Caddo, LA: Luttrell's Wife Accused Of Having Him Killed

Photo by Michael Moore
The wife of Ernest Luttrell paid a hit man to kill her husband so she could sell his property and give it to a relative who had been cut out of his will, Caddo sheriff's investigators said Thursday as they arrested her in the latest twist in the murder case.
Loretta Luttrell, 70, paid $1,000 to have her husband of 50 years killed, Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said. She left early for church the morning of the murder, which was committed by a man recruited by a family friend, Prator said.
Sheriff's Department detectives arrested the widow shortly after her husband's funeral concluded at midafternoon..
Mrs. Luttrell's daughter, who was with her mother as sheriff's deputies escorted them from Forest Park West cemetery to the detective office, said her mother is in the moderate stages of Alzheimer's.
"My mother's mind is half gone," Katey Passaniti said outside the detective office.
The couple had recently received a bonus payment for leasing mineral rights to their property.
Prator said Mr. Luttrell had promised a "large sum" of money to one of Mrs. Luttrell's family members.
"When Mr. Luttrell changed his mind, Mrs. Luttrell plotted to have him killed so she could sell his property and still provide the money to the family member," Prator said at a news conference.
Mrs. Luttrell was booked for first-degree murder and jailed without bond. A first-degree murder charge can apply when a person is accused of offering money for someone to be killed.
Luttrell's widow is the third person arrested in the case. On Tuesday, sheriff's detectives charged Erick Crain with shooting Luttrell. On Wednesday, they arrested Tina VanMoerkerque, who lived on the Luttrell property and did odd jobs like housekeeping and running errands, on charges she helped plan the murder, including arranging for a hit man.
Mr. Luttrell was retired from Borden and worked on his land off Greenwood-Springridge Road.
Sheriff's detectives have accused Crain, 26, of going to the Luttrells' home minutes after his wife left for church on Sunday morning, confronting the victim inside, shooting him repeatedly and then taking his truck.
VanMoerkerque, 44, is accused of telling Crain how to get in the house and where he kept his gun, sheriff's detectives said.
Both are jailed without bond on first-degree murder charges.
Ernest Luttrell, who had a daughter and two grandchildren, was a Korean War veteran.