BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Two adults are dead and a child is in critical condition after what investigators say was a murder-suicide involving a man and his estranged wife early Friday morning.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to the 2800 block of Magazine Drive in the Maison Deville neighborhood, which is off Sherwood Forest Boulevard near I-12, around 4 a.m.
Detectives said Rouche Coleman, 38, shot Kesia Coleman, 35, shot her son and then turned the gun on himself. Rouche Coleman and Kesia Coleman died at the scene. The boy was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. His name was not given.
Authorities said Kesia Coleman called the sheriff's office around 4 a.m. to report a suspicious person breaking into her home. Those were some of the last words she would ever speak. Her plea for help was too late.
"During the call, we heard what may have been shots fired and at some time during the call, she stopped responding to deputies," said Casey Rayborn Hicks with EBRSO. "So, deputies made entry in the home and that's when they found the two deceased and one injured."
According to neighbors, Kesia Coleman had just moved into the home about a week ago and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until Friday morning.
"All I saw were three cars and within 15 minutes, there were policemen everywhere in this neighborhood," said neighbor Marie Chaney. "I mean coming from everywhere."
As deputies tried to comfort the victim's family, investigators started piecing the puzzle together. They were on the scene collecting evidence inside and around the home for nearly five hours.
"I heard it on the news this morning... They said 'a mother, a teacher had just moved into a new neighborhood' and the first thing I thought was I hope it's not Kesia, cause I know what he had been doing," said Kesia's cousin LaTonya Oby.
Kesia's family says she tried to do everything right. When she decided to get a divorce, and things took a turn for the worse and got rough, Kesia Coleman turned to the courts.
In April, in her request for a restraining order, Kesia told the judge her estranged husband was stalking her, and she accused him of cutting the brake lines on her car and holding a gun to her head. The judge granted the restraining order and ordered Rouche Coleman to stay away.
The couple was set to go before a family court judge last month, but East Baton Rouge court records show that Kesia, for some unknown reason, went to court a day early and had the restraining order against her estranged husband dismissed.
"I still can't believe it. We used to text each other every other day. It's too unbelievable that's she gone," said Oby.
Kesia recently lived in Livingston Parish where investigators say they received some of the complaints. Livingston deputies say they were called to the home after Kesia found her brake lines cut in her car and again when someone broke into her home and poured bleach all over her bedroom. In both of those cases, deputies were unable to make any arrests.
The concern is on the juvenile in the hospital. District Attorney Hillar Moore was at the hospital with him Friday morning. At last check, the child was still in critical condition.
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