Murder in the Bayou: Evil in Cajun Country

Summary

Cold Case Files: Murder in the Bayou – Evil in Cajun Country

Host: Paula Barros
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Duration: Approximately 38 minutes

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1. Introduction and Case Overview

Cold Case Files, hosted by Paula Barros, delves into one of the most perplexing unsolved murders in Cajun country—the tragic case of Courtney Coco. This episode explores the intricate investigation that spans over 15 years, highlighting the relentless pursuit of justice by Courtney's family and dedicated investigators.

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2. Discovery of Courtney Coco's Body

On the morning of October 4, 2004, in the small farming community of Winnie, Texas, a farmer stumbled upon an abandoned building while passing by on his tractor. Inside, he discovered the posed body of a young woman, later identified as 19-year-old Courtney Coco.

• Detective Tanner Dryden's Observation [00:48]: "She was nude from the waist down. It was evident that the body was posed."
• Hugo Holland on the Victim's Identity [02:31]: "It was very clear that this was the body of a petite young white female."

The discovery sent shockwaves through the low-crime community, where everyone knew each other, making the questions of "Who would want to hurt somebody?" pervasive.

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3. Initial Investigation and Evidence Collection

The investigation began with determining whether the murder was a result of a random burglary or something more personal. Key evidence included:

• Courtney's Class Ring [03:23]: A class ring from Alexandria High School with the name "Courtney Coco" was found, confirming the victim's identity.
• Absence of Forced Entry [09:08]: "What we did not find was evidence of forced entry. What that means is that she let the person into the house. It’s somebody she knew."
• Missing Items [09:15]: Courtney's cell phone and Pontiac Bonneville were missing, suggesting a potential robbery motive.

Despite these findings, initial suspects, including Courtney's friends Jackie and Lewis, were ruled out as they provided consistent alibis. Her boyfriend, Jiddy, also presented a solid alibi, leaving investigators with limited leads.

• Detective Dryden on Lack of Motive [11:08]: "At that point, they're out of people that they know were with Courtney the day she was last seen. And they don't have any motive that they know of for Courtney to have been killed."

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4. Family's Struggle and Determination

Courtney's mother, Stephanie Belgard, alongside other family members, grappled with the loss and the slow progress of the investigation. Their determination led them to seek external help to reignite the stalled case.

• Stephanie Belgard on Family's Perseverance [01:12]: "We never stopped. We never stopped looking. We never stopped asking questions. In all those years, we never stopped."
• Stephanie's Commitment [25:14]: "I was still in shock. I was still in denial."

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5. Involvement of Investigative Consultant Woody Overton

Determined to find answers, Stephanie engaged Woody Overton, an investigative consultant with over two decades of law enforcement experience, to assist in reopening the case.

• Woody Overton's Dedication [21:25]: "I said, I'm gonna solve this case or I'm gonna die trying."
• Overton's Approach [21:19]: "We’re going to establish a hotline where people can call in tips."

Overton's methodical approach and willingness to revisit old leads proved instrumental in generating new evidence and uncovering critical information.

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6. Breakthroughs and New Evidence

A significant breakthrough came when Courtney's cell phone usage was traced to an apartment in Houston, leading investigators to a two-week gap between her disappearance and the discovery of her body.

• Cell Phone Tracking [15:28]: "More than 200 miles away from bayou country, someone is using Courtney's cell phone in a place where she has no known connections. Houston, Texas."
• Recovery of the Pontiac Bonneville [16:35]: Courtney's car was found in Houston, containing her DNA, solidifying the connection between the vehicle and her murder.

Despite locating the car, identifying the individuals involved—referred to as "Tree" and "Red"—remained elusive, creating a dead-end in the investigation.

• Forensic Evidence [18:29]: "Technicians compare Courtney's DNA to the blood stains. One is a match."

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7. Public Engagement and Reopening the Case

Overton's efforts to engage the public through a podcast proved pivotal. Listener Tiffany provided crucial information, identifying David Anthony Burns—the fiancé of Courtney's sister, Lace—as the person implicated in the murder.

• Tiffany's Revelation [22:06]: "Tiffany says, 'My ex-husband was the killer’s best friend. Seamus.'"
• Burns' Connection [22:15]: "David Anthony Burns was missing that weekend Courtney had been murdered."

This led to renewed focus on Burns, whose evasive behavior and inconsistent alibis further aroused suspicion.

