Ellender double homicide

[justins5256]

Paper: Boston Globe
Title: ONCE-CLOSED MURDER CASE STILL FESTERS
Author: Curtis Wilkie, Globe Staff
Date: January 8, 1999
Section: National/Foreign
Page: A1

SULPHUR, La. -- At first, there appeared to be a grim, open-and-shut solution to
the murders of Pam and Eric Ellender on the eve of Mardi Gras 1991.

Within hours of the discovery of their bodies, lying in bed in their home,
Chris Prudhomme, an 18-year-old high school dropout, was arrested in the
victims' Toyota 4Runner with three other young drifters. Prudhomme quickly
confessed. In a statement videotaped by authorities, Prudhomme, wearing an
orange prison jumpsuit and stroking his wrists nervously, said: "I went and shot
'em. . . . I shot the guy. . . . He had a hole in his head. . . . The lady, when
she jumped, I shot her, too . . . in the face."

Before the end of the month, authorities said they had found Prudhomme
unconscious, hanging from a noose in a jail shower stall. A handwritten suicide
note exonerated his companions in the stolen vehicle. "The main reason of my
death is to hopefully insure that they receive their freedom," Prudhomme wrote.

The message closed with defiant words: "I enjoyed very much in the taking of
those two individuals lives. . . . I don't need society."

Prudhomme remained comatose for a week, then he died. The sheriff of
Calcasieu Parish, Wayne McElveen, pronounced the case closed. But nearly eight
years later, the Ellender murder case continues to bleed like an open wound.

Now there are allegations that as many as a dozen people broke into the
Ellenders' home and were present when they were shot, that a satanic cult held a
party in the house after the slayings, that the sheriff refused to pursue leads
because law enforcement officers and his own son were implicated, and that
Prudhomme was actually choked to death in jail in order to silence him.

Huey Littleton, the father of Pam Ellender, is leading an emotionally charged
crusade to prosecute those responsible. Despite the sheriff's contention that
Prudhomme acted alone, Littleton developed evidence that has led to several
indictments and convictions. One of Prudhomme's friends, Bobby Adkins, will be
tried some time this year on a second-degree murder charge.

Littleton's quest grew out of a commitment he had made at the deathbed of his
daughter and son-in-law. Before the coroner removed the bodies, Littleton said,
"I held them both by a foot and promised them, `I will find out who was
responsible, and I will be there for your daughter,' " an 18-month-old child who
was left unharmed in her crib during the murders.

Littleton said he has spent $400,000 on his investigation, tracking down
witnesses across the country and filling seven filing cabinets with documents
and videotapes of testimony he has elicited.

"It's been a nightmare," said Littleton, a prominent Lake Charles insurance
investigator who worked with his late son-in-law. "I used to see law enforcement
as the glue that keeps a community together. I really thought the sheriff did a
wonderful job. Then, as information came to me, I thought the sheriff overlooked
some tips. After a while, I decided he had botched the case. Now, I'm convinced
there was a coverup."

In 1995, McElveen fired back with three full-page advertisements in local
newspapers, rejecting Littleton's claims as the obsessions of a grief-stricken
father.

"The sheriff was going out of his way to help," said Lana Brunet, public
information officer for the sheriff's office. "But when Prudhomme hung himself,
Littleton went off the edge."

Brunet also says that Littleton's case is based on the testimony of people he
paid off. "We have records that they were paid," Brunet said.

Littleton said that the only money he gave to witnesses involved expenses and
that those payments were coordinated with state prosecutors. He challenged the
sheriff to "produce the records."

The case has been a sensation in Sulphur and neighboring Lake Charles ever
since the night of the murders, which took place in a comfortable,
upper-middle-class neighborhood.

As events played out over the years in local newspapers and on television, it
has produced a high-powered feud and bitter divisions among the residents of
Calcasieu Parish, which lies on the edge of Cajun country, near the Texas
border.

Littleton unsuccessfully ran against McElveen, the most powerful figure in
the parish, in a sheriff's election in 1995. Littleton now is providing strong
support for McElveen's prospective opponent in the 1999 election.

Under pressure from Littleton, McElveen reopened the investigation. But after
Littleton lost faith in local authorities, District Attorney Rick Bryant handed
the case over to the state attorney general's office in 1993, an extraordinary
move.

The prosecution is now being handled by Fred Duhy, an assistant attorney
general. "I'm convinced more than one person was involved," Duhy said in a
telephone interview.

In a separate interview, Bryant said that before recusing himself from the
case, he had tried to accommodate Littleton by calling a list of witnesses
supplied by Littleton and by giving him three days to testify personally before
a grand jury. The district attorney said some of Littleton's witnesses were
"pieces of trash' who had no credibility.

One witness singled out as unreliable by proseuctors was Kurt James Reese, a
drifter with a long criminal record. In videotaped testimony prepared for
Littleton, Reese described a discussion the morning after the murders by
participants who were anxious "to keep people's names out of it." One of those
to be protected, Reese said, was Richard McElveen, "because his father was the
sheriff."

Reese later pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact and was
released after a short stay in jail.

"These people gave multiple statements, to Littleton, then to the sheriff's
office, to our office, and something different to the grand jury," Bryant said.
"We never knew who was telling the truth."

Reese was one of several witnesses turned up by Littleton, who, as the head
of his own insurance claims service, had years of experience investigating arson
and illegal insurance claims.

He got his first break, he said, when he learned of a conversation between a
14-year-old boy, Shawn Moody, and Adkins, who is facing trial on second-degree
murder charges. According to Littleton, Adkins told Moody he suffered nightmares
because he had been with Prudhomme at the killings.

"I certainly thought we'd hit the jackpot," Littleton said. But Moody's
account was dismissed by authorities.

Littleton said the sheriff's office also ignored another teenage witness,
Pearl Fruge. After a friend told her that Adkins was involved in the crime,
Fruge passed on the information at a "Junior Deputies" meeting the weekend
following the murders. "The sheriff's office said they lost the statement,"
Littleton said.

Al Allemond, a former investigator for the district attorney's office who now
works for Littleton, said of the sheriff's operation: "I knew that it didn't
matter what we brought them; they weren't going to do anything."

After he began his own investigation, Littleton wired Fruge to record a 1993
conversation with her friend, Kim Manuel. In the tape recording, Manuel said
Prudhomme first shot Eric Ellender, then Adkins "did shoot Pam." Other witnesses
placed Manuel in the bedroom during the murders.

A month after Littleton obtained the tape recording, a grand jury indicted
Manuel on two counts of first-degree murder. But the sheriff's office conducted
their own interrogation of Fruge and told a judge that Fruge changed her story,
saying that Littleton set up the dialogue on the tape. Manuel was released
without a trial.

"The sheriff threatened to take Pearl's baby away from her if she didn't
change her story and say I paid her," Littleton said. "All along, the sheriff's
office has been intimidating witnesses and trying to get them to change their
testimony."

According to an account Littleton has pieced together, Prudhomme led an
expedition to the Ellenders' home after seeing "Helter Skelter," a movie about
the Charles Manson murder spree. A witness said Prudhomme became excited as he
watched the film on TV, chanting, "Manson, Manson! He's our man! If he can't do
it, Prudhomme can!"

Although Adkins was identified as the killer by at least one witness,
Littleton has videotapes of two other witnesses, Chip Richard and Bobby
Stoddard, who say they were in the room when Prudhomme gave a sawed-off shotgun
to another person, Phillip Ledoux, who shot Eric Ellender.

Ledoux was convicted in 1995 of two counts of being an accessory after the
fact to second-degree murder. An appellate court, which upheld the decision,
said in its opinion that "evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that Adkins was a principal to the murders."

Other witnesses have told of a party convened in the Ellenders' house in the
predawn hours before the bodies were discovered. Littleton said he was told that
a clique of "devil worshippers" was summoned, with one man performing a ritual
"to raise spirits from the dead."

Littleton has compiled a list of 48 different people who were said to have
been in the house, including the sheriff's son, two deputies, and a game warden.

District Attorney Bryant, skeptical about the size of the crowd, said the
party "should have been held in the Superdome." Moreover, he said, investigators
found "no physical evidence" of a party at the Ellenders.

Nikki Alderson, who gave a videotaped depositions to Littleton, said she was
taken to the party by a man with two badges. She later identified her escort as
Chad Manuel, a game warden. Littleton said Manuel's sister is married to Steve
Edwards, now under indictment with his father, former Governor Edwin W. Edwards,
on extortion charges dealing with casino licenses.

Littleton said local authorities, bound by political connections, repeatedly
discounted evidence.

Author: Curtis Wilkie, Globe Staff
Section: National/Foreign
Page: A1

Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company

****************************************************

Paper: Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
Title: SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
Author: MICHAEL PERLSTEIN Staff writer
Date: June 4, 1998
Section: NATIONAL
Page: A1

LAKE CHARLES Huey Littleton has never properly mourned his daughter and
son-in-law.He didn't cry when Pam and Eric Ellender were wheeled out of their
house in body bags, their heads blown apart by close-range gunshot blasts. He
didn't cry at the funeral. He didn't cry when he sorted through his daughter's
jewelry and found the diamond-studded cross he and his wife gave her.

Instead, Littleton vowed to spend his days searching for answers, trying to find
out who could commit such a horrific crime in this normally peaceful corner of
southwest Louisiana.

"I asked the two paramedics if I could be with them for just a minute,"
Littleton said, recalling his final moment of communion with the dead couple.

