In the spring of 2015, a tragedy unfolded in the small town of Urania, Louisiana, leaving the community in shock. Nineteen-year-old Christina Kylie King Duncan, a young woman from Urania, was found deceased on April 22, 2015. Her body was discovered under a bridge on U.S. Highway 84, at the border of Winn and LaSalle parishes. At the time of her death, Christina was pregnant with a daughter she had named Lanie Ray-Anne.
The investigation into Christina's death began after her truck was
found abandoned on a piece of property she and her husband owned, adjacent to the home of 76-year-old Irma Cotton. Christina had an appointment to meet a building inspector at the property, but she never arrived. The inspector, unable to locate her, contacted her family. Her personal belongings were found inside her truck, raising immediate concern. The situation grew more grim when deputies, alerted by Cotton's family, discovered her body inside her home. Both women had been shot.
The LaSalle Parish Sheriff's Office launched a thorough investigation into the double homicide. Their efforts quickly led them to a suspect, 37-year-old Randy Eugene Waits, also from Urania. Investigators were able to connect Waits to both crime scenes through a combination of eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence. Within a day of the discovery of Christina's body, Waits was taken into custody and subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Christina Duncan and Irma Cotton.
