A team of law enforcement say they've solved the cold case slaying of Erica Hunt.
The team included the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations, the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Opelousas Police Department.
The investigation began back in July 2016 when Opelousas Police opened a missing persons case on Hunt. More than two years later, skeletal remains were found in Evangline Parish and later identified as belonging to Hunt - with the help of the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab, LSU Faces Lab, and the DNA Doe Project.
Over the past 8 years, detectives continued to investigate this case. On November 21, 2024, detectives with state police detectives interviewed 33-year-old Jordan Jamal Barnes of Opelousas. During the interview, Barnes allegedly confessed to killing Erica Hunt. He's now been booked with second-degree murder.
Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact St. Landry Crime Stoppers by calling 948-8477 (TIPS), visiting stlandrycrimestoppers.com, or leaving a WEBTIP via Facebook. Tips can also be submitted by texting TIPS625 followed by the tip to CRIMES (274637). Additionally, the Louisiana State Police offers a secure online reporting system for submitting tips by visiting www.lsp.org [lsp.org] and clicking the Suspicious Activity link.