"I walked over there and took each of them by the foot - they were side by side
- and I started talking to them. I said, 'Kids, I don't know what happened and I
don't know why, but I promise you that I will find out.' "

More than seven years later, Littleton, an insurance investigator by trade, is
still trying to make good on his promise. He has spent more than $400,000 on a
personal investigation that has taken him around the country and produced
hundreds of statements, documents, photos, videotapes and other pieces of
potential evidence.

On a parallel track, justice is being sought by the state attorney general's
office, which took the case out of the hands of local authorities and continues
to prosecute new defendants, including one man who will be tried for the murders
later this year.

For people throughout Calcasieu Parish, the Ellender murders have become a
mystery of gothic proportions, a hall of mirrors where truth, rumor and
speculation are hopelessly entangled.

To believe Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Wayne McElveen and his detectives, the
killings were the work of a drug-crazed man during a botched burglary. To
believe Littleton, a clique of about a half-dozen devil-worshipping teen-agers
were involved in the killings, about two dozen people dropped by for a party at
the murder scene and everything is being covered up because the sheriff's son
was among the partyers.

The only saving grace for Littleton was that his granddaughter was spared,
though several witnesses claim that Erica Joyce, 18 months old at the time, was
forced to watch as her parents were executed and their corpses sexually
molested.

"It's the most unusual and time-consuming case I've ever been involved in and
I've been practicing law for 23 years," said Assistant Attorney General Fred
Duhy, the prosecutor.

The strangeness hasn't been limited to the courtroom. During the past several
years, Littleton and McElveen have engaged in Calcasieu's most public and bitter
feud. McElveen has investigated charges that Littleton kidnapped potential
witnesses and paid for testimony. Littleton has sued McElveen for sabotaging the
case. The rivalry went so far that, in 1995, Littleton tried unsuccessfully to
unseat the sheriff in an election that was, in essence, a referendum on the
murder investigation.

Amid conflicting accounts of the crime, this much is known: Christopher
Prudhomme, an 18-year-old high school dropout who drifted between Baton Rouge
and Sulphur, was found with three other teens in the Ellenders' truck the day
after the killings. He immediately claimed sole responsibility and, two weeks
later, was found hanging from a noose of torn bed sheets in a prison shower
stall. He died a week later without regaining consciousness.

In a suicide note found in his jail cell, Prudhomme urged authorities to clear
the friends who were arrested with him.

"The main reason of my death is to hopefully insure that they receive their
freedom," he wrote. At the end of the one-page note, he added, "I enjoyed very
much in the taking of those two individuals lives."

Within months, Sheriff Wayne McElveen declared the case closed. For Huey
Littleton, the case was only beginning.

*** The perfect family ***

Pam Littleton and Eric Ellender were a storybook couple from their first date,
Sunday services at First Baptist Church in Sulphur. She was 21, a dark-haired
beauty with a dazzling smile, a former high school cheerleader and homecoming
queen. He was two years older, a strapping young man who had just graduated with
a business degree from Louisiana Tech, where he was known as a solid student and
loyal fraternity brother.

They were married in 1988, and Erica came about a year later.

"Her ambition her whole life was to be a housewife and mother and have a little
girl," Littleton said of his daughter. "They were living a dream. We were all
living a dream."

The already tight-knit family drew even tighter when Eric took a job with
Littleton's insurance company and the couple moved into a ranch-style house next
door to Pam's parents in a quiet area outside of Lake Charles known as West
Sulphur.

The dream was blown to bits on Feb. 12, 1991, Mardi Gras, a day the family would
have spent together.

Pam's grandmother found the bodies. The couple, both in their night clothes,
were lying side-by-side in a blood-soaked bed. Erica was in her crib, crying
hysterically. The house was ransacked, some loose change and jewelry were
missing and the Ellender's Toyota 4-Runner had been stolen from the garage.

By the time Huey Littleton rushed to the scene, more than 40 sheriff's deputies
were wandering in and out of the house. Yellow police tape surrounded the
oak-dotted front yard and a TV news crew was filming from the street. When
Littleton saw two paramedics standing idly by their ambulance, he knew.

"I just froze," he said. "It hurt so bad, I couldn't cry. I went numb."

In a parish that rarely records more than 20 homicides in a year, the Ellender
double-murder made residents shudder. But fear turned to relief the following
day when McElveen - the popular, gruff-speaking sheriff - announced that four
teen-agers had been captured in Baton Rouge in the Ellenders' truck.

From that point, new developments broke quickly. Prudhomme confessed to the
killings, saying he acted alone. Then-District Attorney Richard Ieyoub charged
Prudhomme with two counts of first-degree murder, while a second teen-ager,
Robert Adkins, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. The others,
who had been picked up by Prudhomme in Baton Rouge, were released after giving
detailed statements.

Then came Prudhomme's sudden death. His suicide note seemed to exonerate any
suspected accomplices. With their limited remaining evidence, prosecutors took
their best shot at Adkins and obtained an indictment for possession of stolen
property, the Ellenders' truck. With that, McElveen declared the case all but
closed.

*** Rumors start to surface ***

But on the Calcasieu Parish grapevine, wild stories about the killings were
rampant: more people took part in the crime, a satanic cult was involved. Joyce
Littleton was at her hairdresser's when she heard a rumor that her daughter had
been raped, even though detectives had ruled that out.

"Right from the start, people were telling us that it didn't happen the way they
said it did," she said of the official investigation.

Fueled by the rumors, Huey Littleton launched a one-man search for new evidence.
He interviewed anyone with a shred of information. None of it amounted to much
until November 1991, when Littleton got what he considers his first break: A
13-year-old neighborhood boy said Adkins, who was out on bond, told him about
watching Prudhomme kill the Ellenders.

"I felt it was credible evidence and an arrest should have been made right then
and there," Littleton said. Instead, detectives "looked dumbfounded, like a mule
looking at a new gate."

Littleton continued to dig. He brought in private investigators. He developed a
list of potential witnesses. He prodded the new district attorney, Rick Bryant,
to reopen the case.

Like the sheriff, Bryant had considered the case closed, but in April 1992, he
decided to mediate a truce between McElveen and Littleton. By the end of the
meeting, an extraordinary deal had been struck: The case would be reopened and
Littleton would work side-by-side with the sheriff's detectives. Littleton could
present information directly to a grand jury, and one of his investigators, Al
Allemond, would be allowed to sit with detectives as they obtained statements.

"It was very unusual," Bryant said. "Normally, the families of murder victims
don't conduct their own investigations. But I told him we would present the
information to a grand jury and let the chips fall where they may. If they
indict, we prosecute. If they don't, we won't."

Littleton, his confidence in the justice system restored, celebrated the deal by
treating McElveen and several deputies to a seafood dinner.

In less than a year's time, the grand jury heard from about 40 new witnesses.
Littleton continued to gather pieces to the puzzle. Now certain the crime
involved a larger conspiracy, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against
anyone who "either participated in the murders or who knew of Erica's presence
at the murder scene."

But Littleton was growing increasingly discouraged at the slow pace of the
probe. The breaking point came when, according to Littleton, the Sheriff's
Office tried to get some witnesses to change their stories.

"At first, I just thought they were incompetent," Littleton said. "But when they
tried to get people to change their statements, I knew we were dealing with a
cover-up."

*** Littleton vs. McElveen ***

The Sheriff's Office vehemently denied trying to scuttle the investigation. In
fact, McElveen said, detectives were trying to keep it from getting bogged down
in lies and speculation.

"We reinvestigated until we finally couldn't go much further," he said.

But when Littleton pressed on, McElveen turned against him, charging that
Littleton had kidnapped witnesses and paid people to testify. Littleton was
obsessed, McElveen said. He relied on drug-abusing witnesses who could never be
presented in court.

"He pays people to give him statements. He uses bums and believes it," McElveen
said.

Among the more ludicrous of Littleton's beliefs, the sheriff said, is the idea
that dozens of people attended a cult party at the murder scene.

"There wasn't a candle. There wasn't a cigarette butt. There wasn't a beer can.
There was nothing found at that scene and there were something like 40 deputies
working there," McElveen said.

In the sheriff's view, Littleton is fueled by grief, not logic. Because
Prudhomme killed himself, Littleton wants somebody, anybody, to pay for the
crime.

"I think it's affected him mentally. . . . He's a sick man and he'll go to his
grave over this," McElveen said.

Littleton, a self-made millionaire, admitted occasionally picking up the tab for
meals or a room for a potential witness. But he angrily denied paying for
statements. He said his only goal is the truth.

"I'm a professional investigator, and I'm just doing the job the sheriff should
have done," he said. "There's no reason for me to get false testimony. If Chris
Prudhomme really did act alone, we could have put this behind us, gone on with
our lives and had money in the bank. It would have been much easier."

By mid-1993, the differences between Littleton and McElveen were irreconcilable.
So Bryant, eager to avoid the increasingly messy investigation, offered to step
aside and turn everything over to the attorney general's office.

Littleton accepted the offer. But instead of going to a fresh prosecutor, the
case ended up in familiar hands. Richard Ieyoub, the former Calcasieu Parish DA,
was in his first term as attorney general and agreed to present the case,
including many of Littleton's findings, to a new grand jury.

*** New life for probe ***

Littleton was pumped. He assigned two of his insurance company investigators to
help with the case: Allemond, who had worked as a detective for Bryant, and
Dempsey Young, a former sheriff's deputy.

They followed every new lead. Information began pointing to a group of local
teen-agers. They called themselves "The Skaters," after their fondness for
skateboarding, but they also reportedly dabbled in drugs and the occult.

Littleton took statements from several people who claimed to have attended a
meeting after the killings at which a story was crafted to blame everything on
Prudhomme.

