On the afternoon of April 26, 2023, Amaya Jacobs, a 35-year-old woman, was driving her red SUV in Shreveport, Louisiana, just a block from her home. As she neared the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Morningside Drive in the Caddo Heights neighborhood, she was shot multiple times. Other drivers came upon her vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, the car still in drive. One witness noticed bullet holes in the driver-side window and called the police.
When first responders arrived just after 12:15 p.m., they found Ms. Jacobs inside her vehicle. She was pronounced deceased at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds to the face. Her death was the 26th homicide in Shreveport and Caddo Parish that year.
Investigators determined that a .22-caliber AR-style rifle had been used in the attack, with 13 rounds fired at Ms. Jacobs. While the crime was initially investigated as an apparent attempted carjacking, the investigation quickly focused on a suspect who knew the victim. Surveillance video captured a man, later identified as 19-year-old Edduin Silva, pacing in front of his home with a rifle moments before the shooting.
Less than a week later, on May 3, 2023, law enforcement located Silva. He attempted to flee but was apprehended and taken into custody. During the investigation, Silva admitted to police that he had shot Ms. Jacobs, whom prosecutors described as his acquaintance. He was charged with second-degree murder and resisting an officer with force or violence. In July 2023, a Caddo Parish Grand Jury returned a true bill, formally indicting Silva on both charges.
Three years later, the case went to trial in Caddo Parish District Court. On July 8, 2026, after hearing testimony from police, crime scene investigators, and experts, a jury of six men and six women deliberated for less than 15 minutes before finding Edduin Silva, then 22, guilty of second-degree murder.
On July 27, 2026, District Judge Chris Victory handed down the state-mandated sentence for the conviction. Edduin Silva was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The case was officially closed as of his sentencing in July 2026.
