She disappeared in 1982, and police had very few leads. Part of the reason was that people were afraid to talk. Now, more than four decades later, there are not just one but four arrests in the Roxanne Sharp case.
Roxanne Sharp was 16 years old when she disappeared from Covington, Louisiana. She was last seen on February 9, 1982, at the Lee Road Quick Stop near the intersection of Lee Road and Hornsby Street in Covington.
Three days later, on February 12, 1982, they found Roxanne’s body in a wooded area near the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds in Covington, Louisiana. Participants in the Dixie Trail Ride found her. This is an annual horse and wagon trail ride that began in 1978 in the Covington area.
Covington police investigators handled the original investigation. Based on that early work, investigators said someone assaulted and murdered her. They also determined that she had been there about two to three days before they found her. If that timing is correct, then it is possible she was killed the same day she disappeared.
Several people, including Lieutenant Heath Miller, described a culture of fear around the people involved in the case. Because of that, many people refused to talk. This make it difficult updates difficult in Roxanne Sharp’s case Some were still afraid even after they moved away. That fear, along with little physical evidence and the fact that DNA technology did not exist at the time, helped send the case cold for more than 40 years.
Over the years, investigators also had to deal with false claims and false confessions. At one point, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas took responsibility for Roxanne’s murder. Investigators looked at the evidence and at his statement, and they determined he had blatantly lied. Lucas, known for false confessions, later retracted the claim. There were other people who came forward over the years with false claims or false confessions. Each one took time to investigate. Each one also led nowhere.
The case changed in 2023, when Louisiana State Police took over the investigation. Detectives reviewed the case files and the physical evidence. They also re-interviewed witnesses and potential suspects, and they collected new evidence. Then they submitted the original evidence to a DNA lab for analysis. Forty years later, advances in DNA technology gave investigators tools they did not have in 1982. So investigators hoped it might give them a suspect or at least new leads.
In 2025, Louisiana State Police pushed Roxanne Sharp’s case back into the public eye. They posted a cold case spotlight asking for information. By then, some people had died and others had moved away. It was not clear where things stood with the fear of speaking out, but investigators were trying everything they could to bring attention back to the case and get help.
Then, in February 2025, investigators, Louisiana State Police Public Affairs, and local radio host Charlie Doughty, with Lake 94.7 and Northshore Media Group, produced a podcast about Roxanne’s case to generate new leads. Louisiana State Police said the podcast brought in new information, new leads, and witness cooperation they had not previously had. For whatever reason, that podcast appears to have made people more comfortable coming forward. In this Roxanne Sharp case update, that step stands out as a turning point.
Investigators have not publicly identified those leads or explained what they found that helped move the case forward. Authorities have stayed tight-lipped, and those details may not come out until the case moves further through the court system. Still, by April 2026, Louisiana State Police detectives had worked with the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the Covington Police Department to obtain arrest warrants for four men in connection with Roxanne’s assault and murder.
On April 21, 2026, arrests began. Billy Williams Jr., 62, was arrested in Covington after Louisiana State Police detectives, working with other law enforcement agencies, executed search and arrest warrants at his residence. They booked him into the St. Tammany Parish Jail. That same day, they arrested Darryl Dean Spell, 64, in Dayton, Ohio, by agents with the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and was waiting extradition back to Louisiana.
On April 22, 2026, investigators made contact with Perry Wayne Taylor, 64, and Carlos Cooper, 64. The Louisiana Department of Corrections is currently holding both men on unrelated charges. In an update they said all four men now face charges of assault and second-degree murder in connection with Roxanne Sharp’s case.
Some information has described Roxanne as an acquaintance of the four men and said she may have hung out in the neighborhood where they lived. Still, there has been no definitive public statement saying they were the last people to see her alive, or identifying who last saw her alive. More detail may come after a grand jury indictment and later court proceedings.
The district attorney said the case should go before the grand jury within the coming weeks. As of that update, there was no official court date, and the case remained ongoing. That is where the Roxanne Sharp case update stands for now.
After 44 years, the biggest shift appears to be a mix of renewed investigation, advanced DNA testing, and witness cooperation that investigators did not have before. A case once stalled by fear and false leads now has four men charged.
As with any criminal case, all four men are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That remains one of the most important facts in this Roxanne Sharp case update, even as the case moves closer to the courtroom.
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