36 unsolved homicides in Natchitoches Parish; mothers seek justice

NATCHITOCHES, La. (KTAL/KMSS)- Several mothers of murder victims gathered at Natchitoches radio station KBZL to go on the air along with law enforcement to ask the community for help.

There are 36 unsolved murders in Natchitoches, and these mothers are frustrated. Gail Moran, whose son Demario Moran’s murder hasn’t been solved, said, “We need the community’s help, we need the leaders’ help, we need the mayor’s help, we need the sheriff’s department’s help. We need the chief of police’s help; all these people that we have elected, we need their help.”

Jonathan Byles is the Natchitoches Parish Major of Criminal Investigations, and he said, “We’re getting homicides that have witnesses, but those witnesses choose not to come forward, and when we do interview them, they choose not to speak with us.”

Some of the mothers express frustration with investigators for not communicating with them. However, investigators say they can only release so much information to prevent jeopardizing the investigation. Both the families and investigators agree that people need to come forward if they know anything about a crime.

Crystal Brown, the mother of murder victim Deon Coleman, said, “Someone knows what happened to our children, so you need to come forward and say something, even if you want to remain anonymous, you need to say something because they didn’t deserve to die.”

If you know anything about one of the 36 murders in Natchitoches, you can reach out to Crime Stoppers at 318-238-2388 to provide a tip or go to p3tip.com. If it leads to an arrest, you could be eligible to receive a cash reward. They also guarantee anonymity. No caller ID, no recorded lines, and no phone tracking.