On the morning of January 9, 2017, plant workers in Hahnville found the body of 28-year-old Ryan Joseph Dubuc of Metairie. Dubuc, an electrician en route to work, had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. He had no identification on him when discovered and was identified only after a brief period.

Detectives reconstructed Dubuc’s last known movements: he left his Metairie home about 5:30 a.m. and stopped at a Birdie’s Food and Fuel in Luling to withdraw $80 from an ATM. Surveillance showed 31-year-old Jerel Anthony Smith of Luling approach Dubuc and get into his truck; the two then drove off together. Dubuc’s truck was later recovered abandoned in a sugarcane field. Smith was arrested two days after the body was found and charged with murder and related offenses. What led to that encounter at the gas station and what witnesses may have seen there remain central questions for anyone with information.