By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Three men in one week were indicted by a grand jury for second-degree murder in St. John the Baptist Parish.

District Attorney Tom Daley said Alonzo Wilkens was indicted on Monday for the second-degree homicide of Kentrell Bailey, the man found shot dead in a LaPlace ditch on July 28.

The St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office named Wilkens as a suspect on Aug. 1 and he was arrested on Aug. 7 in New Orleans.

In another case, two men, Dequan Brown and Detrick Labranch, were indicted for second-degree murder on Aug. 11 for the Aug. 24, 2013, homicide of Meshach Mason.

Brown and Labranch were arrested in June after nearly 10 months of investigation.

Authorities said Mason, 19, lived in Reserve prior to moving to Kenner. He was found dead on East 16th Street near the train tracks in Reserve, the victim of gun violence.