By LEONARD GRAY-Staff Reporter

EDGARD – A 36-year-old Garyville man accepted four consecutive sentences of life in prison for the stabbing of his family Monday, heading off the scheduled trial which may have instead sent him to death row.

David Logan Roy was charged with killing his wife, Melissa, 32; and their daughter, Asher, 9, their son, Christopher, 2; and their infant daughter, Alyssa, 11 months.

His exact charges were one count of first-degree murder with intent to inflict great bodily harm, against his wife, and three counts of first-degree murder where the victims are under the age of 12.

Trial for Roy was set for Oct. 13, and a jury pool of 800 persons had been called in anticipation of the difficulty in finding an unbiased jury, said 40th Judicial District Judge J. Sterling Snowdy.

Snowdy stated he wanted to empanel a local jury, but wanted that jury untainted by preducial pre-trial publicity.

However, Snowdy also anticipated a lengthy jury selection process, which prompted him to subpoena so many potential jurors. Meanwhile, Roy had been trying to head off the trial’s commencement.

“He’d been wanting to plead guilty for awhile,” Snowdy said, but District Attorney John Crum’s office was instead pushing hard for trial, not interested in a plea agreement. Finally, Snowdy said, Crum relented.

Roy, charged with the April 17, 2002 first-degree murders of his wife and three children in Garyville, will instead spend the rest of his life in prison – leaving behind the unanswered questions.

“I noted he showed no remorse throughout any of these proceedings,” the judge said Monday. And as to why Roy stabbed his wife and children, “We probably won’t ever know,” Snowdy said.

“This will live with you until you draw your last breath,” Snowdy told the silent Roy during the hearing.

Charles Givens, first cousin of Melissa Givens Roy, spoke on behalf of the family to the court, agreeing the plea agreement was likely best for all concerned.

Roy had entered pleas on each of the four counts of first-degree murder, innocent and innocent by reason of insanity. A sanity commission ruled in July 2002 his competance to stand trial.

Sheriff Wayne L. Jones reported the horrifying crime on April 18, a day after Roy awakened and slashed the throats of his wife of nine years and their children with a 14-inch butcher knife.

The crime scene in the house revealed Melissa Roy dead in the couple’s bed, Asher in her own bed, Christopher in the living room in front of the television and Alyssa in her crib. All the bodies had been covered with blankets before Roy surrendered to police.

After the slayings, Roy then sat in the home with the bodes and contemplated what he had done, then drove to the sheriff’s office and surrendered to authorities that night.

(See ROY, Page 3A)

At that time, he claimed financial pressure and marital problems prompted the killing of his wife, and the desire not to leave his children to anyone else prompted the killing of the children. He filed for bankruptcy in March 2002 in an attempt to save his $65,000 home where the family had lived for six years.

He was employed at Kaiser Aluminum, designing industial blueprints but was let go during a workforce reduction.