• Overton's Realization [27:42]: "There's no other possibility, in my professional opinion, than David Anthony Burns murdering Courtney Coco."

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8. The Trial and Conviction

Prosecutor Hugo Holland built a case based on witness testimonies and circumstantial evidence, including Burns' failed computer voice stress analysis test indicating deception.

• Voice Stress Analysis [29:59]: "Anthony failed the voice stress analysis test."
• Jude Wilson's Testimony [31:36]: "Jude... saw Burns... and identified him from a sketch."

Despite the lack of physical evidence directly linking Burns to the murder, the accumulation of testimonies and Burns' own inconsistencies led to his conviction.

• Jury Verdict [36:02]: "The jury comes back with a unanimous verdict of guilty for David Anthony Burns for second-degree murder and the death of Courtney Coco."

Burns was sentenced to life in prison, bringing a semblance of justice to Courtney's family after years of uncertainty.

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9. Aftermath and Reflections

The resolution of Courtney Coco's case brought mixed emotions to her family. While justice was served, questions about the exact circumstances of her death remained unanswered.

• Stephanie Belgard's Reflection [36:25]: "I still don't know how Courtney died. I don't know where Courtney died."
• Family's Quest for Truth [37:05]: "I will one day get Anthony to tell me what he really did to Courtney."

Stephanie's commitment to advocating for other victims underscores the enduring impact of Courtney's life and death.

• Stephanie on Advocacy [38:16]: "I felt a calling to be a victim's advocate... Courtney pushes me forward to keep going."

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10. Conclusion

Murder in the Bayou: Evil in Cajun Country encapsulates the relentless pursuit of truth and justice by Courtney Coco's family and dedicated investigators. It underscores the complexities of solving cold cases and the profound resilience required to seek closure. Paula Barros masterfully narrates this harrowing journey, honoring Courtney's memory and the unwavering hope that drives cold case resolutions.

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Notable Quotes:

• Stephanie Belgard on the Impact of the Murder [12:08]: "I sat next to my dad and I said, 'Daddy, you're my rock. You're my rock and I need you.'"

• Detective Tanner Dryden on Positional Evidence [03:02]: "Who would want to hurt somebody to this point, degrade them to this point? That has to be a sick individual. Who, who, who did this?"

• Woody Overton's Emotional Connection [20:29]: "I still have dreams and nightmares of this case... I keep asking myself, what could you have done different?"

• David Rabelais on the Case's Complexity [36:25]: "I do not think it can be solved. I know it can't be solved without the help of the public."

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Key Takeaways:

• The importance of community involvement and persistence in solving cold cases.
• Advances in forensic technology can provide new avenues for investigation years after the crime.
• The emotional toll on families and investigators underscores the human element behind criminal cases.
• Collaborative efforts between families, consultants, and law enforcement can eventually lead to justice, even in the most challenging circumstances.

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Cold Case Files continues to shed light on unsolved mysteries, providing hope and closure to affected families while highlighting the tireless work of those committed to uncovering the truth.

Transcript

[Marissa Pinson]

Hi, cold case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson, and before we get into this week's episode, I just wanted to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A E classic podcast, I Survived American justice and City Confidential, are all available ad free on the new A E crime and investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just 4.99amonth or 39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Courtney loved family get togethers and she loved having friends.

[Courtney's Family Member]

They all loved Courtney because she had that bubbling personality.

[Stephanie Belgard]

And I got the phone call that changed my life forever.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

She was nude from the waist down. It was evident that the body was posed.

[Hugo Holland]

She let the person into the house. It's somebody she knew.

[Stephanie Belgard]

You think of all these horrible things that go through your mind.

[Woody Overton]

Why holler so far away from home? Especially with all the bayous and canals and stuff in Louisiana where you could throw a body.

[David Rabelais]

I said, I'm gonna solve this case or I'm gonna die trying.

[Courtney's Family Member]

We never stopped. We never stopped looking. We never stopped asking questions. In all those years, we never stopped.

[Marissa Pinson]

There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only about 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.

[Woody Overton]

Winnie, Texas, small farming community. It's all Texas bayou country. Rice, hay, cows, horses. People go into swamps and they hunt alligators and they duck hunt. Everybody knows everybody, so you better not do nothing wrong. Our crime rate is low. Most of it is a burglary or farm equipment stolen. You get a murder once in a while.

