2011: Crime and Convictions

I decided to just concentrate this one on what I consider to be the three worst crimes of 2011 in Bossier.
We still have three weeks left in 2011. I hope I won’t have to amend this and include another.

Celeste Lowe

Catherine
Lowe

In January, Wesley and Catherine Lowe were arrested and originally charged with negligent homicide in the death of 5 year old Anna Celeste Lowe. The child died from internal bleeding caused by severe trauma.
After watching the child suffer for two days, Stepmother Catherine Lowe finally took her to Willis-Knighton Pierremont. Celeste had been dead for two hours when they arrived at the hospital.
Catherine Lowe was then charged with 1st Degree Murder, which was later dropped to 2nd Degree. In October, the DA offered her a plea of manslaughter. Just this week Lowe refused the offer.
The trial is set to begin on February 13th.
Wesley Lowe is also set for trial on February 13th on the negligent homicide charge. He also was charged in June with possession of Schedule II & Schedule IV CDS.

Bill Norris Appliance Triple Murder

Compliments of Rex Moncrief

 On April 12th, Bossier City was rocked by the triple murder at Bill Norris Appliance on Barksdale Boulevard.

Ten days later, BCPD arrested Gerald Cortez Needham aka Copperhead and charged him with the murders. Needham has a long criminal history and Bossier City detectives zeroed in on him as their prime suspect.

Fast forward to July. A robbery at Emerson’s store in Haughton resulted in the suspect, Robert L. Clark, firing a gun (fortunately, no one was injured). The bullet that was fired came from the pistol used in the Norris killings.

In the continuing story, Needham was charged by the Feds with being a felon in possession of ammunition. 100 bullets were found at his residence when Bossier Police executed the arrest warrant and a search warrant.

Needham was found guilty this week and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Clark has not been charged with the Norris murders, and is not like to be charged. DA Schuyler Marvin said that with a conviction on the armed robbery charge, he will seek to have Clark sentenced as a habitual felon under the ‘three strikes’ law. The case isn’t set for trial yet, but is set for a status conference on January 17th.

"Miss Gaye"

On August 30th, Angela Gaye Haltom was shot to death on a parking lot at First Baptist Church in Bossier City, where she was employed by the Wee Center daycare.

When she left work to go to her car, she was met by her estranged husband, Allan Haltom, who killed her and then killed himself.

Mrs. Haltom had been in District Court that very morning renewing a protective order against Haltom. He also was facing criminal charges from an incident at the family home in Haughton. Haltom had rented a car that his wife wouldn’t recognize when she left work. From there he ambushed her.

“Miss Gaye”, as she was known to the children at the daycare, was well loved by the kids and the parents alike.