2 New Orleans college student kidnapping victims found dead-2 suspects arrested(solved)

[MuffyBee]

2 New Orleans kidnapping victims found dead
Associated Press
Apr 20, 7:57 PM EDT

 NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The bodies of two college students kidnapped during the weekend were found Monday inside an abandoned house in a section of New Orleans east of the Mississippi River.

The bodies of Fitzgerald Phillips and Calyisse Perkins, both 19, were found at about 1:30 p.m. in the Gert Town section of the city after police received an anonymous tip, Deputy Police Superintendent Marlon Defillo said. The two were students at Southern University at New Orleans. Police did not say how the victims died and released few details.

Police arrested a man earlier Monday in connection with the case after picking up six people who had been in the area where a car owned by one of the victims was found. Kenneth Barnes, 22, was booked with aggravated kidnapping, possession of stolen items and other crimes after investigators discovered property belonging to the victims, Defillo said.

About 20 police recruits had been searching for the students before the tip was received. A cadaver dog alerted officers to the bodies, which were found in a house in uptown New Orleans.

Police said the victims were in Perkins' apartment when two men got inside, ransacked the residence and forced them to go to Phillips' house, where more was stolen. According to investigators, Phillips' family later received a ransom call. A car owned by Phillips was found Sunday afternoon in the Treme section near the French Quarter, several miles from where the bodies were found.

Autopsies were planned, and Crimestoppers offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of whoever was responsible for the crimes.

"There is no indication that these two young folk were involved in anything illegal," Defillo said.

Sheila Reneau, mother of Calyisse Perkins, said she couldn't make sense of the crime. Her family had never been victimized by violence, and "Calyisse last got into a fight in the first grade," Reneau told The Times-Picayune newspaper.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NEW_ORLEANS_KIDNAPPING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[MuffyBee]

Suspect in kidnapping, double-murder had multiple probation violations

07:30 PM CDT on Friday, April 24, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - A convicted drug dealer, one of the suspects in the kidnapping and double-murder this week in New Orleans had allegedly violated his probation several times.
 In fact, a judge revoked Layman Foster's probation once, sending him back to prison, but let him back out a few months later, in December 2008.

It's something criminal justice experts say happens regularly with drug offenders.

But for the family of one of the victims, it raises the question, What if he had remained behind bars?

Friday was an indescribable day for Sheila Reneau and her sisters.

“My heart, my heart hurt. And that's all I can say. My heart hurts,” Reneau said.

The group was planning the funeral for Reneau’s daughter, 19-year-old Calyisse Perkins.

She and 19-year-old Fitzgerald Phillips were kidnapped and murdered early Sunday morning.

Friday, a makeshift memorial marked the abandoned Uptown home where the two were shot.

On Monday, after the two bodies were discovered by police, NOPD Deputy Superintendent Kirk Bouyelas said, “We believe it was drug related.”

On Monday, one of the two men arrested in connection with the murders, 23-year-old Layman Foster, turned himself into police headquarters, fearing street justice more than the justice system. It was a fear echoed by his family.

“He had some minor problems, but nothing like this. I just wanted to get him off the streets. I've been looking for him since [Monday] morning, since I first saw his photo on television. I've been looking for him,” said Foster’s father, Layman Thomas.

According to court records, Foster was convicted of dealing marijuana in August of 2007.

He was given two years probation, something he violated three times.

In fact, in June of 2008, he was arrested again for marijuana possession, leading Judge Laurie White to revoke his probation in August, requiring him to serve his original five years in prison.

But in December, White reconsidered that sentence, and let him back out on probation.

“A lot of judges will send them to jail for brief periods of time and allow them back out again. Many of them get the message with that. This is one that didn't,” said president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, Rafael Goyeneche.

Again, according to court records, after his December release, Foster violated his probation two more times, and tested positive for marijuana at the end of January, but he still remained on probation. 

“Normally you're only going to see a probation revoked if you see a subsequent felony conviction. That didn't occur in this case. And that's what I feel it's the culture of that court,” Goyeneche said.

Judge White said she couldn't comment on Foster's case, but Goyeneche said the goal is rehabilitation, something that he says works in most cases.

“I'm sure there are a lot of regrets on the part of the judge in hindsight. But that judge is going to have to view thousands of cases like this over the course of their career,” he said.

But with wounds so raw, it's still difficult for Calyisse Perkins' family.

“I'm angry. Because I feel like, if they, if justice had been served, and I know that it probably wasn't much, he would've been in jail because they would've revoked his probation. He should have been in jail,” Reneau said.

Funerals for both murder victims are scheduled for Saturday.