Then, Littleton found a woman named Pearl Fruge, who said her cousin told her
about participating in the murders. The cousin, Kim Manuel, named about a
half-dozen people as accomplices, according to Fruge's statement.

On Sept. 23, 1993, the new grand jury obtained its first indictment. Manuel, who
was 15 at the time of the killings, was indicted on two counts of first-degree
murder.

But just as it appeared the case would break wide open, it was dealt a setback.
After Manuel was arrested and jailed, sheriff's deputies detained Fruge,
allegedly to determine if she had committed perjury. The deputies reported their
concerns to a judge, who then released Manuel on her own recognizance.

At that point, controversy erupted in every direction. Ieyoub investigated, then
cleared, the Sheriff's Office of charges it had tampered with the grand jury
probe. A group of Littleton supporters picketed the sheriff's headquarters and
district attorney's offices. And the Littletons, on behalf of Erica, sued the
sheriff.

The still-pending lawsuit accuses the Sheriff's Office of "covering up the true
facts surrounding the murders" and making "an ongoing effort to intimidate and
harass witnesses into changing their testimony."

*** Sheriff's son accused ***

As the attorney general's office tried to unravel the case, it only grew more
tangled.

Littleton and his investigators began pursuing leads across the country,
including Houston, Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., Tulsa, Okla., and Long Beach,
Calif. Eventually, they turned up a handful of witnesses who claimed - in
videotaped interviews - that they saw the killings or dropped by the house
afterward.

One person claimed that one of McElveen's sons, Richard McElveen, was among
those who dropped in, an allegation the sheriff dismissed as ridiculous. But
when a second Littleton witness backed up the story, it became the talk of the
town, forcing McElveen to publicly clear his son.

McElveen posed the question of his son's involvement to the attorney general's
office. He then reprinted the response, written by Assistant Attorney General
Timothy Screen, in a newspaper ad. "This office is aware of no credible evidence
placing any of Sheriff McElveen's sons at the Ellender home before, during or
after these homicides," Screen wrote.

The sensational stories didn't stop.

Two people claimed that, after the couple was shot, there was an argument about
whether to kill the baby. Another said some participants sexually molested the
dead. In several accounts, Prudhomme had watched the movie "Helter Skelter,"
about the Charles Manson murders, on the night of the killings. In others,
Prudhomme and other "Skaters" were engaged in a dark version of the fantasy
role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.

Despite the developments, many of the accounts were conflicting and didn't
appear to match the physical evidence. Some of the witnesses were career
criminals or admitted drug abusers. The judicial scorecard was just as mixed.
Adkins eventually pleaded guilty and received a five-year sentence for
possession of the Ellenders' truck. But the charges against Manuel were dropped
when prosecutors said the case wasn't "in a posture to proceed."

Then, in 1995, the case began to regain momentum:

On Feb. 9, the grand jury returned three indictments. Adkins was charged with
two counts of second-degree murder. Two men who allegedly helped cover up the
crime, Kurt "Dragon" Reese and Phillip LeDoux, were indicted as accessories
after the fact.

On Feb. 24, the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" aired a segment on the case,
re-enacting the alleged drug party as a backdrop to the murders.

In April, McElveen wired a man with a recording device to meet Littleton, saying
he was investigating possible criminal activity.

Later that month, McElveen bought three full-page newspaper ads detailing the
evidence that supported his lone gunman theory. Littleton countered with his own
ad, suggesting the sheriff was engaged in a cover-up.

In October, the sheriff's election was dominated by the Ellender case as
Littleton and a third candidate ran unsuccessfully against McElveen.

Throughout Calcasieu Parish, the case sparked bad blood among friends, families
and political allies, including McElveen and Ieyoub, who once were friends.

"This has really divided a lot of people," said John Fryar, McElveen's chief of
detectives.

*** Two men convicted ***

Since 1993, Assistant Attorney General Fred Duhy has been the chief prosecutor
handling the Ellender grand jury. He has tried to stay above the fray,
weathering harsh criticism from McElveen and an ill-fated lawsuit by Littleton
to get Ieyoub's office removed from the case.

"We've spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours on this," he said. "It's sort
of become a pet case around here."

Progress has been slow, but steady. In 1996, Reese pleaded guilty as charged and
was sentenced to two years. And at a tense trial in February 1997, LeDoux was
convicted by a jury, despite documents that Fryar said discredited one of the
prosecution witnesses.

LeDoux's conviction stood and he was later sentenced to four years, but McElveen
was quick to dismiss Duhy's court victories.

"What did they get? A couple of dopers who tried to cover up for Prudhomme. It's
like they were saving face," he said.

But Duhy said the convictions and Adkins' indictment help bolster the theory
that Prudhomme didn't act alone.

"Chris Prudhomme, who was the admitted killer, was also a liar and a person who
hated society and hated the system," he said. "I think, in effect, he tried to
shoot society the ultimate birdie here."

Duhy credits Littleton with the convictions.

"Huey Littleton is the reason this case is alive. He refused to accept what
Chris Prudhomme said. He refused to say no."

*** Talk of the town ***

At bars and coffee shops, in offices and living rooms, the people of Calcasieu
still talk about the Ellender murder case. Littleton continues to follow leads.
The sheriff said he has tried to put it behind him, but knows it always will be
a public issue.

Looming on everyone's mind is the upcoming Adkins murder trial, which could take
place later this year. If he is acquitted, it could end the case with a fizzle.
If he is convicted, it could lead to new indictments.

"Murder never prescribes and I'm leaving all of my options open," Duhy said.

Longtime newspaper columnist Jim Beam said that, regardless of what happens to
Adkins, the truth about what happened to Pam and Eric Ellender could remain a
mystery.

"The Ellender case has always seemed like a puzzle," said Beam, who has followed
the case for the Lake Charles American Press. "It's so bizarre, it's hard to
know what to believe. Frankly, I don't think there will ever be a resolution."

There is one person at the center of the mystery who has not formed any opinion.
She asks no questions and Huey Littleton shelters her from the many sordid
accounts of the crime.

Erica Joyce Ellender, now 8, lives with other family members in Texas. She is
an honor roll student, an avid swimmer and is beginning to take on the graceful
beauty of her slain mother.

_________________________

Illustration:

THE VICTIMS - Pam and Eric Ellender were the perfect couple. She, a former high
school cheerleader and homecoming queen. He, a graduate of Louisiana Tech, where
he was known as a good student. The couple were found murdered by close-range
shotgun blasts.

PHOTO [COLOR]

THE FATHER - In a crime scene encounter with his daughter's mutilated body, Huey
Littleton vowed he'd find her killer. Seven years later, the promise has cost
him $400,000, and has brought no real answers.

STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER ZDON

THE SHERIFF AND HIS SON - Sheriff Wayne McElveen thought he had closed the case
years ago. But Huey Littleton's persistence has forced the sheriff to publicly
fend off rumors that his son, Richard, was involved in the murders.

PHOTO COURTESY LAKE CHARLES AMERICAN PRESS

THE CONFESSED KILLER - When arrested in the murdered couple's truck, Christopher
Pudhomme claimed sole responsibility for the killings. Some believe that his
confession was a ruse to protect his friends.

PHOTO [COLOR]

Huey Littleton visits the graves of his daughter and son-in-law. 'I'm a
professional investigator, and I'm just doing the job the sheriff should have
done,' he said.

The Ellenders moved into this ranch-style house next door to Pam's parents in a
quiet area outside Lake Charles known as West Sulphur. It was in that the
couple, both in their night clothes, were found side-by-side in a blood-soaked
bed. The house was ransacked, some loose change and jewelry were missing and a
Toyota 4-Runner had been stolen from the garage.

STAFF PHOTOS BY JENNIFER ZDON

=============================================================

#ART:

On Mardi Gras 1991, Pam and Eric Ellender were murdered in

their West Sulphur home while their 18-month-old daughter

watched. For the sheriff, the case ended when a suspect

hanged himself in jail and confessed in a suicide note. But

for Pam's father, a seven-year search for the truth has him

convinced that the deaths were the work of a band of teen-age

Satanists who celebrated their deed with a crime scene party

that included the sheriff's son.

CHRONOLOGY:

1991

Feb. 12: In a Mardi Gras double-murder that stuns peaceful

Calcasieu Parish, Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife Pam, 25,

are fatally shot in their home outside of Sulphur, La. Four

men are later arrested in Baton Rouge in the couple's truck.

Feb. 14: Chris Prudhomme, 18, is booked with two counts of

first-degree murder. Robert Adkins, 17, is booked with two

counts of accessory after the fact. The other two men are

briefly held as material witnesses before being released.

Rumors begin to circulate that the killings were cult

related and more people were involved.

Feb. 20: Prudhomme is indicted on murder charges. Then-

District Attorney Richard Ieyoub says he will seek the

death penalty.

March 1: Prudhomme attempts suicide by hanging himself

with a shredded bedsheet in a prison shower. He dies a week

later at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

April 5: Adkins is indicted on charges of possession of

stolen property, the Ellender's 4-Runner. Calcasieu Parish

Sheriff Wayne McElveen declares the case closed. Pam's

father, Huey Littleton, launches his own probe.

1992

April 1: Littleton convinces the district attorney to

convene a new grand jury so he can present evidence he has

uncovered. He believes about half a dozen people witnessed

the murders.

1993

April 1: Littleton protests the handling of the case by

McElveen and the district attorney, so newly elected Attorney

General Richard Ieyoub takes over.

Sept. 23: A friend of Prudhomme and Adkins, Letitia Kim

Manuel, 18, is indicted on two counts of first-degree murder.

Nov. 16: Adkins pleads guilty to possession of stolen

property and is sentenced to five years in prison.

