0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Two suspects were arrested late Thursday in connection to the brutal stabbing death of 23-year-old Marine Corps sergeant Ryan Lekosky, who was killed in the French Quarter following a fight with a man who made derogatory comments about Lekosky's wife.Melvin Clay, 37, and Heliana Amrine, 21, were arrested shortly after 9 p.m. at the intersection of Dauphine Street and Bienville street, just one block from the scene of the killing, said New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman officer Shereese Harper.Clay was booked with second-dattregree murder and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Amrine, his girlfriend, was booked with accessory after the fact and was slapped with a $300,000 bond, according to sheriff's office records. Police allege that Amrine had knowledge of the stabbing and aided Clay in his attempts to evade arrest.Leads on the case had been few and far between, but "gumshoe police work" by a pair of NOPD detectives led to the arrest, Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Friday.The chief noted that the suspects do not live in Louisiana and that there had been little information to go on beyond a description of Clay and the vehicle he was last seen driving from the scene.A pair of detectives spotted the vehicle on Canal Street Thursday and followed up with some interviews, which lead to arrest warrants, Serpas said.In a bit of serendipity, eagle-eyed local FBI chief David Welker spotted the same vehicle Thursday and made a call to his own agents. They too were on the trail that night and bumped into NOPD agents investigating the matter, Serpas said.The murder dates back to Oct. 31. After leaving the Marine Corps Ball with his wife around 3:30 a.m., Lekosky was stabbed several times when he allegedly got into an altercation with Clay, who police say was yelling inappropriate comments from his vehicle at Lekosky's wife Kristen.When Clay exited his vehicle and began physically and verbally fighting with Kristen Lekosky, her husband intervened, at which point he was stabbed. Ryan Lekosky later died at the hospital.