Town note
Marrero was named for Louisiana politician Louis H. Marrero, the founder of the Marrero Land Company.
about 0:05:54The story
Marrero, Louisiana, sits on the west bank of the Mississippi, about fifteen minutes from New Orleans. In February 1981 it was a low-income town of roughly 32,000 people. On the night of 20 February a group of young men from the area went bar-hopping around Gretna and Marrero. A third man in the group has never been publicly identified. Late in the night they met Pamela LeBlanc, who had outstanding warrants ranging from failure to move on to prostitution, and then Stephanie Plaisance, known as Penny. At another bar the group met James Stash, 22, and he joined them.
On the way he stopped twice so that people could urinate. The first stop was beside dozens of people watching a car burn at the side of the road, so they drove on. At the second, on a quiet stretch, everyone got out and walked about ten feet from the car. Both produced knives and cut and stabbed him. They beat him again until he was barely conscious and took thirty dollars from his pocket. Then they left him for dead and drove to the trailer.
They found Stash not only alive but standing at the roadside hitchhiking with the knife. They persuaded him back into the car and drove to a secluded spot at the edge of the bayou. He pushed Stash's head under the water and stood on it until the bubbles stopped. The coroner gave the cause of death as drowning, noting that a stab wound to the back could also have been fatal.
They collected the women and drove them home, describing the killing in detail and threatening to kill them if they spoke. The women went to the police.