A Big Ball Of Death

LaPlace, Louisiana, sits in St. John the Baptist Parish in the south-east of the state, about half an hour outside New Orleans. In the mid-1990s people still left their doors unlocked. Many older residents kept their savings at home, in safes or tucked into books, because they did not trust banks. Between October 1996 and July 1997 someone began robbing and killing those older residents across St. John the Baptist, St. James and Ascension parishes, cutting telephone lines, getting in through windows and using whatever was in the house as a weapon.

this part of the story is covered for now At twelve he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle and afterwards was diagnosed with mild brain dysfunction. People who knew him said his personality changed and he became quiet and withdrawn. details of the account remain covered until revealed In his teens he burned down a building, was adjudicated a delinquent and was sent to reform school, where a mechanics programme gave him a trade. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now Riverboat casinos had opened in Louisiana and video poker machines stood in bars and petrol stations. His reported income was $5,410 in 1995 and $13,767 in 1996, and in 1997 it was nothing, yet he wagered more than $269,000 at three casinos over those years, cashing out about $220,000 and losing some $49,000. He was also building custom street rods, and he had worked for Victor Rossy and alongside Doug Brock.

The first killing the episode describes was on 27 October 1996. details of the account remain covered until revealed Someone walked in through an unlocked door, picked up Rossy's own baseball bat and beat him to death, then ransacked the house and took $800 or $900. The bat was left behind, soaked in blood, with fingerprints and DNA that did not belong to Rossy. The investigation went nowhere. Rossy had no enemies, and the former employees who were interviewed all gave statements and were cleared.

On 19 March 1997 Barbara Bourgeois, 58, was found dead on her living room floor in Paulina. She had recently been widowed, lived alone and worked as a special education teaching assistant for the St. James Parish school system. She had severe facial injuries and cuts to her wrists and hands, and had been beaten with her own vacuum cleaner and then stabbed with a knife from the kitchen. Nothing was taken, though her things had been searched. A responding officer called the scene a ball of death. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

On 10 April 1997 Lillian Philippe was due at eight in the morning to collect her sister-in-law, Viola Brow Philippe, and drive to a religious retreat in Mississippi. When she did not arrive, Viola telephoned Lillian's brother-in-law, Dr Doyle Felipe, who went to the house at half past eight. The door was unlocked and the alarm had been switched off. He walked into the hallway, felt that something was wrong and called the police. Lillian was on the floor at the foot of her bed, covered in blood, with a broken trophy by her head and a bloody butcher's knife beside the bed. Her safe was open, her purse had been searched and an envelope containing $120 was gone. Outside, an attic vent had been removed and a wrought-iron chair stood on the air-conditioning unit. A forensic scientist said the vent was too small for most adults, and a fresh blade of grass lay in the attic.

Gonzales detectives realised there had been other killings with the same shape: older victims, ransacked homes, cut telephone wires and weapons taken from the house. They called Ascension, St James and St John the Baptist parishes and then the FBI. A task force was formed. On 9 May 1997, at 9.46 in the morning, sheriff's deputy James Arcuri Jr stopped at his parents' house in LaPlace because his sister could not reach them. The front door was ajar. He found his father, Salvador Joseph 'Sam' Arcuri, 76, dead on the floor with defensive wounds on his forearms, and his mother, Luella, 69, unconscious on the kitchen floor with a faint pulse. this part of the story is covered for now A bloodstained hammer lay near Sam and a bloodied cane knife, a sling blade, had been used on Luella. details of the account remain covered until revealed He waited in the garage while they collected the newspaper and made coffee. He missed $112,000 in cash hidden inside encyclopaedias on the bookshelf. Under Sam's fingernails was male DNA that was not his.

Five days later, on 14 May 1997 in the same town but a different street, Joan Brock, 55, was killed. Her husband Doug was not home. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She was attacked in the back yard and stabbed so many times in the neck that she was nearly decapitated, with four major blows to the head and a nick to the vertebrae. A small safe weighing about 150 pounds and her 1991 Nissan Maxima were taken. The car was found later in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn near the I-10 and I-55 interchange, the keys still in it. Doug Brock had just finished remodelling the kitchen and had been looking forward to the first Thanksgiving in it.

On 7 July 1997, at two in the morning, Leonce and Joyce Millet, both 66, were attacked in their house just outside Gonzales. this part of the story is covered for now When they woke he forced Leonce to open the bedroom safe, and Leonce gave him the wrong combination again and again. The safe held more than $100,000. details of the account remain covered until revealed Both survived. Joyce drove herself to their son's house and raised the alarm, and the couple were able to describe their attacker.

A security guard at the Square Deal Casino in Sorrento told investigators about a regular customer who used to spend $20 at a time in a beat-up pickup with a homemade engine hoist on the back and who suddenly began arriving in sharp clothes and jewellery on a new motorcycle. A detective recognised the description of the truck. Its owner was a mechanic who had worked for Victor Rossy. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it A financial check confirmed that he had reported no income in 1997. this part of the story is covered for now He telephoned an investigator, promised to bring casino receipts, and never came back.

In November 1997 the task force went to Texas. details of the account remain covered until revealed None matched anything from the crime scenes, and he paid a $50 fine and walked out. On 13 November 1997 the task force arrived with search warrants and took him to the Anahuac courthouse annex for a conversation. He agreed to talk. The interview lasted twelve hours and was recorded. He took a polygraph three times and failed it. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He put his head down and cried, and when asked whether he meant to kill Mrs Brock he said no. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now There was no fingerprint, fibre or DNA evidence linking him to any scene. The DNA on Rossy's bat and under Sam Arcuri's fingernails belonged to unidentified other people, and cigarette butts at the Millet house carried unidentified male and female DNA.

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this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed After further orders, the testing was completed in January 2024. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it