On the evening of October 24, 2020, in Reserve, Louisiana, a call reporting shots fired brought officers to the 400 block of Northwest Second Street. Upon their arrival around 8 p.m., they discovered a vehicle still running, but with no one inside. A search of the immediate area in the darkness offered no clues as to the driver's whereabouts. The unsettling mystery of the empty car lingered through the night.
The following morning, the grim discovery of Nicholas Paylor's body brought a
tragic end to the search. The 21-year-old male from Hester was found in a ditch approximately six feet deep, located about 40 to 50 yards from where his vehicle had been found the previous night. It was determined that Paylor had been shot and killed, marking the beginning of a homicide investigation.
The investigation into Paylor's death led authorities to a suspect, 21-year-old Kejuan Brown of LaPlace. Detectives identified Brown as the alleged shooter and secured a judicial warrant for his arrest. With the assistance of the Orange Texas Police Department, Brown was apprehended in Texas on November 29, 2020. He was subsequently transported to the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility on December 3, 2020, where he was booked with second-degree murder. At the time of his arrest, a motive for the shooting was not known.