[Marissa Pinson]

October 4, 2004, was a hot morning in Winnie, just north of town. A farmer on his tractor passes an abandoned building. He spies a body in the shadows and calls the police. Retired detective David Rabelais responds to the call.

[Woody Overton]

I knew exactly where it was. It was about 150 yards down the street from my house. The first thing went through my mind is, whose child is it? Is it one of my neighbor's kids? I had no idea. It could be somebody from out of state or out of town.

[Marissa Pinson]

Hugo Holland is a special prosecutor.

[Hugo Holland]

It was very clear that this was a body of a petite young white female. It was also very clear that she had been dead for some period of time because there was significant decomposition to the body.

[Marissa Pinson]

Glenn Younger is a sergeant with the Louisiana State Police.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

She was lying on her back and her heels pulled up to her body so that her knees were up. She was nude from the waist down. It was Evident that the body was posed.

[Woody Overton]

Who would want to hurt somebody to this point, Degrade them to this point? That has to be a sick individual. Who, who, who did this?

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

There were some tire tracks that led up to where a car would logically be positioned to remove a body from the trunk.

[Woody Overton]

You're a quarter of a mile from Interstate 10. I figured it had to be somebody who traveled that road pretty frequently, who knew that place was there. If she was sexually assaulted wherever it happened or wherever she was murdered, she wasn't killed there. We were looking for any other kind of identifiers, any other way to identify the victim. And I noticed a class ring from Alexandria High School in Alexandria, Louisiana, about three and a half hours away. There was a name printed on the inside of it. Courtney Coco. I stepped outside the building and I called Alexandria Police Department in Louisiana.

[Marissa Pinson]

Courtney Coco is a 19 year old receptionist born and raised in Alexandria. Stephanie Belgard is Courtney's mother.

[Stephanie Belgard]

It's a little small town. It's a mix of a lot of country folks, but a little bit of Cajun from down south. It was an awesome place to raise my girls.

[Marissa Pinson]

Courtney has a house near the Red River, a short drive from her mother's.

[Stephanie Belgard]

My mom and dad had a camp at Saline Bayou. It was on a Friday, 3:30 in the afternoon. Courtney came to my house and I asked Courtney if she wanted to go with us to the camp. She said, no, mom, I'm not the country girl. And I gave Courtney $10 for gas. She was going to come back and forth and feed my two little dogs. So we got home from the camp late Sunday night and I noticed that my little dogs didn't have like their food. But I really wasn't concerned too much about it because I just thought maybe Courtney had come earlier that day. And Monday, around lunchtime, October 4th of 2004, the detective from the Alexander Police Department called me and asked me if Courtney was there. I said, Courtney doesn't live here, but this is her mom. Is something wrong? And he said, possibly. That's when I got the news of them finding a body in Texas with my daughter's ring on the finger.

[Marissa Pinson]

Alexandria police asked the family for a way to identify the victim as Courtney.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I had told them that Courtney had braces on her teeth and that she had just got a new butterfly tattoo on her low back. I didn't want it to be someone else's child, but I surely didn't want it to be Courtney. And I just remember the phone ringing and my sister saying it is. And My mom said that I passed out on the floor, and that's all I remember about that. Courtney was the baby. Her older sisters, Lace and Heather, would haul her around like a little sack of potatoes and, you know, play house with her and play doctor with her.

[Marissa Pinson]

Or whatever ina laborde is Courtney's grandmother.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Courtney was a lovable child. She had a curious little nature, too.

[Stephanie Belgard]

She loved birthdays.

[Woody Overton]

Mama, the candle just barked me onto the candle.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Can I. Oh, my God.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Wait.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Time to light up.

[Courtney's Family Member]

She had wet Courtney.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I like the hairdo tonight.

[Woody Overton]

I love looks original.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Courtney was very into baseball. Then she got into cheerleading.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Every time we'd have get togethers for holidays and stuff. There was so much laughter, so much fun.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Courtney had already taken some college classes in her high school because she wanted to go into criminal justice. Her sister Lace was working at a dentist office, and Lace got Courtney a job as the front receptionist. Once Courtney got out on her own, now she's got friends and boyfriend, and she was dating a guy named Jiddy. So we didn't get to see each other as much, me and Courtney.

[Woody Overton]

I just taught Courtney how to ride. Where's my four? Here's mine. So while she's practicing riding over here.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Seamus is gonna be watching.

