Arrest Brings Hope For Dead Woman’s Relatives

HOUMA, La. (AP) — Loved ones of a woman whose body was found more than 30 years ago in Terrebonne Parish say they are pleased that authorities have at last made an arrest in the killing.

Fifty-four-year-old Ricky Dane Brown was arrested and jailed in Cullman County, Ala., booked with murder in the drowning death of 22-year-old Edith McElroy West.

The suspect and the victim both were from Alabama and authorities said they were among a group of motorcyclists visiting the Houma area in 1980.

Relatives of the dead woman told The Courier newspaper of Houma that they hope Brown's trial will answer painful questions that have lingered for three decades. Edith West's body was found Sept. 27, 1980, in a Terrebonne Parish marsh.