Keyiona Chenevert was 18 when she was found unresponsive in her Bayou Vista apartment on Three B’s Lane on January 21, 2013. St. Mary Parish deputies responded to a 911 call that afternoon; investigators determined she had died of a single gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Investigators identified a suspect and arrested 18-year-old Marcus Jay Hamilton in March 2013 on a warrant for second-degree murder. A grand jury indicted Hamilton in May 2013. At trial, the jury heard that Hamilton had borrowed the gun from a cousin, removed shell casings from the scene, and deleted conversation records; his defense argued the shooting was accidental. After nearly three hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty in May 2016, and he was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor without the possibility of parole.

Did anyone in the Bayou Vista or Patterson community have information about Keyiona’s life or the events leading up to that January day?