In the late hours of a summer evening in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the life of 38-year-old Lori Estelle Tanner, a Caucasian female, was brought to a tragic and violent end. On August 1, 2018, while a passenger in a car driven by her fiancé, she was fatally shot. The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. as they were exiting Interstate 210 onto Lake Street.
Her fiancé, Michael Edwin Vice, 46, was quickly identified as the suspect.
He was arrested and subsequently charged with second-degree murder. Vice initially gave conflicting accounts of the event, at one point claiming Tanner had accidentally shot herself. However, the Calcasieu Parish Coroner's Office determined that the gunshot wound was a contact shot, contradicting his claim. Investigators believe the shooting happened inside the vehicle during an argument.
Vice was held at the Calcasieu Parish jail on a $1,000,000 bond. The investigation into Lori Tanner's death proceeded, culminating in a trial where a jury found Michael Edwin Vice guilty of second-degree murder on September 24, 2021. Following his conviction, he was sentenced in February 2022 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
In an attempt to overturn the verdict, Vice appealed his conviction, arguing that his trial was unfair due to the admission of certain evidence and testimony. However, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal rejected his arguments in May 2023, and his life sentence was upheld, ensuring he will continue to serve his time for the murder of his former fiancée.
