In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 17, 2019, a grim discovery was made on Interstate 10 in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Twenty-six-year-old Lester Borne Jr., a male resident of Reserve, was found deceased in a vehicle that had reportedly been involved in a crash. The initial call to authorities around 3:30 a.m. was for a vehicle crash, but upon arrival, investigators found the car riddled with bullet holes, revealing a much more violent scene.
Lester Borne Jr.
was the sole fatality in the incident, having succumbed to at least one gunshot wound. Two other individuals who were also in the vehicle at the time of the shooting sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to a local hospital for treatment. The St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office took charge of the investigation, which they quickly classified as a homicide.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, investigators appealed to the public for information. They specifically mentioned that the incident may have been connected to a hit-and-run and that they were looking for a white-colored vehicle that may have been involved in a collision with Borne's car. The westbound lanes of I-10 were closed for several hours as detectives processed the scene for evidence.
Despite the initial leads and public appeals for information, the investigation into the death of Lester Borne Jr. has seemingly stalled, with no publicly announced arrests or naming of suspects in the years following the incident. The case remains an open and unresolved homicide, leaving a void of answers for his family and community. While other homicides in the broader Laplace and St. Charles Parish area have seen developments, the individuals responsible for the shooting death of Lester Borne Jr. have not been brought to justice, and the circumstances surrounding his violent end remain a mystery.
