Category: What’s New

Week roundup: In unrelated child sex abuse cases, Kenner man gets 30-year sentence, Metairie man convicted

One man was sentenced to prison and another was convicted on Thursday (June 12) for sexually abusing children in unrelated cases filed in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court.

 

Oscar Reyes

Oscar Reyes, 63, of Kenner, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing a 9-year-old child.

Reyes was convicted by a jury on May 15 of sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13. Reyes was not a stranger to the child.

The victim’s mother reported the abuse to the Kenner Police Department in September 2021, after her child disclosed Reyes’ abusive behavior when the child was between the ages of 7 and 9.

The victim further disclosed Reyes’ acts during a forensic medical examination at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (now named the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s), and to a forensic interviewer at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center. Kenner police arrested Reyes in October 2021.

Jurors deliberated for more than four hours before reaching their unanimous verdicts on May 15. Judge Danyelle Taylor sentenced Reyes to 30 years for the sexual battery charge and 10 years for the indecent behavior with a juvenile charge. Judge Taylor ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Cullen Kiker and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case.

 

Thomas L. Smith

Thomas L. Smith, 42, of Marrero, was convicted by a jury of sexual battery of a child under age 13 and indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13. Smith was not a stranger to the child.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened its investigation on May 10, 2022, after receiving a call from West Jefferson Medical Center concerning allegations raised by a 12-year-old who said Smith had abused the child. The child’s mother sought medical attention after learning of the abuse.

The child underwent a forensic interview at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center in May 2022, then a medical examination at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (now named the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s) in October 2022. The child’s statements in both places were consistent with what was disclosed to a detective.

The detective obtained an arrest warrant on June 14, 2022. He was arrested on March 3. 2023.

Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant set sentencing for June 30.

Assistant District Attorneys Brendan Bowen and Mallory Grefer prosecuted the case.

Thomas Welty sentenced to 30 years for sexually abusing, trafficking teen girls

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (June 12) sentenced Thomas Welty to 30 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing two teenaged girls, both of whom were given illegal narcotics so he could control them.

Welty, 46, a former Metairie resident, was convicted by a jury on May 27 of second-degree rape and trafficking children for sexual purposes involving one victim; and indecent behavior with a juvenile, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual battery of the other victim.

Click here to read about the trial.

The crimes occurred between 2019 and 2021. Both victims were 15 years old when Welty began abusing them.

One of the victims, whose association with Welty lead to an addiction to methamphetamine and who was sexually abused not only by Welty but by two of his friends who have not been identified, provided a written victim-impact statement that was read aloud by Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb.

“I choose to forgive what you’ve done, but not for you,” the victim wrote. “I’m forgiving you for myself, because at the end of the day I need to heal – not you.

“I was so grateful to learn that every seven years, every cell in your entire body is being replaced,” she added. “And with that being said, how great is it to know that I will finally have a body you will have never touched.”

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th judicial District Court sentenced Welty to 30 years for second-degree rape, 30 years for trafficking children for sexual purposes, seven years for indecent behavior of juveniles, 10 years for contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and 10 years for sexual battery.

She ran the sentences concurrently. Additionally, she issued a stay-away order prohibiting any contact with the victims that is in effect for 100 years, and she ordered that he register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

After announcing the sentences, Judge Kovach addressed the two victims, telling them that they “testified extremely creditably,” and that their “bravery impressed the court.”

“I just wanted to say you’re both incredibly strong women,” Judge Kovach told them.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Larry Davis sentenced to 120 years in prison for armed robbery spree

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (May 30) sentenced Larry Davis to 120 years in prison for his conviction of robbing four people at three businesses in one day, including a drug store in Metairie and two discount retail stores on the West Bank. 

A jury on May 14 deliberated for 25 minutes in convicting Davis, 56, of New Orleans, as charged of four counts of armed robbery with a firearm, all of which occurred on March 28, 2019.  

Davis began the armed robbery spree just before 3:30 a.m., in the 1700 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie. Davis, his face mostly covered with a cloth and dressed in black clothing, entered the drug store armed with a small, silver semiautomatic pistol.  

He robbed the cashier of money in the register and a customer of his credit card as he was attempting to pay for his items. Davis ran out of the store with the register till and fled in a white pickup truck. 