The family of Calyisse Perkins has set up a memorial fund in her name at regions bank to help with funeral expenses.
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl042409mlparole.109a7da18.html

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wdsu.com/news/19236586/detail.html
2nd Suspect In Double Slaying Turned In
Family, Friends Mourn Teens' Deaths

POSTED: 1:47 am CDT April 21, 2009
UPDATED: 1:49 pm CDT April 21, 2009
NEW ORLEANS -- A second suspect wanted on charges of kidnapping and killing two 19-year-olds is in police custody after being turned in by family members.

Investigators have said Foster is facing first-degree murder and other charges.

The bodies of Calyisse Perkins and Fitzgerald Phillips, who were kidnapped early Sunday morning, were discovered Monday in a house on Broadway Street, hours after police arrested another suspect in connection with their disappearance.

Kenneth Barnes, 22, was arrested early Monday on kidnapping and gun charges.

The grief was just too much to bear for family and friends.

Calyisse Perkins and Fitzgerald Phillips, both 19, were kidnapped and killed in April 2009.
They is really, really hurting right now. Calyisse was not that type of person. They did not have to kill her," said Perkins' aunt, Iddella Casimier.

Family and friends of Perkins and Phillips arrived within minutes after hearing two bodies had been found in an abandoned home at Broadway and Fig streets.

Police would not say how the victims, both students at Southern University of New Orleans, were killed.

"If they can live with that upon their heart, I feel sorry for them," said Casimier.

The couple was kidnapped from Perkins Algiers apartment over the weekend.

Family members said they then reportedly got a call demanding money.
Tips led to the arrest of Kenneth Barnes Sunday. On Monday, Barnes gave investigators insight into their relationship.

Police arrested 22-year-old Kenneth J. Barnes from Treme on kidnapping and gun charges.

Tips led to the arrest of Kenneth Barnes Sunday. On Monday, Barnes gave investigators insight into their relationship.

"That relationship stemmed around the use of marijuana. The fact that he had been involved in the acceptance or providing marijuana to Mr. Phillips," said Deputy Supt. Marlon Defillo.

Police said a series of tips led them to Gert town.

"We began on the other side of Earhart and we received some information that we needed to come on this side of Earhart, so we began to establish a grid and organize a search in this area using the dogs," said Defillo.

Pastor John Rafael, of New Hope Baptist Church, organizes the anti-crime group "Yes We Care."

Rafael consoled the victims' families.

"I've already prayed with those families. I've been to one of the families' homes," said Rafael.

Rafael said the police department's effort in the case sends a message to the community.

"If the police department is going to invest that much effort into investigating, we've got to step up," Rafael said. "When we have information, we've got to respond, because every life is valuable."

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at 822-1111. The cash reward has been increased to $5,000.

[Nut44x4]

Second defendant pleads guilty in kidnapping and killing of Algiers couple
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/08/second_defendant_pleads_guilty.html
Published: Thursday, August 04, 2011, 9:00 PM
Layman Foster Jr., 24, who had a prior conviction for dealing marijuana, agreed to a 50-year prison sentence, pleading guilty Thursday to manslaughter as a second offender while a newly picked jury sat ready to try him for his role in killing Fitzgerald Phillips and Calyisse Perkins.
Last year, a jury convicted another defendant in the case, Gregory Vincent Jr., 35, on two counts each of second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary. Police found stolen booty in his car, including a Playstation 3, a laptop computer and a watch.

 ::snipping2:: Vincent faces a life sentence in prison. Sentencing is scheduled in September. Barnes, 25, the alleged shooter, is scheduled to stand trial in September on a charge of first-degree murder in the deaths. Orleans Parish prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Barnes, pegging him as the ringleader.

 ::snipping2::

"When you can get someone off the streets for 50 years, then you are eliminating the threat to society," said Christopher Bowman, an assistant district attorney.

[Nut44x4]

Death Penalty Trial Set for Kenneth Barnes in 2009 LA Slayings of Fitzgerald Phillips and Calyisse Perkins



NEW ORLEANS - A New Orleans man has accepted a 50-year prison sentence for his part in a plot that ended with the deaths of two 19-year-olds killed in an abandoned house after $10,000 ransom was demanded.
 
snipped
Foster agreed to the plea after a jury was been chosen to hear second-degree murder charges against him. Conviction would have meant a life sentence.
 
snipped
The alleged ringleader and gunman, Kenneth Barnes, is scheduled for trial in September on first-degree murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for him.
 http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20110805/APN/1108050625?Title=Guilty-plea-in-kidnap-for-ransom-killing

[Nut44x4]

Moving this to solved.....it's pretty much wrapped up

RIP