Grand Isle Cold Case Solved 35 Years Later
After nearly 40 years an unsolved cold case out of Grand Isle, La has been solved.
In 1984 Lester Rome, who was 58 years old at the time, was reported missing. It was a case that has had people in South Louisiana confused for many years since there weren’t too many details to the case.
Two years after Rome was reported missing, police found the remains of an unidentified person in a well. Unfortunately, not enough of the remains were recovered from the well for authorities to make an ID, so the case went cold.
It wasn’t until 2013 when LSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services Laboratory was able to make a possible connection between the remains found in the well and Lester Rome’s disappearance. In 2013 authorities were able to make a discovery that led them to believe that the remains found in the well might be those of Lester Rome. They were able to tell that the remains had shotgun pellets in the pelvis area. This information matched a description of Rome since it had been reported that he had been shot in the abdomen area several years before he went missing.
However, the cases went cold again until 2021. In February of this year the current owner of the land where the well sits let detectives come on his property to conduct another search. There was nothing new uncovered in February's search but during a search in April, the Central Sabine Fire Department was able to use their confined space entry team and came across some interesting things. The team was able to uncover some more bones which went back to the lab for DNA analysis.
On Monday of this week, the cases were officially linked. It was confirmed that the bones found in the well in 1986 were that of missing Lester Rome.
While authorities don’t know who is responsible for Rome’s death they are still investigating the case and hope to be able to bring even more closure to the family.