About six hours later, at 9:25 a.m., Davis entered a discount retail store in the 8900 block of the Westbank Expressway in Bridge City, wearing all black clothing. He asked the cashier for cigarettes. As she turned with the cigarettes, Davis brandished a small, silver semiautomatic pistol and demanded money. He fled with the register till in a white pickup truck. 

Just over 10 hours later, at 7:40 p.m., Davis, again wearing dark clothing, entered a discount retail store in the 3800 block of U.S. 90 in Avondale. He asked the cashier for a pack of cigarettes and then brandished a small, silver semiautomatic pistol. And again, he fled in a white pickup truck.  

Even before the third robbery occurred, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives had Davis’s and the getaway driver Israel Johnathan Freeman’s names as their suspects, after their fingerprints were lifted from the register till taken in the Metairie armed robbery. An off-duty Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy happened to find that till in the street about a mile from the drug store. The Sheriff’s Office also advised deputies to be on the lookout for the white Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck. 

Less than an hour after the third robbery, a deputy who was working an off-duty detail in the Avondale area – and who also was involved in the investigation of the day’s second robbery — spotted the suspect white pickup truck. That deputy attempted to stop the pickup and called for assistance. 

The robbers led deputies and detectives in a pursuit across the Huey P. Long Bridge, traveling at more than 90 mph. The deputies lost sight of the robbers at Clearview Parkway and Airline Drive. Moments later, a citizen called 911, reporting that the pickup was abandoned at North Woodlawn Avenue and Flamingo Street. During the canvas of that area, a detective caught Davis in the 100 block of Houma Boulevard.  

Davis’s trial began on May 12. He was in court during the first day, but he refused to leave the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna to attend the remainder of his 3-day trial. 

On Friday, Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Davis to 30 years in prison for each of the four armed robbery counts. Each count includes a 5-year firearm enhancement, because Davis was armed with the pistol in robbing the four victims. 

Freeman, 35, of New Orleans, who is Davis’s co-defendant, eluded deputies during the day of the robberies and was arrested in Centerville, Miss., on April 10, 2019. He pleaded guilty as charged in September 2019 before Judge Steib. Freeman received a 15-year sentence. 

Assistant District Attorneys Theresa King and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case. 

Elgene Gary Sr., Grand Isle politico and ex-cop, convicted of molesting 2 girls on the barrier island

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (May 29) found Elgene Gary Sr. guilty of molesting two juveniles on Grand Isle, including a woman he abused when she was a child almost four decades ago.

Gary, 81, a former elected member of the Grand Isle town council, a former member of its police department and a former member of the Grand Isle Port Commission, was convicted as charged of three counts of sexual battery. In addition to hearing testimony from the two victims, jurors heard from a woman who said he abused her as a child in Michigan more than three decades ago.

“Elgene Gary’s decades of deviant destruction are over,” Assistant District Attorney Erich Cathey told jurors in closing argument Thursday in urging them to find the defendant guilty.

Two of the sexual battery charges for which Gary was convicted involve the same victim, one for before she was 13 years of age and one after her 13th birthday (under Louisiana law, abusing a victim under age 13 carries more severe penalties).

That victim initially confided in her childhood best friend, who encouraged her to report it. That led her to then tell a caretaker.

She felt safe to report the abuse to law enforcement only after she was forced to leave Grand Isle when Hurricane Ida devastated the barrier island in August 2021. She reported it in Baton Rouge to the Louisiana State Police, whose Special Victims Unit opened the investigation in October 2021.

Then aged 16, the victim disclosed that Gary molested her beginning when she was 7 years old and continued to do so until she was 15. He told her to “be quiet,” and “this is our secret” as he abused her. When she resisted, he’d tell her, “Don’t you love me?” At times, she hid when Gary was near.

She underwent forensic interviews at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (renamed the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s hospital), and the Children’s Advocacy Services in Denham Springs.

The State Police investigation led to a 40-year-old woman coming forward in January 2022. She disclosed that Gary molested her on one occasion when she was between the ages of 7 and 10, between 1988 and 1991. Gary stopped only because her brother woke up. For that, Gary was convicted of the third count of sexual battery.

Jurors also heard testimony from a woman who said Gary abused her in Michigan in 1993, when she was 10 years old. Gary was visiting Michigan on a hunting trip at the time. Gary has not been charged in Michigan. Her testimony was allowed to be presented to the Jefferson Parish jury to show Gary’s lustful disposition toward children.

