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Lafourche Parish cold case closed after 38 years with two arrests
By Raeven Poole,
2024-07-11
Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
LAFOURCHE PARISH, La. ( WGNO ) — The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office has made two arrests in a 38-year-old cold case surrounding the murder of a Golden Meadow woman.
Deputies said that on Aug. 3, 1986, 20-year-old Paula Boudreaux was last seen at her parents’ home. Three days later, on Aug. 6, 1986, her parents reported her as missing to the Golden Meadow Police Department.
Police records reported showed that years after her disappearance, skeletal remains were found in Slidell in January 1989, but deputies said they could not properly identify them.
In an attempt to identify the remains in 2022, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office submitted information to the LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services Lab, which was able to render an image of the person.
During the investigation, deputies received an anonymous tip that the remains may be Boudreaux. Through collected evidence, they were able to confirm her identity in 2023.
Russell Lee (left) and Judith Weiser (right) (Courtesy: Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office)
Following the discovery, the case was reopened, and detectives began interviewing family and friends and reviewed previous notes that led them to identify Russell Lee and Judith Weiser as persons of interest.
Deputies noted that Lee was in a relationship with Boudreaux and Weiser at the time of the crime. He was also found to have an extensive criminal background, including aggravated charges of kidnapping, assault, battery, burglary, arson and more.
As a result of the investigation, deputies concluded Lee and Weiser allegedly killed Boudreaux, dismembered her and left the remains in Slidell.
On July 9, Lee was arrested in found and arrested in Missouri and on July 10, Weiser was arrested in Tennessee.
The two face charges of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. They will be extradited to Louisiana where they will be booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex with a $1.1 million bail each.
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