In a quiet home in Prairieville, Louisiana, a Sunday evening took a grim and sudden turn, leaving one man dead and another facing a lifetime of consequences. On March 11, 2018, Frederick Wayne Patterson, a 36-year-old man, was shot and killed. The events of that evening unfolded at a residence on Braud Road, where a gathering of individuals would be forever altered by an act of violence.
Earlier in the evening, the atmosphere was seemingly calm as Cedric Emerson and another individual
were engaged in a game of chess. For reasons that remain shrouded in the quiet moments of that house, Emerson abruptly left the game, only to return armed with a shotgun. A single, deafening blast shattered the peace, and Frederick Patterson was struck by a fatal gunshot wound to his neck. The homeowner, who was in another part of the house at the time, was startled by the loud noise and went to investigate. To their horror, they discovered Patterson lying motionless in a pool of blood.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a sense of chaos and fear descended. While deputies from the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office were en route to the scene of the shooting, they were simultaneously alerted to a man screaming for help in a nearby field. That man was identified as Cedric Emerson. He was detained and taken to a local hospital for evaluation. The investigation into Patterson’s death quickly pointed to Emerson as the primary suspect. After being released from medical care, he was transported to the sheriff’s office for questioning, where he confessed to the killing.
Cedric Emerson, who was 35 years old at the time, was subsequently arrested and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail. Initially, an Ascension Parish Grand Jury returned a true bill of indictment on a charge of second-degree murder. However, the legal proceedings ultimately led to a plea agreement. On August 10, 2022, Emerson, then 39, pleaded guilty to the amended charge of manslaughter. Following a pre-sentence investigation, he was sentenced to 40 years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections.
