Tennessee woman charged with murder in 1986 Louisiana cold case

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Close to four decades after a Louisiana woman was murdered, investigators said they have identified and charged two people believed to be responsible for her death.

Lafourche Parish sheriff’s deputies traveled to Missouri and Tennessee this week to assist in the arrests of Russell Lee and Judith “Judy” Weiser. Both Weiser and Lee are facing charges for second-degree murder and obstruction of justice.

According to authorities, it was a series of recent breakthroughs that led to the arrests in the 1986 cold case. The victim, 22-year-old Paula Boudreaux, was reported missing on Aug. 3, 1986, after disappearing from her parents’ Golden Meadow home about an hour and a half outside of New Orleans.

In January 1989, skeletal remains were found about two hours away in Slidell, but detectives said they could not be properly identified at the time. Decades later, in 2022, scientists were able to produce a possible image of the person’s face, which prompted an anonymous tip.

The tipster submitted Boudreaux’s name, and with DNA evidence collected from one of her surviving relatives, investigators were able to confirm it was a match. Detectives then reopened the case and picked up the investigation from where they had left off.

The sheriff’s office said they followed up with surviving friends and family members, as well as those with knowledge about Boudreaux’s disappearance. It wasn’t long before they developed Lee and Weiser as persons of interest due to an alleged love triangle.

According to officials, Lee was in a relationship with both Weiser and Boudreaux at the time of her murder. Investigators also found Lee had amassed a violent criminal history since 1986, including charges for aggravated kidnapping, assault, battery, burglary and arson.

In addition, detectives said they discovered statements and evidence implicating them in the crime. By the end of their investigation, officials said they had enough evidence to believe Lee and Weiser killed Boudreaux, dismembered her body and dumped her remains in Slidell.

They then obtained arrest warrants for both individuals, tracking them to two different states. On Tuesday, July 9, Lee was taken into custody in Missouri with the help of the Mountain Grove Police Department.

Weiser was taken into custody a day later in Tennessee. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office reportedly assisted in her arrest.

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Lee and Weiser will soon be taken back to Louisiana and booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex. Their bail is set at $1.1 million each.

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