LEONARD GRAY

DESTREHAN – A LaPlace woman found dead behind the levee at St. Charles Borromeo Church was remembered as “quiet and very nice” by the handful who knew of her. Sandra Knowles Scruggs, 31, of 157 Galloway Court, lived for the past few months at R&S Mobile Home and RV Park, a short walk from where she was last seen on the night of June 7. St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg C. Champagne said he is considering the death a likely homicide, and he is seeking information from the public to help explain her death. Champagne said Scruggs’ semi-nude body was found by a passing bicyclist on June 8 at 1:30 p.m. She was reported last seen at the Laundry Lounge on East Airline Highway, not far from the St. John/St. Charles parishes line, between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on June 7. She was identified by fingerprints, but her trailer court manager recalled she had her name tattooed on one ankle. Scruggs was found lying in six to eight inches of water, half-concealed by underbrush in the batture, her head toward the levee. Champagne said he believes she was killed elsewhere and left where she was found. At the Laundry Lounge, she was seen wearing a white or yellow top, cutoff jeans and white tennis shoes. Champagne is asking anyone who might have seen her that night to call Detective Roscoe Brewer at 443-0334. The lounge’s manager, Judy Hebert, said she saw Knowles in the bar every evening, and additionally described her as having shoulder-length, curly red hair and standing just over five feet tall. “She came by herself and left by herself,” Hebert added. At the trailer court, managers George and Phyllis Andry said Knowles and her husband, Mike, had lived there for two or three months in a trailer they rented from the owners, Richard and Sherrill Galloway. Phyllis Andry said she rarely saw the couple. “They were very quiet and nice,” she said, and added they never caused any problems.