Dametri Joseph Romero was 19 when he was reported missing in the autumn of 2017 and was later found dead in a sugarcane field in rural St. Martin Parish. Authorities determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound, and investigators treated the case as a homicide.

The investigation led to Jalen Dondre Dupree after he was detained as a passenger during a traffic stop; police connected him to Romero’s killing and to the taking of Romero’s vehicle. Prosecutors said the shooting occurred during a drug-related robbery and that Romero’s body was dumped in the field after the murder.

In April 2019 a jury convicted Dupree of second-degree murder and imposed a mandatory life sentence without parole. An appeal of the conviction was later denied. Did anyone in St. Martinville know Romero’s routine, friends, or where he spent time in 2017?