Eleuterio Zaldivar, a 27-year-old man, was killed on March 23, 2015, in New Orleans after what began as an ordinary afternoon of helping friends with a car. He was outside with David Mejia and David’s son, Nelson, working on Nelson’s vehicle when a stranger, later identified as Elton Williams, wandered up and asked for a cigarette. Nelson handed one over. Williams drifted away, only to circle back minutes later with a gun, turning the small talk into a robbery on the spot.
With the weapon pressed in close, Williams demanded money. Wallets and cash were surrendered, but the situation kept tightening—according to testimony later presented in court, Williams inspected what he’d taken and demanded more. As voices rose and bodies shifted positions around the vehicle, a shot rang out. In the scramble, Nelson tried to take the gun away, and the confrontation spilled into a prolonged, violent struggle that lasted long enough to feel unreal—nearly twenty minutes by Nelson’s account—until David and Nelson managed to overpower Williams and get control of the firearm.
When Nelson moved the gun to the back of David’s truck and called 911, David kept Williams pinned in the backyard. It didn’t end cleanly. In the continued grappling, Williams bit off part of David’s ear and spit it out—an act that later supported a second-degree battery charge. Out front, Zaldivar lay shot and dying. An autopsy later described a gunshot wound to the chest with the bullet recovered during the examination, and the forensic pathologist testified he likely survived only minutes after being hit.
Police responding to the call arrived at the 7600 block of Alabama Street and found Zaldivar facedown and unresponsive on the sidewalk. Officers encountered Williams still being held by David and Nelson nearby and took him into custody. Investigators collected the gun—loaded when recovered—and pursued forensic testing, including DNA work tied to the firearm and a gunshot-residue field test that later became a contested issue in court through a Daubert hearing. Detectives also obtained warrants, conducted interviews, and used photo confirmations signed by David and Nelson identifying Williams.
Williams was prosecuted as the primary suspect and ultimately convicted of two counts of armed robbery, second-degree murder, and second-degree battery. He received a life sentence for the murder count and additional prison terms for the other convictions; he was also adjudicated a second offender, affecting sentencing on the robbery counts. On appeal, the convictions were upheld, and the sentences for murder and battery were affirmed, while the armed-robbery sentences were vacated and the case remanded for resentencing to address a statutory sentencing requirement.
