L’Observateur / June 26, 1999

NORCO – A $1,000 reward is now offered through Crime Stoppers for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person who shot a New Orleans teen-ager and left his body in the Bonnet Carre Spillway.

Shannon Carter, 16, of the 2500 block of Dryades Street, New Orleans, was found shot dead off the CC Road in the middle of the Bonnet Carre Spillway on the morning of June 3.

St. Charles Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Joe Cardella said that informationreleased on television produced a phone call from the missing teen-ager’s family, which led to the positive identification.

Sheriff Greg C. Champagne earlier described the victim as a male, agedbetween 13 and 16, approximately 5-feet-8, 122 pounds.

The victim had long, “cornroll” braids in his hair and wore a white T- shirt, black jean shorts with an IMPAC label, white socks and was shoeless. He also wore a blue plastic rosary around his neck.A Harahan man exercising hunting dogs in the area found a large spot of blood on a dirt road quarter-mile north of the Spillway Road.

Upon checking the area, he found the body lying face down, near the bank of a tidal pond.

Champagne said the victim died from two gunshot wounds to the chest, making it the second homicide in St. Charles Parish this year.Anyone in the metropolitan New Orleans area with information helpful to the investigation is advised to phone Detective Joe Lawler at 443-0334 or 783-6807.

People may also call Crime Stoppers at 822-1111. Callers’ names are keptsecret, and they do not have to testify to get the reward.

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