Authorities arrested a person of interest in connection with a series of stabbings that left at least four people dead and another person critically injured in southeastern Louisiana.
The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed on Sept. 13 that Kaegan Jude Solet, 47, had been taken into custody as part of an investigation into several stabbing incidents in the small city of Houma, Louisiana. Authorities had identified Solet as a person of interest on Sept. 12 and offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to his arrest.
"This remains an active and ongoing investigation," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "Additional information will be released as soon as it becomes available."
Deputies initially responded to the Ashland
Drive area of Houma on Sept. 12, where they found a "juvenile suffering from apparent stab wounds," according to the sheriff's office. The victim, a boy under the age of 10, was airlifted to an out-of-area hospital and remained in critical condition.
As deputies continued their investigation, they later discovered four deceased victims inside nearby homes, the sheriff's office said. Authorities previously urged anyone with information about Solet's whereabouts to contact investigators or submit tips anonymously through Crime Stoppers Bayou Region.
"This was certainly not a random act of violence," Terrebonne Parish Public Information Officer Blake Tabor said, according to The Houma Courier, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The sheriff's office has not announced any charges in the case. Authorities also have not released a possible motive or identified the victims.
Person of interest was arrested in 2019 stabbing case
Solet was previously arrested in connection with a 2019 stabbing case in Houma, according to police. Officers responded to a stabbing on Dec. 24, 2019, at the Red Carpet Inn on Bayou Black Drive, the Houma Police Department said in a news release at the time.
Officers discovered a 59-year-old woman suffering from "numerous stab wounds as she was lying on the floor of her hotel room," according to police. The victim, later identified as Cindy Boudreaux, was transported to a medical facility with life-threatening injuries.
Police said witnesses had reported hearing someone yelling for help from the victim's hotel room. Investigators later determined that Solet, then 40, had been an "invited guest" in the room when an argument allegedly turned physical.
Solet repeatedly stabbed the woman in the upper body and head before leaving the room, locking the door behind him and fleeing, according to police. Boudreaux later told jurors that Solet had struck her in the head with a wine bottle and stabbed her multiple times.
Officers found Solet later that day, and he was subsequently booked into the Terrebonne Parish Criminal Justice Complex on one count of attempted second-degree murder, police said. A jury found Solet, who said he was a shrimper by trade and had been unhoused for some time, not guilty in 2023.
The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office also said investigators had obtained an arrest warrant for Solet on a charge of second-degree murder in January 2019, according to a separate news release. The sheriff's office said at the time that the warrant stemmed from the investigation into the Jan. 9, 2019, killing of Kemple Paul Scott Lovell.
Contributing: Colin Campo, Houma Courier and Thibodaux Daily Comet
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Person of interest arrested after 4 killed in Louisiana stabbings