“They deserved to be believed, and they deserve justice,” Assistant District Attorney Brooke Harris told jurors Thursday in closing argument.

Gary denied the charges. His attorney argued that the state’s witnesses gave inconsistent testimony. The attorney also told jurors that detectives did not thoroughly investigate the accusations.

Rebutting the defense argument, Assistant DA Cathey told jurors that any perceived inconsistencies were “minor.” The victims “were consistent each and every time on what this man, Elgene Gary Sr., did to both of them,” he said.

The jury deliberated just over five hours to find Gary guilty of all three charges.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Gary on June 16.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.

 

Monica Every, Louis Gordon sentenced to life in prison in murder-for-hire killing

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (May 29) sentenced Monica Every and Louis Gordon to life in prison for their convictions of killing Every’s ex-boyfriend’s new lover.

A jury on April 17 found Every, 52, of LaPlace, guilty as charged of being a principle to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and solicitation for second-degree murder for her role in the death of Charlene Jones, 48.

That same jury found the hired gunman, Gordon, 37, of New Orleans, guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice.

Click here to read about the trial.

Jones was romantically involved with Every’s ex-boyfriend, who ended their relationship on Christmas 2021. Following the break-up, Every, driven by jealousy, undertook a campaign of harassment to end the new relationship, including anonymously calling Crimestoppers to falsely claim that Jones was in possession of a pistol used in a New Orleans East homicide.

Finally, Every paid Gordon $10,000 to kill Jones, an act he carried out on the morning of Jan. 27, 2022. He shot her three times outside her Metairie apartment, as she prepared to drive to her job.

“You got my mother murdered because you couldn’t handle being unwanted,” one of Jones’ daughters told Every in victim-impact testimony during Thursday’s sentencing hearing. “You were obsessed with (her ex). Obsessed with a man who really didn’t want you. When you saw him move on, when you saw him choose Charlene Jones, a real woman, a woman with strength, love and light, you lost your mind.”

Said another one of Jones’ daughters: “You may have thought your actions would silence my mother forever, but they didn’t. Her strength flows through every tear I cry, every breath I take and every word I speak right now. Now she’s gone, and the pain is unbearable.”

Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder in Louisiana. It was a sentence that both Every and Gordon received from Judge R. Christopher Cox III of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the 9-day trial.

Judge Cox additionally sentenced Every to 30 years for conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and 20 years for solicitation for second-degree murder, the maximum for both crimes. Judge Cox ran the sentences concurrently.

As for Gordon, Judge Cox sentenced him to 30 years for conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, 20 years for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and 40 years for obstruction of justice – again, the maximum for each crime. Judge Cox ran the obstruction count consecutively with the life sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth, Lindsay Truhe and Sarah Helmstetter prosecuted the case.

Thomas Welty guilty of drugging, sexually abusing, trafficking teen girls

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday evening (May 20) found Thomas Welty guilty of sexually abusing two teenage girls after giving them illegal narcotics.

Welty, 46, formerly of Metairie, was convicted as charged of second-degree rape and trafficking of children for sexual purposes involving one victim; and, of indecent behavior with a juvenile, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual battery involving the other victim.

Both victims were aged 15 when Welty began abusing them between 2019 and 2021. Welty provided highly addictive methamphetamine to one of the victims and the “date rape” drug GHB to the other.

“He used narcotics as a mechanism for control,” Assistant District Attorney Erich Cathey told jurors in closing argument Tuesday. “He used methamphetamine and GHB to control his victims.”

Welty began abusing one of the victims during 2019 Carnival season, when he provided her with alcohol in the French Quarter, leading her to pass out. He brought her to his home in Metairie, where he injected her with methamphetamine – her first experience with the narcotic. After raping her, Welty allowed two drug-dealing associates to do the same in exchange for narcotics (they have never been identified).

The victim developed an addiction to methamphetamine, which he provided to her as he continued to rape her. The victim’s grandmother learned of Welty and notified the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in July 2020, when she was 16 years old. The victim also disclosed the abuse later that year to a school counselor, who in turn notified the school resource officer. The victim went into rehabilitation to beat the addiction.

Welty gave GHB to the other victim in July 2020. The victim passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was in the shower with Welty. She rebuffed his sexual advances and departed the following morning. She had been acquainted with Welty since January 2019.

“Welty was grooming her,” Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb told jurors Tuesday. Groomers, she said, “are strategically taking their time to study who they want to attack.”

