Jerry Dwight Laymon, a 27-year-old geophysicist who moved from Los Angeles to the New Orleans area in April 1971 for Mobile Oil and was taking Tulane classes, was last seen on campus and reported missing on November 16, 1971. His body was found on November 24, 1971, lying face down beside a swamp about 300 yards north of Airline Highway Road in Reserve, St. John the Baptist Parish. He had two .22 caliber gunshot wounds to the head and was found clutching clumps of grass, a detail that indicates a struggle and that he was alive when left at the scene. His wallet still held identification and credit cards but the cash he was believed to have been carrying was missing, and his Mustang was gone; the car was later recovered abandoned in a Houston grocery store parking lot and impounded the day investigators believe he was killed.

The investigation was hindered by the forensic limitations of the 1970s, and later efforts were complicated when original case files from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office and the FBI in Louisiana were reported missing. No suspects have been publicly named and no arrests have been announced; the homicide remains unsolved. If anyone knew Jerry, his movements in November 1971, or has information about the Mustang or the location where his body was found, please share what is known.