A Morgan City man has been convicted of manslaughter by a jury in connection with the 2018 slaying of a retired St. Mary Parish principal, 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhé has announced.
Patricia Lynn Russo, 70, was found dead in her Morgan City home in October 2018. The last person she spoke to on the phone was her handyman, Michael Lee Guidry.
Neighborhood surveillance camera, bank records and phone records helped investigators tie him to the killing; after her death her bank cards were used at gas stations and casino ATMS in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.
Days later, Guidry was arrested after police found him hiding in the closet of a family member's Independence home.
After a four-day trial was last week, he was convicted on a charge of manslaughter.
A sentencing hearing is set before the Honorable John E. Conery on October 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Manslaughter is punishable by up to forty years at hard labor.
The investigation was handled by Morgan City Police Department. Assistance was provided by the Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Office and scientific analysis was performed by the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory. Assistant District Attorneys Brady Holtzclaw and Jennifer Reasoner prosecuted the case with assistance from Heather Hendrix and Katie Williams.
Russo was a St. Mary Parish educator serving principal of Maitland Elementary in Morgan City from 1988 to 1991, principal of J.S. Aucoin Elementary in Amelia from 1991 to 2001 and Instructional Specialist for St. Mary Parish public schools from 2001 until her retirement in 2004, according to St. Mary Parish School officials.
If you'd like to read her obituary, you can find it here.
