Couple charged with killing New Orleans stripper

GRETNA, La., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A couple have been charged with stabbing a New Orleans dancer and cutting up her body after inviting her to perform at a private party.

An indictment handed up Thursday in Jefferson Parish charged Margaret Sanchez, 30, and Terry Speaks, 41, with second-degree murder. Sanchez is currently being held in Jefferson Parish in lieu of $1.5 million bail, while Speaks is in a federal prison in New York.

Their alleged victim, Jaren Lockhart, 22, was a stripper at Temptations Gentlemen's Club in the French Quarter. On June 6, 2012, Lockhart, who had a child, told other employees she was going "to make rent."

At a news conference Thursday, Kenner police said investigators believe Sanchez and Speakes lured Lockhart to their apartment near Louis Armstrong International Airport and stabbed her in the chest. They allegedly dumped her body parts off the Bay St. Louis Bridge.

Parts of the body washed up but her tattooed forearms were missing.

The evidence includes testimony from inmates in New York who said Speaks talked to them about the killing.