NEW ORLEANS, May 14 (UPI) -- New Orleans police say an elderly pastor and his wife may have been killed by an individual seeking a key witness in an upcoming robbery and kidnapping trial.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Wednesday Olander Cassimere Sr. and his wife, Alphathada, could have been the victims of a gunman seeking a relative of theirs, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune said.
An unidentified 28-year-old relative of the elderly couple is scheduled to testify in an armed robbery and kidnapping trial next Thursday. The relative is expected to testify he was robbed and carjacked in May 2008.
Riley said the individual behind last weekend's killing of Cassimere and his wife may be the same individual who broke into a property in Slidell, La., in search of the witness.
"So this (intruder) was determined to locate this young man. And the Reverend Cassimere and his wife were the unfortunate victims of this hideous and horrific individual who had absolutely no reason to kill those two people," Riley told The Times-Picayune.
"We have some promising leads; we hope to wrap it up soon," the police chief added.