[Woody Overton]

Seamus, say hey to my mom.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Hey, mom.

[Stephanie Belgard]

It was not long after that where this all happened with Courtney.

[Woody Overton]

On October 5, 2004, the Jefferson county morgue did a autopsy on Courtney Coco's body. Dr. Brown had reported that he thought the cause of death was asphyxiation, that she had been smothered.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

He immediately realized that the advanced state of decomposition was not normal for the time from which she had gone missing. To the time she was found, he.

[Hugo Holland]

Said, well, she had to be someplace that was hotter than the ambient temperature, like in a car.

[Woody Overton]

There was no drugs in her system. There was no alcohol in her system, so we know she didn't odd. And there was no evidence of sexual assault. The way they posed the body and disgraced her and everything else, it surprised me.

[Marissa Pinson]

Hoping for more leads, Alexandria PD searches Courtney's house.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

There had been a party recently. I believe dominoes were on the table. There was some things in disarray. Her bedroom, the bed was in disarray. There was no comforter on the bed.

[Marissa Pinson]

Under the bed, police find an empty Brinks security box.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Investigators learned early on that Courtney had received a settlement from the untimely death of her father.

[Hugo Holland]

The first thing that law enforcement tends to focus on is, was this part of a robbery or a burglary gone bad?

[Marissa Pinson]

Missing from the house is any sign of Courtney's cell phone or her Pontiac Bonneville. Detectives notice something else is missing.

[Hugo Holland]

What we did not find was evidence of forced entry. What that means is that she let the person into the house. It's somebody she knew. The names that were written on the domino scorecard were Courtney, Jackie and Lewis.

[Marissa Pinson]

Police discover Lewis is Jackie's boyfriend. Jackie is a good friend of Courtney's and the sister of Courtney's boyfriend, Jitty.

[Hugo Holland]

According to Jackie, Courtney had driven Jackie and her kids around town to run errands. They went to get something to eat. They came back to her house to play dominoes. Courtney dropped Jackie off at Jackie's house. Around 4:00 in the morning, Courtney received a phone call from Jackie's brother Courtney's boyfriend Jitty around 4:30.

[Woody Overton]

JD was Courtney's off and on boyfriend and JD was known in the neighborhood as a possible dealer. Money is a big motive for murder. That the Brinks box was open and empty could indicate that it was a potential robbery. I mean, if he's an on and off boyfriend and he knows about the money, he knows when her door's locked. I felt at that point that he may be involved in the murder. When I was finally able to interview Jiti, he answered one or two questions, but he answered them far off in left field. He kind of tapped around any answers and then he just kind of quit answering anything.

[Marissa Pinson]

Detectives check into the stories of Courtney's friends, Jackie and Lewis. They confirmed the two were dropped off.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

At 4am they also went to a gas station where we see Courtney on video surveillance with the clothes on that were found later in her apartment. She seemed like everything was fine in the video surveillance.

[Hugo Holland]

As far as Alexandria police were concerned, the last person to see Courtney alive was Jackie and Lewis. And their story checked out. So in that regard, they're excluded as suspects. Alexandria police looked at Jiddy and he alibi'd out as well. At that point, they're out of people that they know were with Courtney the day she was last seen. And they don't have any motive that they know of for Courtney to have been killed.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I remember my sister saying, we need to plan a funeral. And it was just terrible. I mean, I was still in shock. I was still in denial.

[Courtney's Family Member]

The church, which is the largest church in Alexandria, the cathedral was so packed, there was standing room only and people standing outside. So many people talked about how horrible the fact that Courtney had been murdered.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I chose most of the pallbearers. Anthony Lace's boyfriend at the time. Courtney's daddy's little nephew and a few of my friends. I sat next to my dad and I said, daddy, you're my rock. You're my rock and I need you. I don't remember what happened exactly. I just remember my mom and dad had to leave straight from there and go to the hospital.

[Courtney's Family Member]

My husband, Nelson, had a stroke at the graveyard when we were burying Courtney. He did get better, but he never ever got to be that Nelson labord that used to be. He could not take the loss of one of his grandchildren.