In testimony Tuesday, Welty denied the charges, although he admitted to sexual activity with the first victim. But he accused her of lying about her age. With the second victim, he told jurors he found her in his bed, and she had vomited. He carried her to the bathroom and left her there. His attorney told jurors that there is no physical evidence. Welty has three convictions of possession of ketamine and possession with intent to distribute ketamine, jurors heard.

Jurors who were selected on Thursday deliberated for three hours before returning with their verdicts.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for June 12.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Bunnak ‘Hannah’ Landon gets life plus 80 years for murdering 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (May 6) sentenced Bunnak “Hannah” Landon to life In prison plus 80 years for her conviction of murdering Bella Fontenelle, the 6-year-old Harahan child who was beaten and strangled before her body was placed in a bucket and left on her biological mother’s front lawn two years ago.

Landon, whose exact age is unknown, was in a cohabitating relationship with Bella’s father. She was convicted by a jury last week of first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction in connection with the crimes that occurred in Harahan’s Imperial Woods subdivision.

Landon was watching Bella and her older sister on the night of April 25, 2023 while their father worked late. In text messages to their father, Landon assured him that she tucked the girls into their beds, and that the tooth fairy had visited Bella’s older sister.

In truth, she had murdered Bella, likely as her sister slept.

“Someday I will forgive you, because I want to be in heaven to see Bella,” Bella’s 9-year-old sister wrote in impact testimony, a statement that her mother read aloud in court Tuesday before Landon received her punishment.

Click here to read about the trial.

Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder under state law. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Landon to the maximum 40 years for each of the obstruction counts and ran them consecutively.

Judge Miller, who has presided over the case since it was allotted to her court in August 2023, indicated that she was aware of the facts in the case leading up to last week’s trial.

“I can honestly say it was worse than I imagined,” Judge Miller said. She added that “evil was on full display” in her courtroom.

“This court never wants you to see the light of day again,” the judge told Landon in defending the consecutive sentences.

Landon was convicted of obstruction for tampering with evidence to hinder the investigation. She removed Bella’s body from the crime scene, which was her father’s Donelon Drive home and the crime scene. After leaving Bella’s body on her mother’s front lawn, Landon buried her cell phone in a vacant lot in the subdivision.

During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Miller received seven victim-impact testimony sentences and heard three of them, beginning with Bella’s father. He shared custody of Bella and her older sister with their biological mother, “until Bella was brutally murdered on the night of April 25, 2023, and placed in a bucket like a piece of trash, then dumped on (her mother’s) front yard as if she were to be picked up” by Harahan’s waste disposal contractor.

After reading the statement written by Bella’s sister, her mother testified about the private, simple life she lived before her second-born was taken from her. After the highly publicized crime, she became the target of internet “trolls” who viciously criticized her in social media commentary.

“I did everything in my power to protect my child,” she said in testimony aimed at the trolls.

To Landon, she said, “You made a decision that changed the course of all our lives. Not only did you condemn me and my family to a life sentence of pain and sadness, but you also condemned (Bella’s sister) to a life of not getting to know her sister past the age of six. (Bella’s sister) no longer has a sister to fight with, to share secrets with, to confide in, to share her first kiss, to make matron of honor at her wedding, to become an aunt and Godmother to her children.”

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk, Lindsay Truhe and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case.

 

Jury rejects Bunnak Landon’s insanity defense, convicts her of murdering 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 45 minutes in rejecting Bunnak “Hannah” Landon’s insanity defense on Thursday (May 1), convicting her of beating and strangling 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle in her Harahan home before placing the child’s body in a 13-gallon bucket and leaving the remains on her biological mother’s front lawn.  

Landon, whose exact age is unclear, is guilty as charged of first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction of justice in connection with Bella’s death on the night of April 25, 2023, jurors unanimously decided at the end of the 4-day trial. 

Landon had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Her lawyers argued she could not be held legally responsible for Bella’s death because a mental defect prevented her from distinguishing right from wrong – an assertion that prosecutors promptly shot down. 

“There is so much evidence that shows she knew right from wrong,” Assistant District Attorney Rachel Africk told jurors Thursday in closing argument. 

“She knew what she did was wrong,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe told jurors in closing argument. “She just did not care. She is just evil.” 

A former stripper who performed at venues along the Gulf Coast under the stage name Valentina, Landon met Bella’s father at a Baton Rouge gentleman’s club. A lap dance led to a 4-year-long cohabitating romantic relationship in which Landon often looked after Bella and her older sister at his home in Harahan’s Imperial Woods subdivision. 

