Man arrested in 2009 killing of Sierra Bouzigard

CALCASIEU PARISH, LA (KPLC) - An arrest has been made in the 2009 killing of Sierra Bouzigard, whose body was found on John Koonce Road in Moss Bluff, Louisiana.

After Bouzigard's death, the case went cold. But Calcasieu Sheriff Tony Mancuso announced Monday that a match has been made through DNA.

Blake A. Russell is charged with second-degree murder in her death. Russell was arrested Monday morning in DeQuincy. Judge Clayton Davis set bond at $2 million.

Russell's arrest followed a tip based on a sketch the Sheriff's Office released in September 2015, Sheriff Tony Mancuso said in an interview Monday.

The sketch and a characteristic profile were built by Parabon Nanolabs using DNA at the scene. The DNA had already been placed in CODIS, but a match had not been found. Mancuso said detectives had tried a number of things in the hopes of solving the case before receiving the DNA snapshot.

The sketch of a white male changed the previous thinking that Bouzigard's killer was a Hispanic male. Bouzigard was with several Hispanic males the night she died.

Myers said the case is the first time the new technology has been used in Louisiana.

After the tip that came in about a month ago, deputies began surveilling Russell. Mancuso said that it took a while for deputies to secure a DNA sample.

That was finally done from an item Russell discarded, Myers said.

Mancuso said Bouzigard lived a "high-risk lifestyle," but that did not change the fact that she was a victim who did not deserve to be killed.

Mancuso said Bouzigard's mother and grandmother have been waiting for resolution.

"She's a victim she was murdered for no reason," Mancuso said.

Bouzigard's body was found by a bicyclist not far from the roadway on Nov. 23, 2009. Authorities say she died from blunt-force trauma to the head and that her body had likely not been there more than 24 hours.

Several of the items at the scene contained DNA.

Authorities said in 2009 that Bouzigard had been seen in several places in the Moss Bluff area the night before her body was discovered. At least 22 acquaintances were interviewed. She was last seen alive between midnight and 2:30 a.m. that day at a house on Victoria Drive in Moss Bluff.

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