A Lafayette man was convicted of murder last week for the stabbing death of Leo Jack.
Jack's body was found inside an apartment in the 700 block of South College Road. Cody Salvador Guccione, 29, was indicted about a month after the February 2021 slaying.
According to a release from the District Attorney's Office, the jury heard evidence and testimony from Lafayette police officers and detectives that Jack was at home in his apartment just before 6:00 pm that evening when Guccione knocked on his door. The two had been friends for approximately three years, but when Jack opened his door and let Guccione inside, testimony and evidence showed that Guccione attacked Jack and stabbed him multiple times, then dragged him into a closet in a back bedroom and attempted to clean the bloody floor.
Testimony and other evidence showed that Guccione then changed into clothes from the victim’s closet and left the apartment carrying a trash can. A neighbor who lived above Jack’s apartment testified that he heard a violent fight taking place in the apartment below him, and he was able to fix the time of the attack at 5:48 pm.
Lafayette Police Detective James Gayle testified that he and his fellow detectives were able to obtain surveillance footage of Guccione arriving at the apartment complex at 5:48 pm, and leaving that apartment wearing clothes of the victim, including a pair of very distinctive shoes owned by the victim.
Lafayette Police Detective Devin Touchet submitted search warrants and obtained video footage from the victim’s doorbell camera, showing Guccione arriving at Jack’s apartment and leaving. Additional video showed that Guccione returned to the apartment a few hours later and ripped the doorbell camera from the doorframe.
Guccione was arrested five days after the murder by U.S. Marshalls at a Lafayette hotel, and his vehicle was found abandoned in a wooded area near Laujanie Road. Cellular telephone records of the victim and Guccione were mapped by Capt. Sonny Stutes, an expert in cell phone records analysis and mapping, who testified and provided additional evidence of Guccione’s presence at the scene at the time of the murder.
A forensic pathologist testified that Jack died from sharp force injuries to the head, neck and body, and he told the jury he identified thirteen separate stab wounds during his autopsy.
Felony assistant DA Andi Lex prosecuted the case with fellow assistant DAs Alan Haney and Frederick Welter.
Sentencing will take place on March 11, 2035 by district judge Michele Billeaud, who presided over the trial. Guccione faces a mandatory sentence of life at hard labor.
