In the late evening of February 23, 2013, a night out at a bar in Houma, Louisiana, took a tragic turn for 22-year-old Sergio Raul Lopez Castellanos. A native of Chiapas, Mexico, and a resident of Golden Meadow, Castellanos was a young man whose life was abruptly cut short in a scheme allegedly born of greed and opportunity. Three individuals, Brandy Perdue, then 18, her boyfriend Troy Jackson, and Ciegie Cheramie, a Mississippi resident, encountered Castellanos at the bar and, under the guise
of camaraderie, persuaded him to join them in Cheramie's truck. Their actual intent, according to authorities, was far more sinister: to rob him.
The journey from the Houma bar would be Castellanos's last. At some point during the drive towards Jackson's home in Gibson, the situation escalated dramatically. Inside the confines of the truck, Troy Jackson allegedly brandished a firearm and shot Castellanos, inflicting the fatal wound. The trio's alleged plan to rob their unsuspecting acquaintance had escalated to murder. The following morning, the grim reality of the night's events began to surface when law enforcement received a chilling tip about a woman in east Houma with a deceased person in her vehicle.
That woman was identified as Ciegie Cheramie. By the time authorities located her, however, the body of Sergio Castellanos was no longer in the truck. Investigators discovered his remains on Bayou Sale Road, a desolate location that served as the final, lonely resting place for the young victim. His identity was later confirmed through his fingerprints. The subsequent investigation moved swiftly. Cheramie was taken into custody, and with the assistance of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office, law enforcement located Troy Jackson and Brandy Perdue at a residence in Destrehan. Following questioning by Terrebonne Parish investigators, both were arrested.
The three suspects were subsequently charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, and obstruction of justice for their alleged roles in the death of Sergio Castellanos. For his part in the crime, Troy Michael Jackson, Jr. faced a jury and was found guilty of first-degree murder. He was also convicted of obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The court handed down a sentence of life in prison at hard labor, without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for the murder charge. He also received concurrent sentences of five years for obstruction of justice and twenty-five years for the firearm possession charge. The legal outcomes for Brandy Perdue and Ciegie Cheramie remain less publicly documented.
