OPELOUSAS — A former Opelousas police officer and St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy who now lives in Woodworth in Rapides Parish area has been arrested and charged with killing his wife.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Donald Pickney this weekend and charged him with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Chanda White Pickney, 33, of Woodworth.
The alleged crime came to light early Saturday when Pickney brought his wife to Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
"Based on the physical evidence, it appeared her death was of a suspicious nature," Maj. Jasper Bay with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office said. "We felt we had enough probable cause to arrest him."
Donald Pickney has also been charged with second-degree battery and false imprisonment and is being held in the parish jail on a $265,250 bond.
Opelousas Police Chief Perry Gallow declined to comment on the matter because it is an ongoing investigation.
Paul N. Gennuso, who is retired from the Opelousas Police Department, said he knew both Pickneys well and served as Donald Pickney's supervisor during his time on the force in the 1990s.
"It is always a surprise when anyone takes a life," Gennuso said. "This is such a tragedy."
He called Pickney "a fair officer" and had praise for the victim, who was the niece of Dr. Calvin White, a family practice physician in Opelousas.
"She went to school with my daughter. She had a inner beauty that was unbelievable," Gennuso said of Chanda, who worked as a physician's assistant at the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville.
Laura Balthazar, who was chief deputy for then-St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, was less surprised by the news.
She said Donald Pickney had been dismissed from the Sheriff's Office after repeated complaints of stalking were filed against him by his first wife.
"We had a lot of family issues with him when he worked for us," Balthazar said.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, but confirmed the cause of Chanda Pickney's death has not been determined.
Both Pickneys worked at the VA Medical Center, where Donald was employed as a security officer.
"She was an asset to this medical center and will be missed by our staff and her patients," the center said in a news release. "Our condolences go out to her family and friends."
In 2006, Donald Pickney was awarded the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs' Valor Award.
That award, the highest the VA gives to an employee, honored Pickney's actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when he helped evacuate the VA Medical Center in New Orleans, then flooded and without power.
Pickney was cited for personally carrying 20 to 30 patients down eight flights of stairs and loading them onto National Guard trucks so they could be taken to other facilities.
Before joining the VA staff, Pickney had served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Louisiana National Guard before joining the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office and then the Opelousas Police Department.
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