Taj Laurent Sr., a 51-year-old Black man from Marrero, Louisiana, was a loving husband, father, and grandfather known by friends as a "kind and humble man" and a "Gentle Giant." He had been married to his wife, JoAnn Nelson-Laurent, for 26 years, and together they had built a family that was tragically fractured by an act of violence on Christmas night.
The holiday took a dark turn on December 25, 2023, when Laurent's daughter called her parents for help.
She had just returned to the Harvey apartment she shared with her boyfriend of three years, Talvis Keller, after visiting relatives. Upon her arrival around 10 p.m., she discovered Keller in bed with another woman. When he refused to leave the apartment, she called her family for assistance.
Laurent and his wife went to the apartment on Manhattan Boulevard to de-escalate the domestic dispute and persuade Keller to leave peacefully. An argument followed, during which Keller armed himself with a semiautomatic pistol. While Laurent and his wife were trying to calm the situation, Keller shot the unarmed Laurent once in the face, killing him. His wife’s first 911 call asking for deputies to defuse the argument was made just four minutes before her second, desperate call to report that her husband had been shot.
Keller fled the scene, sparking a manhunt. About 22 hours later, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives located him at the Oasis Motel in Gretna, where they discovered him hiding inside a suitcase. He was arrested and initially charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. Two other people in the motel room with him, Veranda Charles and Ketrone Robinson, were also taken into custody and charged with accessory after the fact.
On the day his murder trial was set to begin in August 2024, Talvis Keller, then 26, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and to obstruction of justice. The plea was supported by Laurent’s family, who delivered emotional victim impact statements in court. Laurent’s daughter told the court her heart was broken, and his widow, while expressing her profound grief, also offered a measure of forgiveness. A judge sentenced Keller to 35 years in prison.
In October 2024, Veranda Charles and Ketrone Robinson, both 24, also pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. They were each sentenced to three years of active probation, bringing the legal proceedings in the case to a close.
