Crime[edit]

On November 4, 1977, 17-year-old David LeBlanc and his 18-year-old girlfriend Loretta Ann Bourque attended the Homecoming football game at Catholic High School in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. After the game, the couple drove to an isolated area in St. Martin Parish, a type of lovers' lane. At around 1 a.m., the couple were approached by two men, 27-year-old Elmo Patrick "Pat" Sonnier and his younger brother, 20-year-old Eddie James Sonnier. The brothers had been in the area hunting rabbits and were armed with 22-caliber rifles.


The Sonniers identified themselves as police officers and presented a badge that one of the brothers had acquired while working as a security guard. The brothers entered LeBlanc's car. They told the couple that they were trespassing on private property and were under arrest. The brothers took LeBlanc's and Bourque's driver's licenses, handcuffed the couple, and moved them to the back seat. They then told the couple that they were going to drive them to the home of the land's owner to see if the owner wished to press trespassing charges.


The Sonniers drove the couple to an oilfield in Iberia Parish and parked by the road. They handcuffed LeBlanc to a tree in a nearby wooded area. They took Bourque from the car and Elmo raped her. The brothers told her they would release both her and LeBlanc unharmed if she had sex with Eddie James Sonnier. Bourque agreed. Afterward, the brothers took the couple back to the car and removed their handcuffs. Elmo Sonnier decided against releasing them, as he feared the couple would report the incident and he would be reincarcerated at Angola. The brothers forced the couple to lie face down in a ditch and fatally shot them several times.


The brothers returned LeBlanc's car to St. Martin Parish. When they reached Elmo's 1961 Dodge Dart, they discovered they had a flat tire. They used a jack from LeBlanc's car to change their tire. The jack was later found in Elmo Sonnier's car. The following day, the brothers disposed of LeBlanc's and Bourque's driver's licenses and buried the weapons they used in the killings.

Sister Helen Prejean was asked to write to death row inmates as part of her Order's community outreach program and wrote to Sonnier. She became his spiritual adviser and eventually wrote Dead Man Walking (1993) about her experience and her belief that the death penalty was morally wrong.

Arrests[edit]

The Sonnier brothers were arrested on December 5, 1977. Elmo voluntarily confessed to police that he abducted LeBlanc and Bourque, raped Bourque, and killed both. He made a second statement admitting his guilt while being transported to jail, and a third confession the following day. Police searched his home, where they found handcuffs in his bedroom that had been used to restrain LeBlanc and Bourque. They also found LeBlanc's car jack in Elmo's car. Later they discovered the buried guns that had been used in the murders. A bullet from one of the victims matched the guns, which belonged to the Sonnier brothers; another match was made from casings found at the crime scene. Police located a witness who saw Elmo Sonnier's car in St. Martin Parish.


Both brothers were indicted on two counts of first degree murder. Elmo Sonnier entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.