By Erik Sanzenbach

Pontchartrain Newspapers

LAPLACE – A Destrehan woman was arrested in connection with the murder of two Mississippi men whose bodies were discovered in an exclusive subdivision in Abita Springs.

She and a Covington man were apprehended in Luling Monday afternoon in connection with the “execution style” murders.

The arrests were part of a joint investigation involving sheriff’s offices in St. Charles and St. Tammany parishes and Hancock County, Mississippi, according to a release from St. Charles Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Pat Yoes.

Nicholas Schilling, 20, of 73526 Plantation St., Covington, and Jessica Falgout, 18, of 120 Destrehan Ave., Destrehan, confessed to their roles in the murders when brought in for questioning by St. Charles sheriff’s detectives Monday. Warrants for the suspects had been issued by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office based on information gathered in their investigation into the murders. A third unnamed suspect is still being sought.

The investigation began Saturday morning in St. Tammany Parish when a resident of a subdivision near Abita Springs reported a suspicious vehicle parked on an undeveloped street in the subdivision, according to St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain.

When deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered the bodies of two white males in the back seat of a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe. Strain said the men have been identified as Joshua Adams, 34, and Robert Criswell, 27, both of Magnolia, Miss. Strain said the Tahoe belonged to Criswell.

St. Tammany Parish Coroner Peter Galvan, M.D. said both men died from gunshot wounds to the head. He said the wounds were inflicted “execution-style.”

Strain said his detectives, following leads developed from the identity of the victims, were able to identify several potential suspects from Hancock County, Miss. The evidence also showed the two men were shot in Kiln, Miss., and the Tahoe driven outside to the subdivision. Further investigation eventually pointed to Schilling and Falgout.

According to a release from St. Charles, Schilling was charged with murder in addition to being a fugitive from Hancock County. Falgout was charged with accessory after the fact to murder since, according to Strain, she did not take part in the actual shooting but tried to cover up for the crime. Falgout was also charged as a fugitive from Hancock County.

Yoes said the case has been transferred over to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, and the two suspects are being held at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Hahnville while they wait to be extradited to Mississippi.

Strain said Schilling brought the victims to Abita Springs because he knew the area after several visits to his grandfather, who lives there. However, Strain said vigilant neighbors “spooked” the suspects before they could complete their crime and dispose of the bodies. The Tahoe was left at the end of a cul-de-sac called Acadia Park Lane.

Neither Strain nor Galvan would say if drugs were a motive or factor in the shootings because it is still an ongoing investigation by a separate law enforcement agency, but Strain did say the two victims lived a “high risk lifestyle.”

Strain said his investigators got a jump on the investigation because of the coroner’s quick work in determining cause of death and identifying the victims. The identification was done in less of a day. Also, evidence from the car showed the shooting had occurred outside St. Tammany Parish. Galvan said the shooting occurred between six and 24 hours before the discovery of the bodies outside Abita Springs. The coroner said the heat made it more difficult to determine the time of the shooting because the bodies were starting to decompose.