LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre held a press conference on Monday to announce a reward increase for information pertaining to the April murder of a Reserve man.
The family and friends of Donovan Bailey, 29, pooled together to donate $2,000 to the existing Crimestoppers reward, bringing the total to $4,500 for information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the parties responsible for the homicide.
“We are very close to solving not only Donovan Bailey’s case, but many other unsolved homicides. I certainly appreciate the citizens who have called and contacted the St. John Sheriff’s office giving us the necessary information. But we need a little bit more to take the criminals off the streets of St. John Parish,” said Tregre.
Tregre went on to say the crimes that have been committed in the parish thus far are the actions of a small group of people but would not provide details on his findings. Crimestoppers president and CEO Darlene Cusanza was also present at the conference along with the family and friends of Donovan Bailey.
“We don’t want any other family to have to go through what we’re going through right now with the loss of our son. We don’t want any other family to have to go through sleepless nights wondering why (their loved one was killed),” said Bailey’s father, Herman Bailey. “Our plea is to anybody that knows anything about the death of my son, and the death of these other young men, to please come forward and let Crimestoppers know who they are so we can have a safe street.”
Deputies responded to the report of a shooting on April 17 at the 300 block of East 13th Street in Reserve. Bailey sustained a single gunshot wound to the upper torso and succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Two friends that were with Bailey told investigators that they had just dropped off some friends at the rear of East 13th Street and that their van was fired upon while they were leaving the area. Donovan Bailey had been driving the van.
“Anybody who knew Donovan knew that he was a sweet person and that he went out of his way to help people, so I’m asking you all to help him and help us solve this crime,” said Veronica Bailey, the victim’s mother.   Tregre also announced the creation of a special, five-officer homicide investigation unit. The group will focus only on homicide investigation.  
Detectives encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to call St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives at 985-359-TIPS, or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. Submitting an anonymous tip to Crimestoppers may qualify for a cash reward.
Tippers will not be required to testify in court and will be issued a tip number to be identified for the potential award.