On the evening of January 6, 2024, 27-year-old Cayla Kelley was found in the street in the 2700 block of Washington Avenue in New Orleans’ Central City, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Her death was ruled a homicide and the New Orleans Police Department opened a criminal investigation.

Detectives detained a couple at the scene after their account conflicted with investigators’ findings. Surveillance footage placed a man identified as 31-year-old Earl Simmons at the location with Kelley, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Ballistics testing later showed the same weapon that killed Kelley was used hours later in the fatal shooting of Eddie Matthews, linking the two cases.

On January 18, 2024, members of the NOPD Violent Offender Warrant Squad and the U.S. Marshals arrested Simmons; he was booked on two counts of second-degree murder. Does anyone have information about Cayla’s final hours or knew her connection to the other victim?