Kenneth and Lakeitha Joseph were reported missing on February 19, 2014. Nearly a month later, their bodies were recovered from the Intracoastal Waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana. After a lengthy investigation that brought investigators to Georgia, Texas, and across southeast Louisiana, the New Orleans Police Department determined that several people were involved in the double murder and had conspired to cover up the evidence.
On August 28, 2014, the State charged Horatio Johnson with two counts of second degree murder, one count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence, and one count of obstruction of justice, in connection with the murders of defendant’s cousin, Kenneth and Kenneth’s wife, Lakeitha.
When relatives were unable to reach 34-year-old Kenneth and his wife, 29-year-old Lakeitha, by cell phone on February 19, 2014, they went to their home in Reserve, Louisiana, to get the van they borrowed.
Family members were shocked to discover that Kenneth and Lakeitha were nowhere to be found and their home had been left unlocked and it had been ransacked.
That’s when they reported the couple missing.
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Detective Kirsten McAbee of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office began investigating Kenneth and Lakeitha disappearance by entering their names into the national database of missing persons and posting neighborhood flyers. McAbee obtained the victims’ cell phone records, which showed that Lakeitha’s last outgoing call occurred on the night that she went missing, February 18, 2014. Detective McAbee’s analysis indicated that Lakeitha’s phone moved from Reserve to LaPlace to Lutcher and, finally, to Kenner on that same date.
McAbee also obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s residence in LaPlace, and a warrant to search the home of Brittany Martin, Johnson’s girlfriend. She confiscated a Toshiba laptop computer and an iPad from the victims’ residence. McAbee subsequently learned that the victims’ van was sighted at a Georgia Travelodge Hotel and that the van was associated with a Travelodge guest named Frank Mike.
In Georgia, Officer James Jackson, Jr. of the Fulton County Police Department responded to a call of an abandoned Dodge Caravan in the College Park area on February 27, 2014. Jackson learned that the van had been reported stolen from LaPlace, Louisiana, and the report bore the notation “missing endangered person. Hold for latent prints.” Jackson impounded the vehicle for processing.
Fulton County Police notified Detective McAbee that they had located the victims’ missing van in College Park, Georgia. The Georgia authorities searched the area for Kenneth and LaKeitha, canvassed for witnesses, and obtained a search warrant for the van.
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Ms. Helen Weathers was an expert forensic crime scene investigator for the Fulton County Police Department in Atlanta, Georgia. On March 1, 2014, pursuant to a warrant, she processed the 2010 Dodge Caravan. She photographed the van and examined its exterior and interior, noting that it had recently been washed, but the tires had not been cleaned and were visibly dirty. The key was in the ignition; a receipt from LaPlace, Louisiana, was found; and two coffee packets were seen in the front console. There were reddish stains on the floor board near the sliding door on the side of the van and on the floor next to the driver’s seat, large blood stains on and under the second-row and third-row seats and floor mats, and blood stains behind the side interior paneling. Ms. Weathers swabbed the interior of the van for DNA evidence and collected other evidence from the van’s interior, all of which was subsequently transferred to the New Orleans Police Department. Ms. Weathers also obtained guest registration information and surveillance video from the Travelodge Hotel in College Park, Georgia.
At around 12:45 pm on March 10, 2014, officers with the New Orleans Police Department were dispatched to the Intracoastal Waterway after receiving a call about a bloated body floating in the water.
The body was later identified as Lakeitha.
Kenneth’s body was recovered from the Intracoastal Waterway two weeks later.
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Dr. Erin O’Sullivan, a forensic pathologist with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, performed an autopsy on the body of Lakeitha Joseph. Ms. Joseph had suffered a subcapsular hemorrhage on the left side of her head, as if she had been struck; however, Dr. O’Sullivan testified that the blow would not have caused her death, as there was no accompanying fracture of the skull. Dr. O’Sullivan noted that the blue rope knotted around the victim’s ankles had caused abrasions to the skin on the legs. In addition, the victim’s lower right leg was fractured. Dr. O’Sullivan found no evidence of gunshot or knife wounds. She stated that Ms. Joseph died of asphyxia by drowning.
Dr. Richard Tracy, another pathologist with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, performed an autopsy on the body of Kenneth Joseph. Mr. Joseph’s body had arrived at the Coroner’s Office with a kettlebell and rope attached to his legs. The body exhibited signs of decomposition, bloating, and discoloration of skin, but there were no signs of penetrating or blunt force injuries, and no hematomas or broken bones. Dr. Tracy testified that Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Rouse classified the death as a homicide by drowning.
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An investigation revealed that Johnson and Kenneth were cousins and business partners, who got into an argument over money on February 18, 2014. Kenneth and Lakeitha met up with Johnson and his girlfriend, Martin, at the Metairie recording studio, where they were brutally beaten by Johnson.
Police said Johnson tied a 30-pound kettlebell exercise weight to Kenneth and Lakeitha’s feet before throwing them off a 100-feet Chalmette bridge and into the Intracoastal Waterway.
Johnson and Martin were arrested after a surveillance camera at a Walmart in Kenner captured the pair buying two kettlebells and two nylon ropes with Martin’s credit card.
Martin was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder, but after she pled guilty to one count of obstruction of justice, they were dropped. During the trial, she testified that she had nothing to do with the murders as she did not know of what was transpiring.
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Martin was a former prison guard who met Johnson while he was an inmate at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel. Authorities said the pair developed a romantic relationship that continued outside prison once Johnson, who served almost an 18-year sentence for manslaughter, was granted parole in 2011.
Martin admitted to driving Johnson to the bridge where he threw the Reserve couple from.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years suspended.
On August 31, 2017, a jury deliberated for two hours before finding Johnson guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and single counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
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