1994

Sept. 26: Amid allegations that a witness lied to the

grand jury, the attorney general's office dismisses Manuel's

murder charges. But Littleton now says he has new evidence

that more than two dozen people partied at the murder

scene as part of a cult ritual.

1995

Feb. 9: The grand jury returns three new indictments.

Adkins is charged with two counts of principal to second-

degree murder, while Kurt "Dragon" Reese and Phillip LeDoux

- who were with Prudhomme shortly after the killings - are

charged with two counts of accessory after the fact to

murder.

Oct. 10: In a election that turns into a referendum on

the handling of the Ellender murder case, Sheriff Wayne

McElveen gets just over 55 percent of the vote to defeat

Littleton and a third candidate.

1996

April 19: Reese, 36, pleads guilty and is later sentenced

to two years.

Oct. 9: Littleton, now upset over the attorney general's

slow pace in handling the case, tries to get Ieyoub removed.

Judge rules against Littleton.

1997

Feb. 4: LeDoux, 23, is convicted by jury of two counts of

accessory after the fact and is later sentenced to four years

in prison.

GRAPHIC

DOUBLE MURDER SITE

VIEW FULL-TEXT ON MICROFILM.

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Author: MICHAEL PERLSTEIN Staff writer
Section: NATIONAL
Page: A1

Copyright, 1998, The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Calcasieu sheriff lashes out at political opponents
Author: BRUCE SCHULTZ
Date: February 20, 1998
Section: state
Page: 3-B;1-B

LAKE CHARLES - Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Wayne McElveen denied rumors Thursday
that he's stepping down, and he angrily lashed out at people who have alleged
that his son Richard is wanted for a triple murder. He accused political
opponents as the perpetrators of the rumors.

"This has been a cruel public hoax," the sheriff said. "It's essential for
the madness to be stopped on both sides."

The sheriff said the rumors had taken various forms, falsely accusing his son
of the triple homicide last July at KK's Corner, a convenience store southeast
of Lake Charles. The bodies of Marty LeBouef, 21; Stacie Reeves, 26; and Nicole
Guidry, 15, were found in a walk-in cooler at the store. "First I want to tell
you that Richard is not a suspect," the sheriff said at a press conference
attended by a handful of reporters and scores of family members, employees and
supporters.

The sheriff said the rumors have interfered with the KK Corner investigation,
and he said legal action may be taken based on state laws against defamation of
character. He said a special task force will investigate the source of the false
information.

McElveen said some of the rumors alleged that his son resembled a composite
drawing of a witness sought in the KK Corner case, and that his son had
confessed and was about to be arrested in California on murder charges.

He said his son was interviewed by members of the Violent Crimes Task Force,
but many others have been questioned also. The sheriff said he first resisted
investigators' plans to interview his son, but later agreed. He said his son
agreed to be questioned by the task force and the FBI, and was given a polygraph
test.

At one point, McElveen became emotional as his son walked up beside his
father.

"I just want to tell you son, I'm proud of you," the sheriff said, putting
his arm around his 27-year-old son.

Richard McElveen choked back tears as he spoke.

"I've never heard anything so disgusting or sick to accuse someone of murder
just to gain a political advantage," the sheriff's son said.

FBI agent Don Dixon defended the sheriff, and he denied any cover-up had been
concocted to protect the McElveen family.

"Anyone who thinks otherwise is way out in left field," Dixon said.

"It wouldn't matter if it was Mother Theresa. We would investigate," the FBI
agent said.

The sheriff, denying rumors that he has not overcome throat cancer, said he
will be a candidate for re-election in next year's election.

"I'm not resigning, and I never said I would," the sheriff insisted, followed
by applause.

The sheriff said he suspects Beth Lundy, reportedly considering a candidacy
for sheriff, and her husband, Hunter Lundy, may be involved with spreading the
rumors.

Hunter Lundy issued a brief statement faxed from his law office late
Thursday, but said he would hold a Friday afternoon press conference to respond
in detail to the sheriff's accusations.

"I would like to say tonight that my prayers are with the families of the
murder victims," Lundy's statement said. "They are also with Sheriff McElveen
and his family, since I know they are undergoing much distress over this current
situation."

The sheriff also blamed Huey Littleton of Lake Charles for spreading rumors.
Littleton, who owns a private investigation firm, was the father of Pam
Ellender, who was murdered with her husband, Eric Ellender, in their Sulphur
home in 1991.

Littleton, who unsuccessfully ran against McElveen in the 1995 election, has
been a vocal critic of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office investigation into
that homicide.

Littleton has alleged that witnesses say Richard McElveen was in the Ellender
home the night of the murder, but the sheriff said Thursday that's not true.

The sheriff accused Littleton of offering money and favors to witnesses to
say that Richard McElveen was at the Ellender home.

The sheriff also said Thursday that the only person responsible for the
Ellender murders killed himself. That individual, Christopher Lee Prudhomme, 19,
of Baton Rouge, was charged with killing the Ellender couple, and he was found
hanged in the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center in February 1991, days after
the homicide.

But two other people, James "Dragon" Reese and Phillip Ledoux, have been
convicted in the Ellender deaths as accessories, and a third person, Robert
Adkins of New Llano, is set to stand trial in April on a second-degree murder
charge.

Adkins' attorney, Mike Small of Alexandria, said Thursday afternoon that he
isn't surprised that the sheriff's office insists that Prudhomme was the lone
murderer.

"That's been the position of the investigators associated with the case from
day one," Small said.

Littleton issued a statement Thursday, denying he paid anyone to give
statements in the Ellender murders. Littleton also said he's heard the rumors
about the KK Corner murder investigation.

"Like many citizens of this parish, including the sheriff, we have received
calls from people claiming to have knowledge of those murders and names of those
questioned as suspects," the statement says. "We have no independent knowledge
of whether those statements are true or false, and have made no effort,
investigative or otherwise, to determine whether they are true or false."

Donald "Lucky" DeLouche, head of the Violent Crimes Task Force, said Richard
McElveen received no favors from investigators, even though the sheriff is
DeLouche's boss.

Author: BRUCE SCHULTZ
Section: state
Page: 3-B;1-B

Copyright 1998 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Family wants Ieyoub to give status of murder case
Author: CALVIN LEAR
Date: September 20, 1996
Section: state
Page: 19-A

LAKE CHARLES - The family of a Sulphur couple murdered on Mardi Gras night 1991
has asked a judge to order Attorney General Richard Ieyoub's office to either
drop out as prosecutor of the murder case or give them a status report. Huey
and Joyce Littleton want to know why the Attorney General's Office hasn't
prosecuted two remaining defendants, including a man charged with second-degree
murder.

The Littletons' daughter, Pam, and her husband, Eric Ellender, were murdered
in the Ellenders' bedroom on Feb. 11, 1991.

One of the Littletons' attorneys filed their request Wednesday in Lake
Charles.

Initially, Ieyoub was in charge of prosecution as district attorney of
Calcasieu Parish, and subsequently as attorney general when his district
attorney successor passed the case to the Attorney General's Office in August
1993.

Five people have been indicted in the case from 1991 to 1995. The first,
Christopher Prudhomme, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge nine days
after the murder, but hanged himself in jail. A woman was indicted as an
accessory, but that charge was dismissed in 1993 after it was learned a witness
lied to the grand jury.

The two remaining cases involve Robert Adkins and Phillip Joseph Ledoux, who
were indicted in Lake Charles on Feb. 9, 1995, Adkins on two counts of
second-degree murder and Ledoux on two counts of accessory after the fact to
second-degree murder. Kurt James Reese was also indicted that day, and he
subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory after the fact to
second-degree murder and was sentenced to two years in jail.

Huey Littleton, an insurance investigator, has spent more than $300,000 on
his own investigation, and has obtained 207 recorded statements - all which were
submitted to the Attorney General's Office, said the Littletons' attorney, Ed
Tarpley Jr. in the request he filed. The Littletons claim Ieyoub is not
aggressively prosecuting the case.

"That's really outrageous," Ieyoub said before a televised debate in New
Orleans. "We're doing everything we can in this case."

"The Littleton family has concluded that the failure to prosecute this case
must be caused by either some personal or political interest of Attorney General
Richard Ieyoub, or his gross lack of diligence and total unconcern for the
rights of the victim's family to have this case lawfully prosecuted," their
request says.

They say in their petition that Ieyoub should either recuse his office from
prosecuting the case, or, based on the state Victims' Rights Act, respond to
their request to speak to them about the status of the prosecution.

The time limit to prosecute Ledoux on the accessory charge runs out in
February 1997; for Adkins it runs out in February 1998, the Littletons said.

Assistant Attorney General Tim Screen said he would not comment until he
files a response to the Littletons' request.

Ieyoub said the Littleton's request is politically motivated by their
attorney. Ieyoub soundly defeated Tarpley in October 1995 in the race for
attorney general.

Tarpley said Ieyoub would be wrong to claim the request was politically
motivated.

"It's a legal issue, not a political issue," Tarpley said. "This is a pure
and simple matter of time running out in which to prosecute the case. This is
about victims' rights."

Author: CALVIN LEAR
Section: state
Page: 19-A

Copyright 1996 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Interviews not violation, Ieyoub says
Date: October 10, 1993
Section: wire
Page: 9-b

SULPHUR - Sheriff's deputies did not violate the law by interviewing grand jury
witnesses in a double murder case, the state attorney general says. Attorney
General Richard Ieyoub also said Thursday that his office is continuing to
investigate the 1991 double slaying of Pam and Eric Ellender of Sulphur.

