Laconia Shontel Brown

Background

Laconia Shontel “Muggy” Brown was born 01/25/1985 to Gloria Brown. She had two sisters, Kendra and Gail, and a brother. She attended Jennings High School, where she was a freshman in 2001. She had one child, Jahiema, who was three years old when she died. Family members later described her as being close to her grandmother, Bessie, who helped raise her son.

Laconia is interred at Peterson Memorial Cemetery in Jennings, Louisiana

Case Summary

Laconia was last seen on the evening of 05/27/2008. She reportedly told her grandmother she was going to a friend’s home to have gumbo and would be back before midnight. She never returned.

Around 2:00 am on 05/29/2008, a Jennings police officer discovered her body in a rural area, close to the police firing range near Racca Road.

Laconia was found clothed but shoeless, with her body doused in bleach. Her peach tank top and blue jean shorts had white discoloration, which police believed was blood diluted by another liquid. Because her body was found only about six hours after being left on the road, investigators gathered more evidence and leads than in any of the earlier deaths.

An autopsy determined she had multiple incised wounds to the head and approximately seven cuts across the front of her neck, and three cuts behind her right ear.

Laconia’s family raised the possibility that her death was connected to information she had. Her sister Gail said Laconia confided in family shortly before her death that she was ‘investigating a murder with a cop who  offered her $500.’ According to relatives, she’d grown visibly afraid in her final weeks and believed she’d be targeted next, having known four of the earlier victims personally.

At the time, Jennings Police Chief Johnny Lassiter said investigators had not determined a motive or named a suspect, and that they were examining the lifestyles and known associates of all five victims identified to that point. He said police had executed several search warrants and questioned multiple people, but had not named anyone a suspect or person of interest, adding that they were “narrowing down the field.”

Laconia’s death was the fifth in a series of cases that would later become known as the Jeff Davis 8 (or Jennings 8).

Kyle Miers, a former member of the task force, ran for Jeff Davis Parish sheriff in 2023, citing the unsolved cases as one of his reasons for running. He said he has a suspect in every case except the last two, and that the Sheriff’s Office had done nothing with the information in years. He was sworn in as sheriff 02/02/2024.

Suspects/Persons of Interest

No suspect or person of interest has been publicly identified in Laconia’s case.

Timeline

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Research Notes

This profile will be updated as pending public records requests are received.

Sources

• American Press, “Pursuit of Truth: Jeff Davis, State, Fed Agencies Seek Leads in Deaths of Women,” 06/29/2008
• Lafayette Daily Advertiser, “Mystery,” 11/16/2008
• American Press, “Unsolved Deaths Focus of Web Site,” 09/02/2009
• American Press, “Families, Friends: We Want Justice,” 10/27/2009
• American Press, “Reward for Info in Deaths Increases,” 10/29/2009
• Lafayette Daily Advertiser, “Sending Hope to Heaven-Families of Serial Killer Victims Release Balloons to Loved Ones,” 04/07/2011
• American Press, “Juvenile crime, drugs cited as top issues in Jeff Davis sheriff’s race,” 08/23/2023
• KALB Channel 5, “Kyle Miers Sworn in as Jeff Davis Sheriff,” 07/02/2024
• Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office, “Laconia Shontell Brown,” Hot Cases

rev 09/29/26