Joyce LaDell Strickland was 49 and well known in Gloster, Louisiana, where she worked eight years as a teller at the local Community Bank. Described as a loving wife to her husband Les and a devoted mother to sons Seth and Jacob, she enjoyed spending time outdoors and cherished her faith.

On the morning of August 28, 2023, DeSoto Parish dispatchers received a 911 call at 10:22 a.m. from a man who said he had just shot his mother at a Meadow Drive residence. Deputies arrived to find Joyce Strickland on the floor with a single gunshot wound to the back of her head; she was pronounced dead at the scene. The caller, identified as her 24-year-old son Seth Strickland, was taken into custody without incident and booked on a charge of second-degree murder.

The small community has been left reeling by the loss of a woman remembered for her warmth and generosity. Does anyone from Gloster or Meadow Drive have information about Joyce, her family, or what led to that morning’s violence?