Louisiana Man Kidnaps Woman, Shoots Her Dead When She Tries To Escape

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s department in Laplace, Louisiana, on Monday, arrested a man for brutally murdering a woman he kidnapped when she tried escaping from the trunk of a moving car.

The killer, identified as 37-year-old Corrie Wallace, allegedly assaulted the victim in front of her child before forcing her into the trunk of her car. He then drove away toward Belle Terre Boulevard. When she tried to escape from the moving vehicle, he opened fire at her. A gunshot to the head instantly killed her.

“On April 4, 2020, the initial call regarding a vehicle involved in a hit and run in the 400 block of Belle Terre Boulevard in LaPlace, came in about 3:30 a.m,” the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s office stated in a press release.

The Sheriff’s Department officers immediately responded to the scene and found the lifeless body of the young Louisiana mom, identified as 25-year-old Ja’Riel Sam, on early Sunday morning. Her body was found lying naked in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the head in a vacant parking lot in LaPlace, about 30 miles west of New Orleans.

The responding officer’s located her car that crashed into a guardrail nearby.

“Through investigation and review of SJSO crime video surveillance and video footage from neighboring businesses, officers developed Wallace as the suspect,” the statement read.

The detectives, upon further investigation, uncovered that before the shooting incident, Wallace was inside the victim’s apartment where the assault had occurred.

“Ja’Riel Sam’s 4-year-old son also was inside the apartment. He was unharmed,” the police statement read.

According to the officers, the victim’s relationship with her killer was unknown.

Based on the investigation and after recovering what is believed to be the murder weapon from a drainage canal on Belle Terre, detectives obtained a warrant for Wallace’s arrest. But, Wallace turned himself over to authorities and confessed to the crime.

Wallace was charged with first-degree murder. The investigation was ongoing.

Anyone with information on the crime was asked to call the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office TIPS line at 985-359-TIPS, SJSO dispatch at 985-652-6338, or the Criminal Investigations Division at 504-359-8769. Citizens can also submit tips on the sheriff’s office website at http://stjohnsheriff.org/submitatip.php