By LEONARD GRAY-Staff Reporter

DES ALLEMANDS – A 38-year-old woman was discovered dead Saturday morning by a passing motorist in Des Allemands. An autopsy determined she had been beaten to death.

This marks the second homicide in 2003, according to Maj. Sam Zinna, Chief of Detectives for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Zinna said Vickie B. Toups was found lying in a shallow ditch along Louisiana Highway 635, a quarter-mile road connecting U.S. Highway 90 and Old Spanish Trail.

Zinna said the motorist found the body at 7:30 a.m. and said it appeared she had been killed elsewhere and dumped at that location. He added the location is such she would not have been overlooked for any length of time.

Public records indicated she at one time lived on Old Spanish Trail in Des Allemands, not far from where she was discovered, but Zinna added she “had no fixed abode” and lived more a hand-to-mouth existence. Her four children had already been placed with relatives elsewhere.

Zinna said that Toups’ remains were discovered by a woman driving north on Highway 635. The autopsy was performed by the Jefferson Parish Forensic Center in Marrero, which determined she had been beaten to death elsewhere and dumped at the scene where she was discovered.

Zinna noted that information is only coming in “peacemeal” and may not be easily solved.

Anyone with information to contribute to the investigation is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (985) 783-6807 or CrimeStoppers at (504) 822-1111.