Bella and her sister alternated between their parents’ homes under a custody agreement. Bella struggled emotionally with her parents’ split and more so with Landon’s presence in her father’s home. Her pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers noted the child’s inner struggle through observing – and documenting — her growing anxiety, frequent crying and declining grades. They associated the child’s behaviors with time she had to spend at her father’s, and particularly with “Miss Hannah.” 

“That little girl would tell anyone who would listen to her that, ‘Miss Hannah is mean to me,’” ADA Africk told jurors in opening statements Tuesday. Bella feared telling her father about it until the day before she died. 

On the evening of April 25, 2023, while Bella’s father worked late at his job as an accountant in Kenner, Landon again watched over the children. The children’s paternal grandmother picked up the girls from school and spent the afternoon with them before dropping them off at their home. 

The grandmother departed at about 7:30 p.m., Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives learned. They developed a timeline of the night’s events based on footage they obtained from numerous residential surveillance systems in the Imperial Woods subdivision. 

Landon killed Bella soon after her grandmother departed. At about 9:30 p.m., according to video surveillance footage at the Donelon Drive home, Landon emerged pulling a blue canvas wagon holding the bucket in which she forced Bella’s 48-pound body.  

Dressed in a pink long sleeve shirt, black tights and white knee-high boots, Landon pulled the wagon less than ¼-mile away to Bella’s biological mother’s home one street over. She placed the bucket on the front lawn at about 9:35 p.m., and returned to the Donelon Drive residence towing the empty wagon. 

She departed the residence at about 9:45 p.m., never to return (at one point during the evening, she told Bella’s sister that she was going to Florida in the morning). Bella’s father arrived home from his job about five minutes after Landon walked away. He went straight to bed without checking on his daughters. He assumed that Landon was sleeping on the sofa. 

Her whereabouts during the following two hours are unknown. Landon walked into the Harahan Police Department headquarters on Jefferson Highway at about 11:45 p.m. She was uncooperative with the officers who questioned her and provided aliases. She agreed to be sent to East Jefferson General Hospital, where she underwent a brief mental examination and was committed but was given no medication. 

When Bella’s father woke up the following morning, he discovered that Bella and Landon were missing. He dressed his older daughter for school and brought her to her mother’s home. He contacted the Harahan Police Department at about 7:30 a.m., triggering an Amber Alert and a large police search that ranged from checking the cabinets in her father’s home to patrolling miles of the nearby Mississippi River batture. 

It was Bella’s maternal grandmother, who rushed from her West Bank home to Harahan amid the frantic search for the missing child, who first noticed the bucket on the lawn at the foot of the driveway when she arrived at about 8:15 a.m. 

Bella’s mother investigated the bucket, saw blood on its exterior. She was unable to unscrew its lid. She instinctively knew it was her second-born. 

She called Bella’s father. He arrived moments later with Harahan police officers. A sergeant removed the bucket’s lid and found Bella’s body, clad in pink pajamas with white polka dots. 

After viewing residential video security footage of Landon leaving the bucket on the lawn the night before, Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives learned that Landon was at East Jefferson General Hospital. They arrested her there later that day.  

Detectives learned that after she killed Bella the night before, Landon called her sister in Alabama about contacting her lawyer. She also told her sister that she sealed her cellphone in a plastic bag and buried it in a vacant corner lot next to a Y-shaped tree in the neighborhood. That lawyer contacted the Sheriff’s Office Homicide Division commander to report it.  

Soon after, detectives recovered the phone. Investigating the phone’s data, the Sheriff’s Office later found that shortly before she killed Bella, Landon video-recorded the child in her bedroom crying, repeating over and over through her tears, “I want my grandma.” In turn, Landon placed a bath towel at the bottom of Bella’s bedroom door to dampen the sound of her cries. 

They found that Landon used a search engine on the cellphone to repeatedly research a criminal defense attorney’s trial preparation services, after seeing his name in an online news story. She did so even as she sent text messages to Bella’ father, telling him the children were tucked in their beds and that the tooth fairy had visited Bella’s older sister.  

She sent text messages to two of her stripper friends after she killed Bella. “Always remember me as Valentina,” and “I’ll always remember the good times we had,” she told them before deleting the text messages in her phone – messages that the Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensic Unit recovered.  

