Sheriff: Mt. Hermon suspect has history of mental illness, substance abuse

We are learning more about a 23-year-old that authorities north of the lake say confessed to murdering his grandparents.

Colby Stokes from Washington Parish has been booked in the deaths of his grandparents, Beverly and Carley Stokes. The incident occurred Wednesday at the family’s home in Mount Hermon.

“Really is an unfortunate situation for a lot of different reasons.  You know there’s families caught up on both sides of this issue,” said Washington Parish Sheriff Jason Smith.

Smith says after shooting his grandparents Stokes went to a neighbor’s home and told them what happened. Authorities responded to a 911 call from the neighbor. The sheriff says Carley was dead at the scene and Beverly died at a local hospital.

“Its kind of a domestic dispute that escalated to the point where now its not recoverable and the extended family is going to be dealing with the consequence of this for a long time,” said Smith.

Stokes was arrested at the scene and is charged with two counts of second degree murder.

Smith referenced Stokes’ past mental health struggles along with drug and alcohol abuse, and the circumstances that led to the murders aren’t uncommon in Washington Parish.

“We have a large segment of our population that struggles with drug abuse and mental health issues,” the sheriff said.

Smith says the investigation is ongoing, and the motive behind the killings has not been disclosed.