US hitmen hired by accused rapist killed wrong women: Sheriff

Montegut (US), February 2

A Louisiana man facing rape charges tried to have his accuser killed, but two hitmen instead ended up killing his sister and her neighbour, authorities said Monday.

Neither Hope Nettleton, 37, nor Brittany Cormier, 34, was the person that the hitmen had been hired to kill on Jan. 13, the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

On Friday, authorities arrested Andrew Eskine, 25, of Carencro; Dalvin Wilson, 22, of Rayne; and Beaux Cormier, 35, of Kaplan on charges of first-degree murder.

Cormier was previously arrested in Vermillion Parish for third-degree rape and, according to Sheriff Timothy Soginet, hired Eskine and Wilson to kill his accuser so she could not testify against him.

When Eskine and Wilson went to a Montegut home and asked for her, investigators said that Cormier’s sister claimed to be the woman they requested and was shot and killed. Nettleton, a neighbour, tried to fight off the men but was also shot to death, according to authorities.

The woman who had accused Cormier of rape was not at the home, investigators said.

District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. said that USD 2 million bonds had been set for the suspects, and it wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys.

“The death penalty is definitely on the table,” Waitz said.—AP