[Marissa Pinson]

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[Woody Overton]

At that time, pinging cell phones was still fairly new. Your cell phone carrier can tell me what tower is servicing your phone so that tower can track your location where you're using that phone at. It was traced to an apartment in Allen Parkway. Allen Parkway Drive was in the fourth Ward of Houston, which is a pretty low income government housing neighborhood, high crime. And when we knocked on the door, a lady answered the door and we told her who we were, why we were there. And a 15 year old male tried to dart out the back door but the door was locked. He couldn't get it open. And we were able to get through the front door and get him and grab a hold of him before he got out. He had the phone in his possession. When we told him who the phone belonged to and what happened, his jaw dropped and his pupils dilated. He told us I had no idea.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

The young man that purchased Courtney's cell phone described that there were two men, two black males in this green Bonneville that sold him the phone for $10.

[Woody Overton]

He said that he had just bought it from somebody off the street, somebody named Tree and Red.

[Marissa Pinson]

Investigators realized the green Bonneville could be Courtney's missing car. They put out an alert through Crime Stoppers. A tip leads them to a couple living in the 4th Ward.

[Woody Overton]

Courtney's car was located there in Houston early night on October 13, 2004, which was almost two weeks after her body was discovered.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Two suspects were later found in possession of Courtney's car and what law enforcement sometimes term a rent a rock deal, which basically is you have a stolen vehicle and you rent that out for drugs and other things.

[Hugo Holland]

The Houston police and the Texas Rangers drugged the couple into the police department and they sweated them pretty good. I mean, they sweated them really good. And they both told a consistent story. They had traded some drugs to Red for the car and they're just gonna use the car until Red shows back up to get it, which of course Red never does.

[Woody Overton]

It got to the point real quick to where I thought in my mind, I need to speak with Tree and Red. I need to find out how they got the cell Phone, how they got the car. These two guys are key players in this case, and they need to be found.

[Hugo Holland]

Red's obviously an important link because Red got the phone and the car from whoever's responsible for killing Courtney.

[Woody Overton]

You've heard of a needle in a haystack? This would be like the eye of the needle in a haystack. I mean, you're looking for two guys and that's all you know is Tree and Red.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

But the vehicle, of course, could contain forensic evidence, could contain all sorts of things that could lead us to the killer or killers.

[Woody Overton]

In this case, the Texas State Police. When their crime lab processed the vehicle, there wasn't any fingerprints on the door handle, the steering wheel. It had been wiped clean. And there was blood stains in the trunk. When we got to the crime lab, we sprayed it with luminol and several spots glowed in the carpet in the trunk.

[Marissa Pinson]

Technicians compare Courtney's DNA to the blood stains. One is a match.

[Hugo Holland]

Finding Courtney's DNA in the trunk of her own car is significant. It confirms that her body was back there at some point.

[Marissa Pinson]

But the car doesn't contain any clues to who drove it to Houston or who are Tree and Red.

[Woody Overton]

We never did ID Tree or Red. It was a dead end. It was just another tip that went nowhere.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I put my complete trust in everything into the police because they were all I had to get me answers.

[Woody Overton]

The last time I went to Alexandria and I came back and I told my sheriff, I'm getting absolutely nothing. Alexandra was not helpful. And my sheriff finally said, we've sent you there three times. We can't keep doing this.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Well, Mr. David Rabelais came into town to meet us. And every time he would talk to somebody, he felt like they didn't want to cooperate with him. It was kind of like a turf thing. And that bothered that man, and it bothered us.

[Marissa Pinson]

After one month, the pace of the investigation slows and the case goes cold. But Courtney's family doesn't give up hope.

[Courtney's Family Member]

It was all saints day. I took Stephanie to the graveyard to put some flowers for Courtney.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I kneeled on her grave and I said, mama promises you that I'm going to find out who put you here.

[Courtney's Family Member]

That's what she needed to do because she had to refocus and she had to get back into that mode, that fighting mode. So Stephanie and I, along with Lace and Heather, we would get out in the streets and hand out flyers. We started hunting and getting as many tips as we could from people. We put up signs. We did everything we could do.

[Woody Overton]

I still have dreams and nightmares of this case. When I pull out of my driveway, I can see the house. It pops back in my mind. Me and my girlfriend have put flowers on Courtney's cross a couple of times. The next day, I leave. I may remember the whole crime scene. I keep asking myself, what could you have done different?

[Marissa Pinson]

Determined to solve Courtney's murder, Stephanie looks for an expert in cold cases and finds investigative consultant Woody Overton.

