Staff Report
A 23-year-old Eunice man held in prison for a 2016 killing in Eunice now says he killed his great-uncle in 2011 and dumped the body in the Atchafalaya River across from Krotz Springs.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said Phillip Foster Lafleur, 23, of the 300 block of North 12th Street, Eunice, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his great-uncle, Dale Lafleur.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s detectives were notified Tuesday by that Phillip Lafleur had passed a note to one of the guards at the LaSalle Correctional Center stating he wanted to talk to detectives, he said.
The letter was about the disappearance of Dale Lafleur, he said.
“Detectives arrived at the correctional center and advised Phillip Lafleur his rights. Lafleur then gave a full confession on audio and video confessing to the killing of Dale Lafleur using his fist and other objects,” Guidroz stated in a news release.
“Phillip Lafleur stated he wanted some money from his Great-Uncle but he was delaying giving him the money. After the killing, Lafleur stated he drove Dale’s car into the Atchafalaya River just across from Krotz Springs with Dale seat belted in the passenger seat,” Guidroz reported.
A search is underway to locate the missing body and vehicle by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, he said.
Phillip Lafleur is in jail for the 2016 murder of Eunice resident, Akeem Ceasar. Lafleur has not gone to trial in the case, but Guidroz said he has confessed to the murder.
The Eunice Police Department recovered the body of Ceasar in February 2016 in a wooded area and later confirmed he died of a gunshot wound. The investigation led to the arrest of Phillip Lafleur and Candice Vidrine.
Sheriff Gudiroz said, “The case of Dale Lafleur was aired on Crime Stoppers and detectives were continuing to follow leads but if not for the arrest by the Eunice Police Department for the Ceasar murder, this missing person case now a homicide case might never had been solved.”