A gray LSU hoodie proved to be a key clue in the murder investigation of a St. Amant High senior who was shot during an argument outside a Gonzales gas station in November, court papers show.
Gonzales police say they were able to link one of the four suspects, Jamal "Mal" Dacoby Holloway, to the slaying through social posts and surveillance video that showed Holloway wearing the hoodie.
The disclosure was made in arrest papers filed in the 23rd Judicial District Court and are among new details emerging in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Mekhi Darville in November.
During a hearing in Gonzales, Ascension prosecutors also said they had developed new witnesses in the case. And four teens were identified in open court as defendants in the slaying — not three, as previously disclosed.
The grand jury charged all of them as adults last month with being principals to second-degree murder, court papers say. All four pleaded not guilty Monday.
Colorful evidence
Darville, of Sorrento, was driving a group of teens back from an East Ascension High football game at Spartans Stadium, police have said. At some point, someone realized a red car had been following them from the stadium to a gas station about a mile south on Veterans Boulevard.
Darville was shot from that car, police say, in the parking lot of a Fuel Smart where Darville and his friends had parked. The gas station was known as Chips for many years previously.
The groups of youths in the two cars had been arguing before the shots were fired shortly before 9:30 p.m., police said.
In an affidavit of probable cause signed Nov. 19, Gonzales Detective Dominick Rodi wrote that gas station surveillance video showed Holloway wearing the LSU hoodie and "hanging out of the window" of the front passenger seat of the red car moments before shots were fired.
The gray hoodie had a bright, yellow "LSU Tigers" logo on it, Rodi wrote.
Rodi added that he had found an Instagram post made six days after Darville's slaying with Holloway wearing the same hoodie, the arrest documents say.
Surveillance video from the stadium showed Holloway wearing the hoodie in the stadium on the night of Nov. 11 during the game, arrest documents say. Other youths later accused of a role in the shooting were with Holloway.
A 'primary antagonist'
Holloway, 19, of Gonzales, and the three other suspects, Markeith Jenkins, 15; Rachez Joseph, 15; and Jeaon Pindexter, 15, all pleaded not guilty Monday to their charges.
Ami Clouatre, spokesman for Gonzales police, declined to offer a comment Tuesday about the developments.
"Given it’s still an active investigation, going through prosecution and the age of the persons involved, we are not releasing anything further at this time," she said.
During a bail hearing for Holloway on Nov. 29, Rodi identified Holloway as the "primary antagonist" in the argument at the gas station and that witnesses had placed him in the car — though none had identified who shot Darville.
Prosecutors had previously said investigators did not have eyewitnesses. But on Monday, Assistant District Attorney Craig Stewart announced to Judge Steven Tureau — in front of the young defendants, who were waiting in the jury box and on video conference — that they now had two willing to cooperate with the prosecution.
"And, I'll put that on the record," he said.
Stewart didn't say to what the witnesses would testify.