Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Four Men Charged in 1982 Killing of Louisiana Teen Roxanne Sharp

Investigators cite DNA advances with a local podcast as the source of new leads.

Overview

  • Four Covington men were taken into custody after Tuesday arrests in Louisiana and Ohio, followed by Wednesday notifications to two inmates already in state prisons.
  • Perry Wayne Taylor, Darrell Dean Spell, Carlos Cooper, and Billy Williams Jr. each face counts of aggravated rape and second-degree murder.
  • Sharp, 16, was found on February 12, 1982, in woods near the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds in Covington, and police determined she had been raped and killed.
  • Detectives reopened the case in 2023, resubmitted old evidence for DNA testing, and then drew fresh tips in 2025 from the Who Killed Roxanne podcast produced with local media.
  • Two suspects are in the Louisiana Department of Corrections on unrelated convictions, Williams is booked in the St. Tammany Parish Jail, and Spell is jailed in Dayton awaiting extradition as agencies urge more tips at (985) 635-3167 and whokilledroxanne.com.