The initial suspect in the killings hanged himself in jail shortly after his
arrest. He had claimed to have acted alone, authorities said. But Pam Ellender's
father, private investigator Huey Littleton, opened his own investigation, and
an 18-year-old woman was indicted on Sept. 23.

However, the suspect, Kim Manuel, was released a day after she was booked on
two second-degree murder charges after investigators said they had evidence that
a grand jury witness had lied.

Those interviews of grand jury witnesses by Calcasieu Parish sheriff's
detectives sparked a complaint by Littleton to Ieyoub, whose office took over
the investigation at Littleton's request.

"There is no evidence to conclude that deputies acted in a criminal way,"
Ieyoub said. "That's not to say they were not administratively wrong in
interviewing grand jury witnesses after the indictments were handed down."

Littleton said he has spent $106,000 investigating the case and has found
"conclusive evidence" that more than one person was involved in the killings.

Sheriff's officers said they obtained information while investigating an
August kidnapping complaint that indicated Manuel may have been indicted as the
result of perjured testimony. They have refused to disclose details about the
abduction case.

Section: wire
Page: 9-b

Copyright 1993 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Woman indicted in couple's slaying
Date: September 25, 1993
Page: 8-B;S

LAKE CHARLES - A Calcasieu Parish grand jury has indicted Letitia Manuel, 18, of
Sulphur on two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Eric Ellender and
his wife, Pamela. The Ellenders were shot in their bed Feb. 12, 1991. Their
Lake Charles home was ransacked, and their car was stolen.

Another grand jury had indicted Christopher Prudhomme, 18, on two counts of
first-degree murder in the case.

Page: 8-B;S

Copyright 1993 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Officer nabs 2 murder suspects in a row after 19-year career
Author: STEVE WHEELER
Date: May 14, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

City police Narcotics Detective Rocky Ricks has arrested hundreds of people
during his 19 years on the force, but none of them had turned out to be suspects
in murders -- until lately. Since February, Ricks has been involved in the
arrests of two suspects allegedly involved in three out-of-town slayings. For
Ricks, it seems to have been a combination of good luck and dogged police work.

In February, Ricks was driving near the LSU campus when he spotted a pickup
truck which he thought had been stolen during a burglary in Lake Charles.
Eventually, however, the alert narcotics detective would learn that the truck
was stolen not in a burglary, but after the brutal shotgun slayings of a young
Lake Charles couple Feb. 12.

Among the truck's occupants was 18-year-old Christopher Prudhomme, who was
booked and later indicted on first-degree murder counts in connection with the
slayings of 27-year-old Eric Ellender and his wife Pamela, 25. The two victims
were shot as they slept by an intruder who stole guns and the couple's truck,
according to Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Wayne McElveen.

Prudhomme, of Baton Rouge, later hanged himself in jail and died in a Lake
Charles hospital.

Last week, Ricks and three other agents were working a routine streetcorner
drug sting on West Brookstown Avenue when Ricks arrested a man now described by
police as a suspect in the stabbing death of a 50-year-old Dallas executive.

A pair of Dallas police homicide detectives are in town today to question
the 28-year-old man arrested by Ricks and the other Baton Rouge narcotics
agents.

About 10:45 last Thursday night, Ricks and the detectives set up the drug
sting targeting buyers on West Brookstown Avenue.

"We were sitting in the parking lot," he said. "It was the first one (buy).
We had just got out there."

A 1990 Camaro drove up to an undercover agent and the two men inside
"attempted to trade two cartons of Kool cigarettes for a 20-cent paper
(two-tenths of a gram of cocaine)" with undercover Detective Don Bailey,
according to an affidavit.

After the trade was made, Detective Frank Caruso, Sgt. Yogi Hempler and
Ricks stopped the Camaro.

Ricks said that when he asked who owned the car, 28-year-old passenger Roger
B. Hudson of Milton, Fla., said the vehicle belonged to "a friend." Hudson told
the detective he had dropped the friend off in West Baton Rouge to visit his
mother.

"I could tell he was lying," Ricks said.

When the occupants gave permission for agents to search the Camaro, police
found 30 to 40 credit cards and the driver's license of "the friend," identified
as Donald J. Littrell of Dallas, Ricks said.

No one knew it at the time, but Littrell was lying dead in the backyard of
his Dallas home.

"We got one more (suspected drug buyer) and headed on back to the office,"
Ricks said.

After learning from Dallas police that the Camaro hadn't been reported
stolen and the Littrell residence seemed normal, Ricks said he had to try
another approach to find the owner of the car.

After talking the next day to his supervisor, Lt. T.T. King, Ricks decided
to contact Littrell's place of employment, where a woman said she would try to
locate him, Ricks said.

About 30 minutes later, Dallas homicide investigators contacted Ricks,
saying they had found Littrell's body, Ricks said.

Dallas homicide Detective Virgil Sparks said the victim's parents had gotten
worried about the man and discovered his body in the back yard of his Belmont
Avenue home. Police said it appeared Littrell was fatally stabbed at least two
to three days before he was found.

"We did file a capital murder charge on him (Hudson) early Saturday
morning," Sparks said.

Records at the Parish Prison show Hudson was being held as a parole violator
and as a fugitive from the Dallas Police Department. Bond was set at $100,000,
records show. He was also booked with attempted possession of cocaine and
remained in jail in lieu of $3,500 on that count, jail records show.

Author: STEVE WHEELER
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Suspect's suicide won't end probe into murders
Date: March 11, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;S

LAKE CHARLES -- An 18-year-old suspect's suicide won't end the investigation of
a double murder, says Sheriff Wayne McElveen. "We are going to still look
into this case even though he is deceased," McElveen said Saturday, after
Christopher Prudhomme of Baton Rouge died in the intensive care unit at Lake
Charles Memorial Hospital.

Prudhomme hanged himself March 1 at the Calcasieu Correctional Center, where
he had been booked with first-degree murder in the deaths of Eric Ellender, 27,
and Ellender's wife, Pamela, 25, of Carlyss.

He was cut down but never regained consciousness, and his parents agreed
last week to disconnect him from life support machinery.

McElveen said the investigation into the Ellender killings is not over
because many questions remain unanswered, including some about Robert H. Adkins,
17, of New Llano.

Adkins remains jailed on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to
murder. His bond was set at $100,000.

"We have the upcoming trial of Adkins. We are looking into that and anything
else we can find out that motivated Prudhomme to do this, what motivated Adkins
to do this, and why he was friends with him," McElveen said. "There is a lot
left to do."

McElveen said he and his investigators feel very strongly that Prudhomme was
the only person responsible for shooting the Ellenders.

He was accused of breaking into their home, shooting the Ellenders while
they slept, taking their buns and leaving in their truck.

Adkins and two other youths, who were held for a while as material
witnesses, were with Prudhomme in that truck when police stopped it in Baton
Rouge.

The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney's Office has accepted formal charges
and plans to prosecute Adkins.

Contacted at home, McElveen said he does not want to make public a one-page
note which Prudhomme left in his bunk.

The note is said to contain boastful and unremorseful statements about the
murder case, according to the Lake Charles American Press.

"I will not release the suicide note unless I'm court ordered to," McElveen
said. "I just think it's history. It's a done case. Why push it any further? It
doesn't have any relevance that I can see."

The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney's Office said earlier that the note
would be made public if Prudhomme died.

Assistant Calcasieu District Attorney Wayne Frey, prosecutor in the case,
said Saturday the suicide note and a videotaped confession from Prudhomme will
not be released from his office until Monday at the earliest.

Prudhomme was indicted on first-degree murder charges last month in
connection with the Feb. 12 slayings.

Jason Laughlin told the Morning Advocate last month that Prudhomme visited
his apartment hours after the Ellenders were killed.

"He told me he ripped off a car and stole some guns and asked if he could
keep the guns here and catch a few z's," Laughlin said.

Laughlin said later that night he ran into Prudhomme at a police station,
where both men were brought in for questioning, and Prudhomme told him, "I'm
gonna be fried."

No charges were filed against Laughlin.

Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;S

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Investigation in slayings to continue despite death of suspect, sheriff
says
Date: March 11, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 3-B

LAKE CHARLES -- The chief suspect is dead, but an investigation into the
slayings of a Carlyss couple will not end, Sheriff Wayne McElveen said.
Christopher Prudhomme hanged himself March 1 at the Calcasieu Correctional
Center, where he had been booked with first-degree murder in the deaths of Eric
Ellender, 27, and Ellender's wife, Pamela, 25. He died Saturday at Lake Charles
Memorial Hospital.

"We are going to still look into this case even though he is deceased,"
McElveen said. The investigation into the Ellender killings is not over because
many questions remain unanswered, including some about Robert H. Adkins, 17, of
New Llano.

Adkins remains jailed on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to
murder. His bond was set at $100,000.

"We have the upcoming trial of Adkins. We are looking into that and anything
else we can find out that motivated Prudhomme to do this, what motivated Adkins
to do this, and why he was friends with him," McElveen said. "There is a lot
left to do."

McElveen said he and his investigators feel very strongly that Prudhomme was
the only person responsible for shooting the Ellenders. He was accused of
breaking into their home, shooting the Ellenders while they slept, taking their
guns and leaving in their truck.

Adkins and two other youths, who were held for a while as material
witnesses, were with Prudhomme in that truck when police stopped it in Baton
ROuge.

The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney's Office has accepted formal charges
and plans to prosecute Adkins.

Section: NEWS
Page: 3-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Murder suspect dies after suicide attempt
Date: March 10, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B

LAKE CHARLES -- An 18-year-old accused of murder died Saturday, nine days after
he hanged himself in his jail cell, Deputy Coroner Zeb Johnson said. Chris
Prudhomme had been in a coma since March 1, when Calcasieu Parish deputies cut
him down from the shower stall where he tried to commit suicide.

