[StBernard] Louisiana man pleads guilty in 1985 pet cemetery slaying

[Westley Annis]

Louisiana man pleads guilty in 1985 pet cemetery slaying
Reuters By By Jonathan Kaminsky
July 17, 2014 7:50 PM

By Jonathan Kaminsky

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A Louisiana man who had long been a suspect in the
brutal 1985 slaying of woman at a secluded pet cemetery where he worked as a
groundskeeper pleaded guilty on Friday to manslaughter in her death,
authorities said.

Brandon Nodier, 60, agreed to a 10-year sentence as part of a plea agreement
in the death of Dorothy Thompson, who was strangled in rural St. Bernard
Parish, southeast of New Orleans, before her chained body was dumped in the
Mississippi River, St. Bernard Sheriff's Office Colonel John Doran said.

Police reopened the case in 2009 after a witness came forward saying Nodier
had told him he was the killer and that Thompson's ghost was haunting the
witness's dreams, Doran said.

"Some form of justice has been served," Doran said. "Ten years is better
than none."

Thompson, who was 61 at the time of her death, had been the owner of the pet
cemetery. The killing occurred after Nodier duped Thompson into transferring
possession of the property to him, then feared he would lose it after she
sued to have the transaction voided, Doran said.

After the case was reopened, Doran's team interviewed dozens of witnesses
who painted Nodier as a fearsome con man who had taken advantage of
Thompson. The investigators also met with state police investigators who had
worked the case in the 1980s and had pegged Nodier as the killer but had
never been able to prove it.

During the investigation, a man who was serving time in prison contacted
police and said he had witnessed the slaying.

The man, who police have not named, told investigators and later a grand
jury that as Nodier's assistant groundskeeper at the cemetery he was present
at Thompson's killing and was intimidated by Nodier into 28 years of
silence, Doran said.

After police reopened their investigation, Nodier visited the man in prison,
told him to keep quiet about the killing and warned that he knew where his
wife lived, Doran said.

Nodier was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder in 2012. Prosecutors
were wary of a trial due to the loss of evidence including crime scene
photos in Hurricane Katrina and the eyewitness's reluctance to testify,
Doran said.

Both prosecutors and Nodier's attorney did not immediately return messages
seeking comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Will Dunham)