Maternal duo arrested in 16-year-old murder case

Sixteen years ago, 73-year-old Enola Boudreaux discovered in her home an intruder rummaging through her purse.

Startled, Boudreaux shouted at her 17-year-old neighbor, who “snapped” and blacked-out. He regained consciousness as he left the small brick home at 14087 E. Main St. in Cut Off with two purses.

That was what Sonny James Guidry, now 33, told Lafourche Parish detectives after they closed in on him in El Reno, Okla., in the days leading up to his arrest last week, according to Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre.

On the afternoon of June 22, 1995, Boudreaux’s body was found in a pool of blood on her living room floor. Guidry has been charged with first-degree murder in her death.

“Sixteen years ago, after finding out what happened to my dear grandmother, we began to pray and ask God that whatever was done in darkness be brought to light,” Joycelen Terrebonne said. “Don’t ever underestimate the power of prayer because the darkness has been revealed. Somebody has been caught. God has shown who did this to my grandma.”

Authorities said Guidry did not admit to stabbing Boudreaux “several times.” Nor did he admit to cutting her throat and puncturing her carotid artery with the knife that was recovered during the initial investigation.

He did recall “leaving the residence with two purses and also with bloody clothes, that were subsequently removed after he took a bath, and later destroyed by Diane Vining Billiot,” Webre said.

Billiot, after learning Lafourche detectives had apprehended Guidry, her son, discharged herself from a mental treatment facility in Oklahoma City and was brought to an Oklahoma police station, where she refused to answer questions, Webre said.

“She was Mirandaized and subsequently refused to cooperate and requested to have the presence of an attorney,” Webre said. “She was charged with an accessory to first-degree murder.”

Billiot and Guidry were booked at the Lafourche Parish Detention Center last Wednesday night. Judge Walter Lanier III refused Guidry bond and set Billiot’s bond at $100,000, Lafourche sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Lesley Hill said.

The sheriff’s office has yet to settle on a motive for Boudreaux’s murder, but signs point to a theft gone awry.

“In his interview, Mr. Guidry indicated that money that was taken in the robbery was given to his mother and that he thought she had used it to buy drugs,” Webre said.

The maternal duo was always on LPSO’s radar, according to the sheriff.

“Mr. Guidry was the neighbor,” Webre said. “He was reported by some of the people that we talked to as being a little peculiar. There was no legitimate motive for anybody else to harm Mrs. Boudreaux. … It would have, in all likelihood, been someone nearby who had access to the house and been aware of her habits and practices. … We suspect there was some collusion that occurred and there may have even been some effort to manipulate the scene.

“Upon trying to interview people, Mr. Guidry refused to cooperate, would not talk to the police and immediately invoked his right to an attorney and the right to remain silent.”

Not long after the homicide, Billiot and Guidry packed up and moved to Oklahoma without notifying anyone, Webre said.

In the time that has elapsed, Guidry has been twice arrested for breaking and entering, Webre said.

“His mother, likewise, has had several run-ins with the law,” the sheriff continued. “She’s had some drug problems, addiction and some mental health issues during the time she has been in Oklahoma.”

Guidry revealed the fragmented details of his whereabouts that night in June while being interrogated after detectives obtained a search warrant affidavit from Oklahoma officials that granted access to both Guidry’s and Billiot’s DNA, Webre said.

Det. John Dillman, hired recently as LPSO’s cold case investigator, has been the lead detective since new evidence was presented to the sheriff’s office last January.

The sheriff said an email he personally received, and forwarded to the investigation division, early this year led to the breakthrough in the Boudreaux case.

“The email was from a person who had knowledge of the crime and had knowledge of Ms. Billiot, and believed that Ms. Billiot was involved, and suggested that she be contacted for additional information as to other witnesses and more specific information,” he said.

Webre would not speculate on what led the new witness to come forward after 16 years, but he did give a generalized perspective on why some informants come forward years after a crime was committed.

“In many cold case homicides such as this one, time and circumstance, often times, are the difference for people being fully candid at the time of the incident and then later having maybe a life-altering event or some change of heart or discovering something that they didn’t know before,” he said.

The sheriff’s office does not yet have a specific piece of evidence that it will pair for connections with Guidry’s DNA profile, according to Webre.

“Once we have his DNA profile, if there is any DNA profile on any of the clothing or the items that were recovered, the purse or anything along those lines that would further solidify the connection to the crime,” he said. “The investigation, of course, is continuing. In addition to DNA samples, we will look at some of the older evidence and solidify any of the leads that might exist.”

Terrebonne, Boudreaux’s granddaughter who acted as spokeswoman for the family members, thanked LPSO for its work on the case and expressed empathy for the suspects’ family.

“I would like to say that 16 years ago, our lives changed,” Terrebonne said. “The unthinkable happened. We lost my little maw-maw, my precious maw-maw. She didn’t die naturally. She didn’t die in an accident. She died at the hands of somebody committing a very evil act.

“May you never experience such a horrific event in your lives, to have a family member, a precious, defenseless family member slain, slaughtered, killed.”

Jocelyn Terrebonne, whose grandmother, Enola Boudreaux, was murdered 16 years ago, speaks at a Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office press conference last week announcing the arrest of a mother and son in connection with the homicide. ERIC BESSON