[David Rabelais]

I served over 20 years in law enforcement. I kind of made my bones off of solving cold cases, and that morphed into investigative consulting. The podcast got started totally by accident. My wife, she said, hey, everybody loves your voice and everybody loves your stories. You need to start a podcast. I'm like, what's a podcast? I said, they want to hear a story, I'll tell them a story.

[Stephanie Belgard]

And I pretty much called Woody and I begged him to please help me.

[David Rabelais]

When I sat down with her and listened to her pain, it just broke my heart. I said, I'm gonna solve this case or I'm gonna die trying. This case is 15 years old now, and I do not think it can be solved. I know it can't be solved without the help of the public. And we're going to establish a hotline where people can call in tips. It was approximately September 2019, three weeks into the podcast, when I received a telephone call from a listener. Tiffany said she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who murdered Courtney Coco.

[Hugo Holland]

Tiffany listens to Woody, calls Woody's show and says, I know something about Courtney Coco's death.

[David Rabelais]

And so I was able to contact her, and she told me that her ex husband was the killer's best friend. Back in that day, her ex husband, his name was Seamus. When this phone call came in and changed everything, it was a great piece of the puzzle to start with. I asked Tiffany to do the recording of Seamus. I said, what if it was one of your kids? What would you do? I didn't know if she would do it or not, but she wanted to help and she did it.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Oh, my God.

[Woody Overton]

Listen to this.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Seamus.

[Woody Overton]

Have you been following the broadcast? It's crazy. It's crazy. His mama washed the blanket at the house right after she died. Anthony did that shit. But why would he do it, though? What was the cause of that shit?

[Hugo Holland]

I don't know.

[Woody Overton]

But he killed Courtney. Let me tell you that.

[Stephanie Belgard]

You gotta listen to it, Seamus.

[Woody Overton]

You gotta listen to it. I'm telling you.

[David Rabelais]

I'm telling you.

[Woody Overton]

Anthony Burns.

[David Rabelais]

David Anthony Burns was Courtney's sister's fiance. When I first heard the recording was like, holy smokes. It wasn't necessarily the smoking gun. Seamus could have had a beef with Burns. You know, I had to work it, but it was fire. Then I was able to find out that David Anthony Burns was missing that weekend Courtney had been murdered. A witness had called and was asked to clock him into work on that Saturday, October 2, 2004, even though he wasn't at work and Burns said that he was at the Dunes that weekend, which is a place where they ride four wheelers. He was telling all these different things, and none of them added up. He was later picked up in Lake Charles on Monday by his mother, 50 miles from Winnie, Texas, where Courtney's body was dumped. So this is a fluid act of things that I'm stacking up, stacking up. For the next three weeks, Woody sits.

[Marissa Pinson]

Down with Stephanie and the family and breaks the news.

[David Rabelais]

I said, listen, what I'm about to tell you is going to be so hard for you to hear. David Anthony Burns murdered Courtney.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Coco, we were all kind of in shock. Lace was literally just traumatized, like, uncontrollable crying.

[Courtney's Family Member]

It was very hard for us to grasp the fact that Anthony could have done this. Anthony and Lace lived together, and he prayed with us, cried with us every time we met and discussed Courtney's case.

[Stephanie Belgard]

And even when we went and erected the cross in Winnie, Texas, he helped us dig the hole to put it in.

[Courtney's Family Member]

I couldn't believe that he was a pallbearer at Courtney's funeral. That was really hard to take. I guess that's why it hurts so deep.

[David Rabelais]

The questions start coming. So I then had to explain to them that I couldn't go any further. I had to turn this over to law enforcement.

[Marissa Pinson]

In October of 2019, Woody turns over the recording to the Alexandria police. A new set of detectives take on the case.

[David Rabelais]

When they showed up to pick Seamus up for questioning, he said, I've been waiting 15 years for this moment. During the interview, Seamus said that David Anthony Burns had told him he killed Courtney. Coco.

[Marissa Pinson]

Investigators comb through the list of tips reported over the past 15 years. They find several that mentioned Anthony.

[Hugo Holland]

The Alexandria Police Department did talk to two people that said, Anthony Burns told me he killed Courtney. They thought, this is the time to go talk to Anthony Burns.

[Woody Overton]

Do you remember much about the weekend at Courtney River? I mean, on a weekend like that, part of. All right, let's talk about the Friday. That Friday. Did you work that Friday? Did you have to work that Friday?

