Louisiana cold case ‘The Man in The Well’ is cracked nearly 40 years later: Deputies

58-year-old Lester Rome disappeared almost 40 years in the past. His household reported him lacking to the Grand Isle Police Division in January 1984. The police division sits on a slim barrier island within the Gulf of Mexico — proper alongside the Louisiana shoreline.

A month later — and a two-hour drive north towards New Orleans — the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace took over the investigation. When detectives there started investigating Rome’s disappearance, they spoke with a girl who lived in Rome’s dwelling — Patricia Tito, in accordance with a Fb put up by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace. Tito allegedly advised investigators that she operated his enterprise and final she heard, Rome had gone on a visit. She denied any data of foul play, deputies stated.

Patricia Tito, 1994 (Las Vegas Police Division through Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace)

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In April 1986, the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Workplace — a regulation enforcement company 4 hours away between Lafayette and Shreveport — opened a murder investigation after human stays had been recovered from a water nicely in Many, Louisiana.

For 35 years, the stays sat in proof unidentified — the case and physique solely ever known as “The Man In The Effectively,” the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace stated.

However in 2021, the thriller was solved and the stays had been confirmed to be these of Lester Rome.

The Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Workplace reviewed Rome’s lacking particular person case and decided they needed to talk with Tito. Simple to trace down, Tito is at the moment within the custody of the Louisiana Division of Corrections serving a sentence for a 2003 murder in Shreveport.

When detectives had been interviewing Tito, she advised investigators Rome was killed in Grand Isle and his stays had been dumped in Sabine Parish, in accordance with the Fb put up by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace.

In Spring 2022, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace met with Tito and she or he agreed to deliver them to the placement the place Rome was murdered, they stated. She allegedly advised investigators she was current through the homicide, however positioned accountability for the crime solely on Devin Avard Sibley. Tito stated Sibley ultimately left Grand Isle and took Rome’s stays with him, the Fb put up stated.

Based mostly on Tito’s admissions and knowledge from the interview, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Workplace confirmed Sibley as an individual of curiosity in Rome’s homicide, they stated. Additional investigation confirmed Lowe’s stays had been discovered on a property previously owned by Sibley’s household, authorities stated.

Investigators issued arrest warrants for Tito and Sibley for second diploma homicide within the dying of Rome.

“Whereas the extent of her involvement shouldn’t be completely clear, and regardless of her protestations of innocence, Tito clearly had data of Mr. Rome’s dying and did not make any effort to inform regulation enforcement or a member of his household between 1984 and 2021,” the sheriff’s workplace stated in a press release on Fb.

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Anybody with details about the case — or the whereabouts of Tito and Sibley in 1984 — are inspired to name Captain Dennis Thornton of our Chilly Case Unit at 504-364-5300 or contact Crimestoppers.

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