Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office helps arrest suspect in Louisiana cold case

LAFOURCHE PARISH, La. ( WATE ) — Two people have been arrested and charged in the 1986 murder of a Louisiana woman. One of the two suspects was found in East Tennessee, while the other was in Missouri.

Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre shared that Russell Lee and Judith “Judy” Weiser have been charged with the murder of 22-year-old Paula Boudreaux , who was killed in August 1986. She was last seen at her parents’ Golden Meadow home on Aug. 3, 1986. Her family reported her missing on Aug. 6.

In January 1989, skeletal remains were found in Slidell, Louisiana, however, they could not be properly identified at the time. The remains remained unidentified for several years, until 2023 when the St. Tammany Coroner’s Office identified the remains as Boudreaux following an anonymous tip and DNA analysis.

“From that point, detectives re-opened the old case to attempt to pick up the investigation. They followed up with surviving friends and family members and those with knowledge about Boudreaux’s disappearance, and they reviewed all case notes from previous investigators. Lee and Weiser were immediately developed as persons of interest as detectives learned Lee was in relationships with both Boudreaux and Weiser at the time of Boudreaux’s murder,” wrote the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office on Facebook.

The sheriff’s office goes on to say that investigators found evidence implicating both suspects in the incident, leading them to obtain arrest warrants for both. On July 9, 2024, Lee was taken into custody in Missouri, with help from the Mountain Grove Police Department. The next day, July 10, Weiser was arrested in Tennessee with assistance from Cumberland County Sheriff’s Investigators.

Lee and Weiser have been charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said they will be taken to the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex and bail has been set at $1.1 million each.

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