October 05, 2022  |  02:51 pm

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has recovered the body of a missing Lacombe man following an exhaustive search.

Around midday Wednesday (October 5), deputies with the STPSO Operations Division located Christopher “Turk” Batiste, deceased, deep in the woods near Barringer Road.

The body was turned over to the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office for a determination of cause and manner of death. However, foul play is not suspected.

Batiste, a 59-year-old black male with health issues, was reported missing Saturday (October 1) afternoon.

Family members last saw Batiste at 2 a.m. Saturday, when a family member dropped him off outside another family member’s residence in the 27000 block of Barringer Road in Lacombe.
STPSO deputies, with the assistance of family, friends and neighbors, searched the woods surrounding Barringer Road on foot and ATV, and investigated all leads of potential sightings with hopes of finding Batiste alive.

“While this is not the outcome we were all hoping for,” Sheriff Randy Smith said, “I want to thank the men and women who continued to search and investigate leads so that the family of Mr. Batiste could have closure.”