED THAT WILLIS IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD AT AN UNDISCLOSED STATE FACILITY. THE OTHER SUSPECT JOSEPH SYLVESTER IS STILL BEING HELD IN THE LAFAYETTE PARISH CORRECTIONAL CENTER.
(AP) A spokesman for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office says a 25-year-old man apparently killed himself in the parish jail. John Mowell tells The Daily Advertiser that deputies conducting a wellness check Saturday evening found the body of Kristopher Nelams of Opelousas. Nelams had been arrested May 19 on a charge of domestic abuse battery. Mowell said the sheriff’s office is awaiting autopsy results from the Lafayette Parish Coroner’s Office. The coroner’s office did not return a call Thursday afternoon from The Associated Press.
(AP) Vermilion Parish is suing dozens of oil and natural gas companies over damage the parish’s district attorney says drilling caused to the coast. District Attorney Keith Stutes filed the lawsuit yesterday in state court. Vermilion is the fourth parish to file suit against oil and gas companies over such damage claims. The suits accuse oil and gas companies of violating coastal permits or not obtaining permits when they dug oil access canals and dumped toxic waste into pits. The oil industry dismisses the suits as being without merit and says companies have followed the rules. Earlier this year, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry intervened in the suits. Edwards has urged the industry to reach a global settlement over the claims.
(AP) The head of the Beauregard Parish tourism commission says a cast-iron tub — one of the few original artifacts in the century-old jail known as the “hanging jail” — has gone missing.
Director Lori Darbonne said yesterday that she realized it was gone late last week, but doesn’t know how when it disappeared. She says that uncertainty is among reasons she hasn’t asked police to investigate. The gothic-style jail is being renovated as a tourist attraction. The tub was in the jailer’s first-floor living quarters. Darbonne says a public appeal did not bring its return, but did bring an offer to donate a tub from the same era. She says a local resident has a tub from a Los Angeles hotel that opened in 1902 and was demolished in 1955.