Landon also called her ex-boyfriend’s mother who was raising her two biological children in Florida. “I’m at peace with what I’ve decided to do,” Landon cryptically told the woman shortly before killing Bella. (That ex-boyfriend is not the father of her children). 

The Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab concluded through DNA analysis that it was Landon’s blood was on the bucket.  

The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office determined that Bella died from asphyxia due to strangulation and blunt-force trauma. The pathologist found numerous bruises on Bella’s head and abrasions on her neck that were indicative of the child’s fingernails scratching against Landon’s hands while she was being strangled. 

The autopsy also revealed that Bella still may have been alive, although unconscious, when Landon folded her little body and stuffed it in the bucket head first. 

At trial, her attorneys argued that because of a mental illness, Landon did not know right from wrong when she killed Bella. They provided testimony from a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Landon 13 times, with the first meeting occurring three days after Landon killed Bella. The psychiatrist concluded that Landon suffers from mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder rooted in her childhood in a Khmer Rouge death camp in her native Cambodia. 

The psychiatrist asserted that Landon was in the throes of “a psychotic episode” when she killed Bella, primarily basing her assessment on her review of reports by Harahan police and the doctors who interacted and evaluated her soon after the murder. Landon claimed to lack memory of what happened, including pulling the wagon with Bella’s remains in the bucket. Landon did claim to recall Bella clawing at her own neck and to holding Bella’s body while listening to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, the defense psychiatrist told jurors. 

However, when asked under cross-examination by ADA Truhe whether the psychiatrist could definitively say Landon could not distinguish right from wrong when she killed Bella, the psychiatrist said, “At that moment, no. I can’t tell that.” 

In rebuttal, ADA Africk provided the testimony of Dr. Gina Manguno-Mire, who was qualified as an expert in forensic psychology. Dr. Manguno-Mire met with Landon for a total of 22 hours, reviewed numerous records and evidence in the criminal case, and interviewed people who knew Landon at the time she killed Bella. 

Landon has a personality disorder, Dr. Manguno-Mire testified, but the legal question is whether that condition left Landon incapable of knowing right from wrong. Her conclusion: Landon was sane when she killed Bella. Based on her actions leading up to and after the murder, she was aware that she knew what she was doing was wrong. 

“It’s my opinion that she understood the consequences of her actions at the time,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified. 

Dr. Manguno-Mire found that Landon was malingering, meaning she was feigning a mental defect. She diagnosed Landon as having a major depressive disorder and narcissistic, histrionic and borderline personality disorders, which tied into a fear of abandonment. 

Landon felt her relationship with Bella’s father was jeopardized because of Bella, the psychologist opined. Bella, diagnosed with separation disorder because of her parents’ split, was in counseling with a child psychologist in the weeks before she died. Bella disclosed in the sessions that Landon was mean to her. With the help of counseling, Bella worked up the courage to open up to her father about Landon. That in turn led her father to confront Landon. He told her he would “reassess” their relationship if he heard this from his daughter again. 

Landon killed Bella the following day. 

“This isn’t a woman who is outside her faculties,” ADA Africk told jurors Thursday. “This is a woman who is pissed off and evil.” 

In addition to the first-degree murder charge, Landon was convicted of two counts of obstruction of justice, one for removing Bella’s body from the murder scene and the other for burying her cellphone. Both actions were undertaken to hinder the criminal investigation – more evidence showing that Landon knew right from wrong. 

Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court set Landon’s sentencing for May 6. 

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk, Lindsay Truhe and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case. 

Saleh ‘Sam’ Omar guilty of manslaughter in Terrytown duct tape homicide case

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (April 24) found Saleh “Sam” Omar guilty of killing a man by strangulation and by tightly wrapping his face and torso and arms with duct tape, leaving him unable to free himself to breathe.

Omar, 47, was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Mohamed “Mo” Mezlini, 29.

He was charged with second-degree murder. But during the more than eight hours of deliberations over two days, jurors found him guilty of the lesser offense.

Omar was a West Bank business owner who previously employed Mezlini. For reasons that remain unclear, Omar expressed hostilities toward Mezlini during the weeks leading up to the incident. He planned a confrontation that included tying Mezlini up.

