Arrest made in Mountain Grove for 1986 cold case murder

A Mountain Grove man was among two suspects arrested recently in a cold case murder that took place in August of 1986 in the state of Louisiana.
Russell Lee, 60, was arrested on July 9 by the Mountain Grove Police Department without incident and has since been charged with second degree murder and obstruction of justice involving the murder of 22-year-old Paula Boudreaux.
Judith Weiser, (no age provided), from Tennessee, was taken into custody one day after Lee. Both will be transported and booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex with bail being set at $1.1 million.
(The following includes information from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s web page:)
Boudreaux was last seen at her parents’ Golden Meadow home on Aug. 3, 1986.
On Aug. 6, her family reported her missing to the Golden Meadow Police Department. In January 1989, skeletal remains were found in Slidell, La., which could not be properly identified at the time.
In 2022, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office submitted details to the LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory to try to help in identifying the remains.
After rendering a possible image of the person’s face, an anonymous tipster submitted Boudreaux’s name in an attempt to identify the remains.
In coordination, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators then collected DNA evidence from one of Boudreaux’s surviving relatives which was then submitted for analysis.
In January 2023, the St. Tammany Coroner’s Office identified the remains as Boudreaux.
From that point, detectives re-opened the old case to attempt to pick up the investigation.
They followed up with surviving friends and family members and those with knowledge about Boudreaux’s disappearance and they reviewed all case notes from previous investigators.
Lee and Weiser were immediately developed as persons of interest as detectives learned Lee was in relationships with both Boudreaux and Weiser at the time of Boudreaux’s murder.
Investigators found Lee had amassed a violent criminal history since 1986, including aggravated charges of kidnapping, assault, battery, burglary and arson among many others.
They also found statements and evidence implicating both in the incident. Investigators concluded that Lee and Weiser allegedly killed Boudreaux, dismembered her body and dumped the remains in Slidell, La.
It is uncertain as to how long Lee resided in Mountain Grove before being arrested on Tuesday, July 9.