He was accused of shooting Eric Ellender, 27, and Pam Ellender, 25, in the
head while they slept early Feb. 12, ransacking their home and stealing their
pickup truck.

Sheriff's deputies said Prudhomme left a suicide note but would not release
its contents.

He died shortly after 9 a.m. at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, where he was
taken March 1, Johnson said.

Robert Harrison Adkins of New Llano remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond
on a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
Title: MURDER SUSPECT DIES AFTER HANGING HIMSELF
Date: March 10, 1991
Section: METRO
Page: B4

LAKE CHARLES (AP)An 18-year-old accused of murder died Saturday, nine days after
he hanged himself in jail, Deputy Coroner Zeb Johnson said.

Chris Prudhomme had been in a coma since March 1, when Calcasieu Parish deputies
cut him down from the shower stall where he tried to kill himself.

He was accused of shooting Eric Ellender, 27, and Pam Ellender, 25, in the head
while they slept early Feb. 12, ransacking their home and stealing their pickup
truck.

Sheriff's deputies said Prudhomme left a suicide note, but they would not
release its contents.

He died shortly after 9 a.m. at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, Johnson said.

Robert Harrison Adkins of New Llano remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond,
booked as an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

Section: METRO
Page: B4

Copyright, 1991, The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Slaying suspect apparently tries to hang himself
Author: Christi Daugherty
Date: March 1, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

A Baton Rouge teen-ager, accused in the slaying of a couple near Lake Charles,
was in critical condition this morning after apparently trying to hang himself
in his Lake Charles jail cell, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's officials said.
Christopher Prudhomme, 18, was found hanging by a bed sheet from his cell bars
just before 8 a.m. today, sheriff's spokesman Tommy Hebert said.

He was resuscitated by paramedics and taken to Memorial Hospital in Lake
Charles where he was in the intensive care unit this morning, Hebert said.

Prudhomme had been incarcerated without bond since his arrest in Baton Rouge
on murder charges Feb. 12.

Officials accuse the teen-ager of burglarizing the Sulphur home of Eric
Ellender, 27, and his wife Pamela, 25, and shooting the two to death with a
shotgun the same day as his arrest.

Officials believe Prudhomme stole two guns and the Ellenders' pickup truck
before driving to Baton Rouge.

Prudhomme's friend, Robert H. Adkins, 17, of New Llano, allegedly rode to
Baton Rouge with Prudhomme and is now being held as an accessory after the fact.

Prudhomme was arrested near LSU and returned to Lake Charles. At the time of
the arrest Calcasieu Parish District Attorney Richard P. Ieyoub said he planned
to seek the death penalty in the case.

Hebert said that before today's incident officials had no hint that
Prudhomme was suicidal.

"There was no indication whatsoever that he might try to kill himself,"
Hebert said.

Author: Christi Daugherty
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: BR teen-ager released from jail after signing sworn statement
Date: February 25, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 5-A

LAKE CHARLES -- A Baton Rouge teen-ager has been released from jail in Lake
Charles after signing a sworn statement that he had only second-hand information
about a double murder in Lake Charles. Robert Everett Gentry had been held 10
days in connection with the shotgun killings of Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife,
Pamela Ellender, 25.

The statement he signed Friday was a typed copy of his testimony Thursday in
federal court. Gentry said his roommate told him that Christopher Prudhomme had
told him about killing two people.

Prudhomme, 18, formerly of Sulphur, has been held without bond since his
arrest. He has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder.

Gentry's roommate, Robert David Messick, 17, is being held as a material
witness and Robert Harrison Adkins, 17, of New Llano, on a charge that he was an
accessory after the fact to murder. Bond for each was set at $100,000.

Prudhomme is accused of breaking into the Ellenders' house south of Sulphur,
shooting them while they slept, stealing their guns and leaving in their
four-wheel-drive vehicle.

All four youths were arrested in Baton Rouge because they were riding in the
stolen car, authorities said.

Section: NEWS
Page: 5-A

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: BR teen released, says he only knew of murders
Date: February 25, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;X

LAKE CHARLES -- A Baton Rouge teen-ager has been released from jail in Lake
Charles after signing a sworn statement that he had only second-hand information
about a double murder in Lake Charles. Robert Everett Gentry had been held 10
days in connection with the shotgun killings of Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife,
Pamela Ellender, 25.

The statement he signed Friday was a typed copy of his testimony Thursday in
federal court. Gentry said his roommate told him that Christopher Prudhomme had
told him about killing two people.

Prudhomme, 18, formerly of Sulphur, has been held without bond since his
arrest. He has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder.

Gentry's roommate, Robert David Messick, 17, is being held as a material
witness and Robert Harrison Adkins, 17, of New Llano, on a charge that he was an
accessory after the fact to murder. Bond for each was set at $100,000.

Prudhomme is accused of breaking into the Ellenders' house south of Sulphur,
shooting them while they slept, stealing their guns and leaving in their
four-wheel-drive vehicle.

All four youths were arrested in Baton Rouge because they were riding in the
stolen car, authorities said..

Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;X

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: BR teen-ager indicted in Sulphur murders
Date: February 21, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 4-B; 5-B

LAKE CHARLES -- A Baton Rouge teen-ager was indicted on first-degree murder
charges Wednesday in the Feb. 12 shotgun slayings of a young Sulphur couple.
Christopher Prudhomme, 18, formerly of Sulphur, was arrested in Baton Rouge the
day after the bodies of Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife, Pamela, 25, were found
dead in the bedroom of their home.

District Attorney Richard P. Ieyoub said he will seek the death penalty and
that he would like to have Prudhomme tried before state district court recesses
in July.

Sheriff's deputies said they believe Prudhomme acted alone in burglarizing
the Ellender's home, west of Sulphur, and then shooting the couple as they
slept.

Deputies also have said they believe Prudhomme took two guns and the
Ellenders' pickup truck before picking up a friend, Robert Harrison Adkins, 17,
of New Llano.

Prudhomme and Adkins, along with two other teen-agers who are being held as
material witnesses, were later apprehended with the truck in Baton Rouge.

Adkins has been charged with accessory after the fact. Robert Everett Gentry
and Robert David Messick, both 17, are being held as material witnesses.

Prudhomme, who is being held without bond, is to be arraigned March 4.

In other developments Wednesday, Judge Gregory D. Lyons signed an order
authorizing a blood sample to be taken from Prudhomme for possible comparison
with evidence found at the crime scene.

That order may be contested in court by attorneys from the Southwest
Louisiana Public Defenders Office, which has been appointed to represent the
teen-ager.

Section: NEWS
Page: 4-B; 5-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: BR man indicted in murder of 2
Date: February 21, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 4-B

LAKE CHARLES -- A Calcasieu Parish grand jury has indicted Christopher
Prudhomme, 18, charging him with murdering a young couple near Sulphur.
Prudhomme, of Baton Rouge, was accused Wednesday of the Feb. 12 shotgun slayings
of Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife Pamela, 25, in the bedroom of their home.

Prudhomme was arrested later the same day in Baton Rouge in the pickup truck
stolen from the Ellenders. Three teen-agers were in the truck with him.

Deputies said they believe Prudhomme acted alone in burglarizing the
Ellender's home, west of Sulphur, and then shooting the two as they slept.

Deputies also have said they believe Prudhomme took two guns and the
Ellenders' pickup truck before picking up a friend, Robert H. Adkins, 17, of New
Llano.

Adkins has been charged with accessory after the fact. Robert E. Gentry and
Robert D. Messick, both 17, are being held as material witnesses. All three were
in the stolen truck Prudhomme, officers said.

Prudhomme is to be arraigned March 4.

District Attorney Richard P. Ieyoub said he will seek the death penalty.

Section: NEWS
Page: 4-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Man from BR booked on 2 counts of murder
Author: STEVE WHEELER
Date: February 14, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B

Calcasieu Parish deputies today booked an 18-year-old Baton Rouge man with two
counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shotgun slaying of a
Sulphur couple earlier this week. Christopher Prudhomme, 18, of 228 W.
Chimes, No. 5, was booked about noon today in Lake Charles, Tom Hebert, a
spokesman for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office.

A second youth, 17-year-old Robert Adkins of 100 4th St., New Llano, in
Vernon Parish, was booked on two counts of accessory after the fact of
first-degree murder, Hebert said. Both suspects were also booked on an auto
theft count.

Prudhomme and Adkins were among four teens, three of them from Baton Rouge,
who were arrested here Tuesday afternoon when they were spotted in a stolen
truck belonging to the murdered couple in Sulphur, police said.

All four were taken to Lake Charles for questioning.

Robert E. Gentry, 17, of 602 West Chimes, and Robert David Messick, 17, of
609 Rapides in Baton Rouge, were booked here Tuesday with possession of a stolen
vehicle. They have not been booked in connection with the murder.

Prudhomme and Adkins were booked here as fugitives from Calcasieu Parish. An
autopsy performed Wednesday showed that Pam Ellender, 25, and her 27-year-old
husband Eric Ellender, each died from a shotgun blast at close range to the
head. The autopsy estimated the murder occurred either late Monday night or
early Tuesday morning, Hebert said.

The bodies of the Ellenders were found by a relative in the couple's bedroom
Tuesday afternoon. The two-year-old daughter of the victims was found unharmed
in her bedroom.

The couple's Nissan Pathfinder truck was missing when the relative found the
bodies, Hebert said.

