The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested three people on murder charges after a body found in Florida is determined to be that of a man killed in Lacombe earlier this week.
On Tuesday (June 14) detectives with the Santa Rosa County (Florida) Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit recovered the body of an unidentified man from a waterway in their jurisdiction. As the investigation progressed the male subject was identified as a resident of Lacombe, La.
At that time, detectives with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit notified the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit.
In a joint investigation between the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, detectives were able to establish two suspects, Patrick McCarty (DOB 7-11-1986) and Jason James (DOB 7-17-1985) both of Lacombe, as well as a potential location of the homicide at a residence in the 60000 block of Williams Drive in Lacombe.
Through their investigation, detectives learned the men beat the victim at the Williams Drive residence and then transported his body to Florida, where they dumped it in a waterway in a remote area of Santa Rosa County. It was also learned the men attempted to hide the crime by destroying evidence.
A 17-year-old Slidell male was also present and participated in the incident. He too was also taken into custody.
McCarty and James were booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center for Second-degree Murder and Obstruction of Justice. The juvenile was booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center on the same two charges.