A Franklinton murder case that has puzzled investigators for more than seven years will soon be getting a fresh look.
Donna Arceneaux, 40, was killed in her Highway 16 home immediately south of Franklinton in October of 2017. Because the death occurred just outside of the Franklinton city limits, the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office was the responding law enforcement agency.
But the WPSO investigation didn’t solve the case and at one point in early 2018 a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office told The Era-Leader that Arceneaux apparently died of suicide.
However, once the official autopsy was finished it showed the cause of death as homicide --- a death caused by another person.
In 2019 Arceneaux’s family, concerned because no visible progress was being made, requested that the Louisiana State Police take over the case. Randy Seal, then the sheriff, agreed, and a state police investigator was assigned to the case.
But that apparently didn’t go anywhere either, and now the Arceneaux case is coming back full circle to the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office, at the request of the current sheriff, Jason Smith. Smith was elected in November of 2023, defeating Randy Seal.
In addition to the investigation swinging back and forth from the Sheriff’s Office to the State Police and now back to the Sheriff’s Office, the case has also been the subject of a hard-hitting podcast. Tucker Simmons, a Franklinton native who is a nephew of Donna Arceneaux, organized the podcast and he feels like its reception in the parish has definitely helped to keep the mystery of her death a topical subject in Washington Parish.
Simmons also placed a large banner on the side of a building across from the courthouse, and he says the banner has generated some valuable tips from area citizens.
Whether a homicide that occurred more than seven years ago can now be solved remains to be seen, but Sheriff Smith said his department is going to try its best.
He said WPSO will make a very strong effort to achieve justice in the case.
“It’s in my best interest as sheriff to do what we can to make the citizens of Washington Parish as comfortable as they can, that what they're being provided with in terms of security and law enforcement is the best in the state,” said Sheriff Smith.