The four teens were stopped in the stolen truck by Baton Rouge police 35
minutes after Calcasieu Parish authorities broadcast a bulletin on the stolen
vehicle late Tuesday, Hebert said.

The truck was taken to the State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge.

Hebert said burglary was being considered as a possible motive in the death
of the Ellenders.

Meanwhile, detectives in Calcasieu Parish have recovered a shotgun which may
have been used in the crime, Hebert said.

The house was ransacked, but there were no signs of a struggle, Hebert said.

Author: STEVE WHEELER
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Suspects transported to Lake Charles
Author: PATRICK BONIN
Date: February 14, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;1-B

Four men stopped in a stolen vehicle near the north gates of LSU on Tuesday
evening were transported to Lake Charles on Wednesday for questioning in
connection with a double slaying in Sulphur, officials said. The men were
stopped near the intersection of Highland Road and Chimes Street in a gray
Toyota truck belonging to Eric Ellender, 27, and his wife Pamela, 25, of Route
2, Box 180, Sulphur.

Their bodies were found in the bedroom of their rural home Tuesday
afternoon, officials said.

Tommy Hebert, a spokesman for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Department,
said the Ellenders were discovered dead in a bedroom of their rural Sulphur home
by the grandmother of one of the victims shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"We don't have any idea how long they may have been dead," Hebert said
Wednesday. "We surmise the murders occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Monday and
3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

"As far as we know now, the motives might have been burglary and theft of
the automobile," he said, noting that the house was ransacked and two other
vehicles, a jeep and a car, were left undisturbed.

Hebert said the woman went to the residence, about four miles west of
Sulphur, after family members could not reach the couple.

"She was concerned about them because they couldn't get in touch with them,"
Hebert said.

The Ellender's 2-year-old girl was discovered unharmed in another area of
the home, he said.

"She was in a separate room quite a ways from where the Ellenders were,"
Hebert said.

Booking records at the Parish Prison show that Robert E. Gentry, 17, whose
address was listed only as West Chimes and Robert D. Messick, 17, of 609 Rapides
St., were booked with possession of a stolen vehicle and were released to
representatives of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Department shortly after 8
p.m. Wednesday.

Christopher Prudhomme, 18, of 228 W. Chimes, No. 5, and Robert H. Adkins,
17, of 100 4th St., New Llano, were booked as fugitives from Calcasieu Parish
and were released to Calcasieu detectives at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, booking
records show.

Hebert said evidence was discovered after a search of a Chimes Street
apartment where the youths were staying.

"I know they recovered some firearms, but again I don't know what," Hebert
said. "I don't have a list on it. They (detectives) have more or less been
working on gathering evidence and getting statements."

Forensic pathologist Dr. Chris Speery, of Atlanta, was traveling to Lake
Charles to perform autopsies on Wednesday because Calcasieu Parish does not have
a forensic pathologist at the present time, Hebert said. Autopsy results were
not available on Wednesday.

Contrary to a statement made by authorities on Tuesday, none of the four
suspects is an LSU student, Hebert said.

Author: PATRICK BONIN
Section: NEWS
Page: 2-B;1-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: BR police arrest 4 youths for questioning in deaths
Date: February 13, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

Three Baton Rouge teen-agers and another teen from Vernon Parish were arrested
here Tuesday afternoon when they were spotted in a stolen truck belonging to a
murdered couple in Sulphur, police said. Two of the teens have already been
taken to Lake Charles by the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office for questioning
in connection with the slayings, and the other two will be taken to Lake Charles
later today, according to a spokesman for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office.

Booked into the Parish Prison Tuesday evening were Robert E. Gentry, 17, of
602 West Chimes, and Robert David Messick, 17, of 609 Rapides in Baton Rouge,
both booked with possession of a stolen vehicle and on a hold for Calcasieu
Parish authorities.

Christopher Prudhomme, 18, of 228 W. Chimes, No. 5, and Robert H. Adkins,
17, of 100 4th St., New Llano, were booked as fugitives from Calcasieu Parish.

Calcasieu Parish deputies late Tuesday picked up Prudhomme and Adkins, but
Gentry and Messick remained jailed here, booking records show. Jail records list
all four teen-agers as unemployed.

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's spokesman Tommy Hebert said Prudhomme and Adkins
have been booked in Calcasieu Parish on an auto theft count only.

Hebert said the four will be questioned later today or Thursday about the
slayings of Pam Ellender, 25, and her 27-year-old husband Eric Ellender, a
Sulphur couple. The bodies of the Ellenders were found by a neighbor in their
bedroom Tuesday afternoon. The 2-year-old daughter of the victims was found
unharmed in her bedroom.

The murder is believed to have occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Monday and
3 p.m. Tuesday, Hebert said. An autopsy is scheduled for later today, he said.

The couple's Nissan Pathfinder truck was missing when the neighbor found the
bodies, he said.

The four youths were stopped in the truck by Baton Rouge police 35 minutes
after Calcasieu Parish authorities broadcast a bulletin on the stolen vehicle
late Tuesday, Hebert said.

Hebert said police want to know how the teens got the truck.

He said the two teen-agers currently in Lake Charles haven't been questioned
at length yet. "At this point, we are letting them rest because they've been up
all night," Hebert said.

When Gentry and Messick arrive in Lake Charles, all four will be questioned
about the Ellender slayings, Hebert said.

The truck was taken to the State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge.

Hebert said burglary was being considered as a possible motive in the death
of the Ellenders.

Zeb Johnson, a deputy Calcasieu Parish coroner, said there were no signs of
a struggle, and it appeared the house was ransacked after the Ellenders were
shot in the head, The Associated Press reported.

Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

Paper: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
Title: Baton Rouge police detain four suspects in Calcasieu murders
Author: PATRICK BONIN
Date: February 13, 1991
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B;X

Detectives from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office were on their way to Baton
Rouge late Tuesday night to question four men in connection with a double
slaying Tuesday outside Sulphur. Baton Rouge City Police Detective Selwyn
Millican said four men were stopped in a gray Toyota truck belonging to one of
the victims near the intersection of Highland Road and Chimes Street shortly
after 6 p.m.

"We received a tip from a confidential informant that a truck they were
driving was stolen and they also had some stolen firearms," Millican said.

Millican said a 25-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man were discovered dead
in Calcasieu Parish at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Officials believe the slayings
occurred sometime after midnight Monday, he said.

Calcasieu Parish authorities said the victims, apparently slain with a
shotgun, were found in their bedroom by a neighbor Tuesday afternoon, according
to the Associated Press.

Sheriff's spokesman Tommy Hebert said the unidentified neighbor found the
2-year-old daughter of Pam and Eric Ellender uninjured in her bedroom, AP
reported.

No weapon was found at the Ellender's ransacked home, about four miles west
of Sulphur, Hebert said.

He said burglary was being considered as a possible motive in the death of
the Ellenders. One of their cars seemed to be the only valuable thing taken,
Hebert said.

Zeb Johnson, a deputy Calcasieu Parish coroner, said there were no signs of
a struggle and it appeared the house was ransacked after the Ellenders were shot
in the head, AP reported.

The four suspects were being held in separate holding cells in the 2nd
District police station on Highland Road late Tuesday until the Calcasieu Parish
detectives arrived, Millican said.

City police detectives were waiting for a warrant to search a Chimes Street
apartment that the suspects were in for any items stolen from the victims,
Millican said.

Until further questioning, Millican said the four men are being held for
possession of a stolen vehicle.

One of the men being held is a student at LSU, he said.

Author: PATRICK BONIN
Section: NEWS
Page: 1-B;X

Copyright 1991 Capital City Press, Baton Rouge, La.

****************************************************

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Woww... I haven't seen this segment. Here I thought I had seen them all.

I'm assuming there are no further developments?

[crystaldawn]

I don't believe there have been any further developments. This is one of the segments that never aired on Lifetime to my knowledge. I can see why on one point as its one of the most creepy ones with very disturbing subject matter but I'm suprised on the other hand as tenacious as Huey Littleton is that he didn't petition Lifetime to show it in hopes of gathering more leads. I understand why he's so driven but I'm not sure what he's still fighting for. Three people (correct me if I"m wrong Justin) were charged with the murders and one of them has committed suicide so what else does he hope to have happen? It seems as though he is beating a dead horse especially if the people involved in their murders have been apprehended. I can't see what else he has to gain by pursuing this. I certainly understand his anguish but maybe he needs to tone down or stop his investigation altogether concerning an alleged cover-up because he has done right by his daughter and son-in-law and unfortunately probably has obtained all the "justice" (if you want to call it that) that is possible in this case. Anyone else have any thoughts?

[everybodylovesrs]

Man pleads guilty to killings
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.) - Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Author: AP
LAKE CHARLES - A man walked out of court on probation after pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter in the 1991 deaths of a Sulphur couple.

Bobby Adkins was allowed to plead guilty Monday without admitting guilt. State District Judge Wilford Carter sentenced him to 21 years in prison, but suspended all except the 4 1/2 years Adkins served for another charge stemming from the killings. He then was put on probation for five years.

Adkins was not accused of firing the shots that killed Eric and Pam Ellender in their bed on Feb. 11, 1991. The manslaughter pleas were a "reasonable solution to a complicated case" because a trial would have had "a highly unpredictable outcome," Carter said.

Christopher Prudhomme, a transient, was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the Ellenders' deaths, but died in March 1991 of injuries that authorities said were self-inflicted.

Adkins was indicted in 1995 on two counts of second-degree murder. After numerous delays, his case was finally scheduled for trial Monday.

The plea agreement was reached during negotiations by defense attorney Mike Small and state Assistant Attorney General Julie Cullen.