On Sept. 8, 2018, Omar pressured his 17-year-old half-brother Yazan Omar to lure Mezlini to a vacant suite in a strip mall in the 90 block of Terry Parkway, in Terrytown. The vacant suite was adjacent to a cell phone repair shop that Omar owned. Omar had planned to open a business in the vacant suite and had spent months working on it.

Unbeknownst to Omar, Yazan Omar alerted his friend Mezlini that Omar meant to do him harm. Mezlini went to the store anyway, intending to confront Omar. Mezlini arrived, parked his car in front, leaving the engine running and a frozen coffee beverage in the console.

Mezlini walked into the vacant suite, and he and Omar greeted each other and shook hands. As Mezlini walked on, Omar attacked him from behind and held him in a choke hold. Mezlini broke free and punched Omar in the mouth, bloodying it.

Omar brandished a pocketknife and then a pistol and pointed it at Mezlini and his half-brother. Omar ordered Yazan Omar to help him wrap Mezlini in duct tape. Omar then allowed Yazan Omar to leave.

When Yazan Omar last saw Mezlini, Mezlini was bound with duct tape, but his nose was not covered, meaning he could breathe.

Yazan Omar returned to the cell phone shop next door, where two employees were working. He told them what happened. They did not take it seriously enough to call 911. One of the employees heard the wall between the cell phone repair shop and the vacant suite shaking at one point.

Eventually, Omar departed. He left Mezlini locked in the vacant suite unable to breathe, taking with him the only key to the front door. One of his employees saw him walking out covering his bloodied face and driving away. The employee called Omar on the phone and asked about Mezlini. Omar told him that Mezlini had left the premises.

Soon after, Yazan Omar and the two employees, growing increasingly suspicious, used a screwdriver to jimmy the lock to the vacant suite. One of the employees began video recording the scene on his cellphone as they entered.

Seventeen minutes after Omar departed, they found Mezlini on the floor, duct tape covering his face from the bridge of his nose to his chin, and his arms bound tightly to his torso. His body was limp. One of the employees tore the duct tape from Mezlini’s torso and then used a blade to slice through the tape covering his mouth and nose. Yazan Omar attempted chest compressions. An employee called 911.

Suffering from irreversible brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen, Mezlini was pronounced dead the following day. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office concluded he died from asphyxia due to strangulation and smothering. Mezlini’s hyoid bone, in his throat, also was broken, indicating strangulation. He had an abrasion on his forehead, consistent with blunt force trauma.

Omar fled to Central America, where he was arrested two weeks later in Panama and returned to Jefferson Parish to face charges.

“He leaves with the only key that can save Mo,” Assistant District Attorney Kristen Landrieu told jurors in closing argument Wednesday night. “And he doesn’t look back. Not once. He made it out of the country. He duct-taped (Mezlini’s) mouth and nose shut. What do you think is going to happen?”

At trial, Omar’s attorneys urged jurors to find him not guilty. The defense suggested that Omar was defending himself and argued that Mezlini was alive when Omar left him in the vacant suite. They asserted that Omar panicked and fled upon seeing news reports that Mezlini had died and the Sheriff’s Office wanted to arrest him for murder.

Yazan Omar initially was charged with second-degree murder for his role in assisting Omar. He pleaded guilty in December 2021 to false imprisonment using a firearm and obstruction of justice and received a 15-year prison sentence.

The jury that was seated Monday deliberated 3 ½ hours on Wednesday night and almost five hours on Thursday before returning with its verdict. Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for May 14.

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu, Brendan Bowen and Mallory Grefer prosecuted the case.

Monica Every, Louis Gordon convicted in Metairie murder-for-hire plot

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (April 17) found Monica Every and Louis Gordon guilty of conspiring to kill her ex-boyfriend’s new lover, a scheme they carried out after Every’s harassment campaign failed to end the relationship.

Their conspiracy culminated on the morning of Jan. 27, 2022, when Gordon fatally shot Every’s romantic rival, Charlene Jones, in Metairie. For that, Every paid Gordon $10,000.

Jones, 48, was shot three times from the back while sitting in her car outside her apartment in the gated complex in the 2500 block of South Interstate 10 Service Road, near Causeway Boulevard.

Every, 52, of LaPlace, was convicted of being a principal to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and solicitation for second-degree murder.

Gordon, 37, of New Orleans, was convicted of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and of obstruction of justice.

Every’s boyfriend broke off their 7-year relationship on Christmas Day 2021 to be with Jones. Every was aware of his involvement with Jones, evidenced by the string of angry text messages she sent to him on the day after Christmas, including one in which she called Jones “that old bitch dog.” During the following weeks, Every began an escalating pattern of harassing Jones.

