Eunice Marie Dupre
August 26, 2008Stephen Michael Eschete
August 28, 2008
Described as a “monster” by Lafourche Parish law enforcement authorities, a Houma man could face life in prison or death for allegedly running down a sheriff’s deputy last week.
Billy Daigle, 41, of 179 Brien St., is accused of running over Lafourche Parish sheriff’s deputy Martha Woods Shareef in a stolen pickup truck Wednesday, moments after he allegedly attempted to burglarize Nocko’s convenience store in Chackbay.
Shareef, a 15-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, died a short time later at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center from injuries she sustained during the incident.
“There are hardly words that would adequately express the sentiment of my whole office and myself,” Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said at a press conference that afternoon. “Losing an officer is such an unbelievable event.”
Shareef was patrolling the Chackbay area early last Wednesday in the place of another sheriff’s deputy who had been promoted. Around 2:30 a.m., she rushed to a “possible burglary in progress” call at the convenience store. Authorities said at the convenience store, she and storeowner Billy Chiasson confronted Daigle.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Larry Weidel said Shareef radioed dispatchers alerting them she was struggling with Daigle.
A loud scream was heard, followed by a male’s voice (Chiasson) notifying authorities that Shareef was hurt and an ambulance was needed.
“Apparently she was overtaken by Daigle and he ended up running over her,” Webre said.
Chiasson gave a detailed description of the green 1997 Ford pick-up truck as it fled the scene down Louisiana Highway 24.
Authorities said a state police trooper intercepted the truck 20 minutes after the incident. State police spokesman Trooper Gilbert Dardar said the trooper tried to confront Daigle, even firing several shots at the truck before the vehicle sped away.
Daigle led authorities on a high-speed chase that ended shortly after he crossed a spike strip engaged by sheriff’s deputies, lost control of the truck and careened into a tree off La. 1, just south of Lafourche Crossing. Daigle jumped out of the truck and into Bayou Lafourche, Dardar said. He swam across the waterway and ran away on La. 308.
Weidel said a massive, multi-agency manhunt was launched.
“Sheriff deputies and state police were joined by law enforcement agencies from Terrebonne, Jefferson, St. James the Baptist and Assumption parishes,” Weidel said.
Both sides of the highway were closed for several hours during the search. Police apprehended Daigle around 6:45 a.m. He was hiding underneath a house on La. 308, near where the truck was abandoned.
Daigle was taken to Louisiana State Police Troop C for questioning. Dardar said after questioning, police transported the suspected killer to the Lafourche Parish Detention Center.
Webre decided to transfer Daigle to West Baton Rouge jail as a safety precaution.
Daigle is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder for threatening the lives of a state trooper and the homeowner of the residence under which he was hiding, simple burglary and unauthorized use of a movable.
According state law, first-degree murder is punishable by life imprisonment or death, depending on how the district attorney proceeds with the case.
Last Wednesday’s murder in Lafourche Parish are not Daigle’s first run-in with the law.
His most recent conviction was in March when he was arrested for felony theft in Houma.
Felony theft charges normally carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison; however, Daigle was allowed to plead guilty to unauthorized use of a movable and sentenced to 100 days in the Terrebonne Parish Jail. He was released on June 26.
Daigle’s criminal history dates back two decades to the late 1980s.
Lafourche Parish authorities arrested him for first-degree murder when he shot Keith Prestenbach in 1986 in what Webre describes as “road rage.”
Daigle later pled guilty to negligent homicide and was sentenced to five years in prison.
His next arrest came in 1992, when he was charged with attempted murder in Winnfield Parish. Lafourche authorities are still seeking information on whether Daigle was convicted.
He was arrested again in 1997 in Valdosta, Ga., for armed robbery. Daigle never stood trial in Georgia because he was arrested in Louisiana on an outstanding warrant. Webre said Georgia authorities opted not to extradite him, and he spent the next seven years in prison in Louisiana for an unrelated crime, according to court documents.
In 2005, Daigle had a three-month span of domestic-abuse battery arrests in Terrebonne Parish.
“When you look at his criminal history and his propensity for violence, you can’t help but feel that somewhere in the criminal justice system we let a dangerous predator operate and that something like this was inevitable,” Webre said.
The sheriff said last Wednesday was the second worst day of his career at the helm of the sheriff’s office. Webre and Maj. Marty Dufrene, head of the parish correctional department, Parish President Charlotte Randolph and District 1 Councilman Jerry Jones were attending a jail-planning seminar in Colorado when the sheriff received the news at 3 a.m. that Shareef had died.
Webre immediately returned to Louisiana.
“I can tell you without hesitation that this is the second worst phone call on the second worst day of my career,” he said.
The first worst, he said, happened in July 2003 when Det. Chaney Champagne and Sgt. Kurt Harrelson were killed in a car crash while en route to a call.
