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Indictments handed up in three murder cases

Justice
Posted at 3:52 PM, Mar 30, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-30 16:54:47-04

A St. Landry Parish grand jury has indicted four people in connection with three murders.

A 15-year-old juvenile was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder in the slaying of Keith Joseph of Washington. The shooting happened in Washington on December 31. To read our stories about this case, click here and here.

District Attorney Chad Pitre said he plans to prosecute the juvenile as an adult.

"Here in the 27th Judicial District we are prosecuting violent juvenile offenders as adults unless the evidence indicates otherwise," Pitre said.

In another case, Jaleel Durisseau, 19, was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the Valentine's Day slaying of Corey Rosette Jr. Rosette was found dead in his Opelousas apartment. To see our stories about this case, click here and here.

The third case involved the slaying of Wade Shaquille Vaughn-Smith of Melville, which happened February 15. In that case, Jaden Ardoin, 18, and Jaiman Mason, 20, both of Port Barre, were indicted on charges of first-degree murder. They also were indicted on charges of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of the victim's brother, who survived.

That incident happened on February 15. Ardoin and Mason are accused of shooting into the vehicle that Vaughn-Smith and his brother were riding in; both men were shot. To read that story, click here.