Adkins served 4 1/2 years of a nine-year sentence for possession of stolen goods. That charge stemmed from his having ridden in the Ellenders' Toyota 4-Runner, which was stolen from their garage after the couple was shot.

[cjneath]

Hello, I was Pam's 1st cousin. My family is destroyed because of these murderer's. I miss her daily and we will never recover from this. Some have asked why my uncle won't give this up. It is mainly because there are so many people that were involved have never been accountable for their actions. There was so much evidence that was overlooked because of who they were.....for example the sherrif's son. Too many people named him as being there. My uncle is indeed a man "posessed".....do you blame him? Could you just move on if it was your child that was shot in the face??? Then they proceeded to have a party in their home after killing them? No, he will never rest easy over this....but neither will McKelvin and his family, but for different reasons.

[Victoria81]

Originally Posted by cjneath

Hello, I was Pam's 1st cousin. My family is destroyed because of these murderer's. I miss her daily and we will never recover from this. Some have asked why my uncle won't give this up. It is mainly because there are so many people that were involved have never been accountable for their actions. There was so much evidence that was overlooked because of who they were.....for example the sherrif's son. Too many people named him as being there. My uncle is indeed a man "posessed".....do you blame him? Could you just move on if it was your child that was shot in the face??? Then they proceeded to have a party in their home after killing them? No, he will never rest easy over this....but neither will McKelvin and his family, but for different reasons.

So sad Just rewatched it on lifetime. It's 10 miles from me. I messaged a girl from the UM segment. This has always been so odd. I hope their daughter is OK.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Victoria81

So sad Just rewatched it on lifetime. It's 10 miles from me. I messaged a girl from the UM segment. This has always been so odd. I hope their daughter is OK.

Who was it? Did she respond?

A few years ago, I was having some email correspondence with a woman who was local. She told me some wild stuff.

Needless to say, I remember this case well. I often think of Huey Littleton and wonder if he is still pushing for a formal investigation.

[sffan]

This has always been a case that has baffled me. This case is a good example of why not to use hardcore drugs- you do stupid things. The accounts of a party at the house is very sickening. I can't believe people could do such sick things.

Originally Posted by justins5256

Needless to say, I remember this case well. I often think of Huey Littleton and wonder if he is still pushing for a formal investigation.

He must be a very old man by now. I just don't think even if other people were involved they won't be punished because this case is closed in the eyes of the police.

Also the Ellender's baby mush be a teenager (15-17ish?) I hope he is doing well.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by sffan

Also the Ellender's baby mush be a teenager (15-17ish?) I hope he is doing well.

Amen to that. I've always wondered if she was doing well these days, I sure hope so anyway.

[Victoria81]

Just watched this again...blows my mind. Hope that little girl is doing well. I assumed her maternal grandparents raised her.

[1990 UM fan]

I have always been disturbed by this case. Weren't they both shot with a shotgun and then raped post-mortem? Ugh, just sickens me.

[Mystery Man]

Originally Posted by 1990 UM fan

I have always been disturbed by this case. Weren't they both shot with a shotgun and then raped post-mortem? Ugh, just sickens me.

On the subject of that, didn't one of the people interviewed in the segment say they saw a tape of the couple being shot as well as violated? If this is true, someone must've videotaped the event, and this tape could probably prove what really happened. Did law enforcement ever look into this? Excuse me if there's errors, but I haven't seen this segment in quite a while.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by Mystery Man

On the subject of that, didn't one of the people interviewed in the segment say they saw a tape of the couple being shot as well as violated? If this is true, someone must've videotaped the event, and this tape could probably prove what really happened. Did law enforcement ever look into this? Excuse me if there's errors, but I haven't seen this segment in quite a while.

No errors--you remembered correctly. LE did check this information out and never uncovered a video. I personally don't believe one ever existed.

ETA: I'm pretty sure the individual that attested to seeing the alleged video was named Chip Richard. He may have actually been the ONLY person that attested to this.

[Mystery Man]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

No errors--you remembered correctly. LE did check this information out and never uncovered a video. I personally don't believe one ever existed.

ETA: I'm pretty sure the individual that attested to seeing the alleged video was named Chip Richard. He may have actually been the ONLY person that attested to this.

Oh, good. I was thinking it was strange they didn't say much else of it, since I wasn't sure if it was a dead lead or not.

Somewhat related: One time I was reading some Reddit and/or 4chan thread about weird **** online, and someone mentioned a satanic snuff film they had seen (a few people replied, claiming to have seen it too). The details are too horrific to get into here, but when I rediscovered this case recently (as well as the videotaping allegations) I was instantly reminded of that. Kind of sick how that stuff really does exist. Makes me wanna quit reality.

[Ladydragon2226]

THIS FIRST POST IN THIS THREAD IS THE MOST TELLING- LOOK AT ALL OF THE SOURCES, i.e. NEWSPAPERS, SHERIFF'S OFFICE, COURTS, ETC.
IT IS SOOOO OBVIOUS THAT PRUDHOMME ACTED ALONE, AND WAS EVIL.

IT IS ALSO OBVIOUS THAT ADKINS GOT RAILROADED, DUE TO HUEY LITTLETON'S OBSESSION, AND UNWILLINGNESS TO DEAL WITH THE REALITY THAT THE ONE AND ONLY GUILTY PARTY, PRUDHOMME, GOT OFF EASY WITH SUICIDE.

I CAN UNDERSTAND A PARENTS WANT TO SEE "JUSTICE" FOR THE IGNORANT, RIDICULOUS, UNWARRANTED AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU WANT TO SAY; SENSELESS, MURDER OF THEIR CHILD AND CHILD'S SPOUSE.
AND SUICIDE WAS AN EASY OUT FOR PRUDHOMME. BUT HE LEFT A N-O-T-E STATING HE ACTED ALONE, AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY WAS SPENT BY LITTLETON, NO MATTER WHO BRIBED WHO, PROMISED WHATEVER TO WHOEVER, NO MATTER WHAT- THE TRULY GUILTY PARTY KILLED HIMSELF.

IN LITTLETON'S FERVOR, NOT ONLY AS A GRIEVING PARENT, BUT AS AN "INVESTIGATOR", HE COULD NOT, AND WAS NOT WILLING TO LET THE TRUTH DIE WITH PRUDHOMME'S CHOICE TO KILL HIMSELF.

THE "INVESTIGATOR" PART OF HIM, AND THE GAUL TO CHALLENGE THE SHERIFF TO AN ELECTION, SHOWS JUST HOW BLINDSIDED HE IS/WAS, AND THE DEPTH OF HIS TUNNELVISION.

LITTLETON WANTED TO LOOK SOMEONE IN THE FACE, ANYONE AFTER PRUDHOMME, THE ONLY KILLER, KILLED HIMSELF, IN A "COURT OF LAW" TO SEE AND HEAR "JUSTICE" CARRIED OUT FOR THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER.

AGAIN, IT'S OBVIOUS, THAT LITTLETON WAS WILLING TO GO TO GREAT LENGTHS, WITH HIS "NAME AND MONEY" TO DO ANYTHING TO SEE ANYONE GET TIME FOR THIS.

IF YOU READ THE ENTIRE ORIGINAL POST, YOU CAN SEE THAT ADKINS WAS ONLY GUILTY OF POSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY, AND EVEN THAT'S A STRETCH, BECAUSE HE WAS IN THE BACK SEAT OF THE VEHICLE! ONLY BECAUSE THE OTHER 2 PEOPLE IN THE VEHICLE, BESIDES PRUDHOMME AND ADKINS, WERE MUCH YOUNGER, AND THEY REALLY GOT OFF EASY.

BUT ADKINS... HE GOT SCREWED... LOOK AT HOW MANY TIMES THEY CHANGED THE CHARGES ON HIM, AFTER ORIGINALLY FINDING HIM COMPLETELY NOT GUILTY OF A-N-Y PART OF THE MURDER. YES, HE RODE IN THE STOLEN VEHICLE. BUT IN NO WAY SHOULD HE HAVE HAD TO LIVE THROUGH Y-E-A-R-S OF LITTLETON'S PARANOIA AND EVIL, SELFISH DRIVE TO SEE SOMEONE ACTUALLY PLEAD TO SOME TYPE OF "CHARGE" RELATED TO THE DEATHS.

RIDICULOUS... AND TO THINK, THAT EVEN NOW, AS LATE AS 2013 PEOPLE ARE STILL PULLING BITS AND PIECES OF THE FACTS, TO MAKE THEIR OWN ASSUMPTIONS.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ASSUME. MAKES AN "ASS" OUT OF "U", NOT "ME".

REALLY LET THIS GO, LET THE PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIVES, THE ELLENDER'S DAUGHTER IS PROBABLY LIVING QUITE WELL, AND LITTLETON IS PROBABLY STILL NOT HAPPY ABOUT CONVICTING INNOCENT PEOPLE.

THE BEAUTY OF ALL OF THIS, ESPECIALLY LITTLETON'S ACTIONS, IS KARMA IS A BEAST... "VENGANCE IS MINE", SAYETH THE LORD, AND I PRAY OFTEN FOR HIM TO GET HIS... MAY BE SLOW, MAY COME FAST... MAY BE MANY, MANY, MANY THINGS ALL OF THE TIME, OR OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. BUT SHAME ON HIM, FOR RUINING INNOCENT PEOPLE'S LIVES.

JUSTICE IS SUPPOSED TO BE BLIND- WOE FOR THOSE WHO CHEAT THE SCALES...

ON A MUCH BETTER NOTE: THE ELLENDER'S ARE IN HEAVEN! REJOICE!