“If Monica Every can’t have him, no one can. That’s what this case is about. It’s as simple as that,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe told jurors on April 11 in opening statements. “(Every) was willing to do what it took to eliminate her.”

“It goes beyond obsession,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Whitworth told jurors Thursday evening during closing argument.

Determined to end the relationship, Every had Gordon sprinkle “voodoo dust” on Jones’ car. She made harassing phone calls, leading Jones and her ex-boyfriend to change their phone numbers.

At Every’s request, Gordon planted a pistol in Jones’ car. Every then called Crimestoppers, anonymously reporting that the firearm hidden in Jones’ car was linked to a teenager’s homicide in New Orleans East. A New Orleans Police Department homicide detective, assisted by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, investigated the Crimestoppers tip. The detective quickly determined that neither Jones nor the pistol was tied in the New Orleans homicide.

Rattled by being questioned in connection with a homicide investigation, Jones immediately told detectives about Every’s ongoing harassment.

Every also hoped that the apartment complex management would bar her ex-boyfriend from the property. She obtained court records from Tangipahoa Parish, where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1997, and anonymously faxed them to the management from a local office supply store. Jefferson Parish detectives later confirmed that Every faxed the court records by viewing security video footage from the office supply store.

Every tried to get an acquaintance who resided in the apartment complex to report her felon ex-boyfriend’s presence on the property. She called that acquaintance seven times in one day in this failed effort.

“When she couldn’t scare Charlene Jones away, the evidence will show she paid this man to kill her,” Truhe told jurors, pointing to Gordon.

It was just before 5 a.m., on Jan. 27, 2022, when Jones slid into her driver’s seat just outside her apartment to prepare to drive to her job. Just as she started the engine and put the transmission in drive, Gordon began shooting.

Jones’ boyfriend was among the residents who heard the gunfire and who called 911. He ran to Jones’ car and opened the driver’s door to find her mortally wounded.

Deputies found her unresponsive in the driver’s seat. Next to the car, they found five spent 9mm bullet casings and bullet damage on the car. The bullet that ended Jones’ life passed through her left arm and entered her torso, where it punctured her lung and severed the aorta.

Detectives obtained video surveillance footage of the shooter’s car passing the momentarily untended guard house at the entrance to the apartment complex. Within five minutes, the car is seen speeding out of the complex.

Although the Ford Fusion had no license plate, detectives were able to identify its owner: Gordon’s girlfriend, a 29-year-old mother of four who lived in New Orleans East.

She was initially viewed as a suspect and booked with second-degree murder. She was jailed while Gordon fled to Florida, where he was later arrested. She allowed Gordon to use her car and one of her daughters’ cell phones on the morning Jones was murdered. She was aware that Gordon did odd tasks for Every, but she was unaware of the murder scheme.

She eventually was charged with and pleaded guilty to money laundering for handling some of the money that Every paid Gordon. She was sentenced to two years of probation and testified about Gordon’s interaction with Every and the money Every gave her boyfriend.

Detectives recovered cell phone communications and financial transactions that linked Every and Gordon to the conspiracy to kill Jones. Two cell phones that Gordon possessed were at the apartment complex when Jones was killed, including the one he borrowed from his girlfriend, detectives learned. Minutes after he shot Jones, Gordon sent a text message to her, “$$$.” Gordon even had his mother cash a $4,000 check that Every provided to him.

As the investigation unfolded, Every learned that detectives encountered Gordon. The next day, Every called the lead case detective, saying she had information to offer. She met detectives at a New Orleans coffee shop and, without being prompted to do so, she provided an alibi showing she was at her home in LaPlace when Jones was killed. Unbeknownst to the detectives, Every recorded their conversation on her cell phone.

Every’s and Gordon’s attorneys denied the charges. They said that Every’s ex-boyfriend or the father of Gordon’s girlfriend’s children could have killed Jones. In defending the money transactions between Every and Gordon, Gordon’s attorney said his client helped Every acquire cabinets for her home. In testimony Thursday, Gordon said he is innocent.

Jurors deliberated almost 2 ½ hours Thursday night before returning with their unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts. Judge R. Christopher Cox of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Every and Gordon on May 29.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth, Lindsay Truhe and Sarah Helmstetter prosecuted the case.