[Hugo Holland]

We did.

[Woody Overton]

I'm pretty sure I did. I, I, I don't have anything that sticks out in my mind about that Friday. Who would you have been with? Would you have been with Lace Friday night? I was with. Trust me. You remember anything about that Saturday night, man, I'm telling you, man, Lace babing dead. I went and talked to Lace. You think she could help verify some of this?

[David Rabelais]

Oh, yeah.

[Hugo Holland]

Lace damn sure remembers what was going on the weekend that Courtney disappeared. And the story that she gave was not the story that Anthony Burns provided the police. According to Lace, she and Anthony had been arguing and fighting on Friday, and Anthony gets mad at her and leaves and takes the only car they have between them.

[David Rabelais]

And she vividly remembers that she saw Burns for the first time after the whole family was gathered at Stephanie's house after they learned that Courtney's body was in Texas.

[Hugo Holland]

You got not one, not two, but three people that have said Anthony Byrne said he murdered Courtney Coco. He has a connection to Courtney Coco and he's lied about where he was the weekend she's murdered. Not looking too good for Anthony at this point, is it?

[David Rabelais]

There's no other possibility, in my professional opinion, than David Anthony Burns murdering Courtney Coquette.

[Marissa Pinson]

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[David Rabelais]

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[Marissa Pinson]

In November of 2019, police bring Anthony Burns back to the station for a cvsa, a computer voice stress analyzer. It detects tiny modulations in a person's voice when they lie.

[Woody Overton]

I want to ask you a couple of questions. You know, with, with this procedure.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

My nose is kind of running.

[Woody Overton]

I ain't gonna fit very good, is it? No. There's absolutely nothing you can do that will affect this.

[Hugo Holland]

Okay.

[Woody Overton]

This is a control question. I would like you to lie to me. Have you ever lied to someone that has trusted you?

[Hugo Holland]

No.

[Woody Overton]

Are you involved in the death of Courtney Coco? No. Is this the month of November?

[Marissa Pinson]

Yes.

[Woody Overton]

Are you involved in the disposal of Courtney Coco's body? No. I'm gonna pull the mic.

[Hugo Holland]

Anthony failed the voice stress analysis test. At that point, he decided he didn't want to talk to anymore until he conferred with counsel.

[Marissa Pinson]

The evidence is mounting against Anthony Burns, but police want more to secure a conviction.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Detective Tanner Dryden went back and combed meticulously through all of the leads that came in. He found a witness by the name.

[Hugo Holland]

Of Jude Wilson the night before the body was discovered. Jude's on the road which has the abandoned house where Courtney's body was found. And there's a dark four door sedan that backs out of that house at ten something at night. He almost gets in a wreck with it.

[David Rabelais]

He went in to report this at Chambers county sheriff's office, like the next day. And it got lost in an investigation.

[Hugo Holland]

Jude has contacted by Tanner, what, 16 years after this occurs. And Jude said, oh, yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. I actually had to swerve because I.

[Woody Overton]

Thought he was going to back into me. It was a very big car.

[Hugo Holland]

I noticed a license plate.

[Woody Overton]

The first thing I noticed was the letters, which was J W. And those are my initials. But I just saw a silhouette.

[Marissa Pinson]

Investigators realized the description of the car and the license plate matches Courtney's Pontiac Bonneville.

[Woody Overton]

And he turned at the exit to go to i10 off of 1406 before you get to the bridge. If you were shown a lineup, you think you would be able to maybe recognize the person.

[David Rabelais]

Majud Wilson, he's an artist and he's like, I could draw you a sketch of his profile. And he did it and sent it over and it looked just like David Anthony Burns.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

When they put the lineup in front of Jude Wilson, he Immediately picked one picture out, and that was the picture of David Anthony Burns. It really was a turning point in the case. Now we have something that ties a suspect to the body dump location.

[Marissa Pinson]

It's now April 2021, 17 years after Courtney is murdered.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

There's a special prosecutor in our area that actually travels throughout the state named Hugo Holland, and he is a hired gun for district attorney's offices in places that have difficult cases.

[Hugo Holland]

I set the case up for grand jury. It took the grand jury, I don't know, about three minutes to decide to indict Anthony Burns for second degree murder. And I walked out and said, hey, here's the indictment. Let's go get a warrant and pick this guy up.

[David Rabelais]

Detective Ryden and his partner went to Burns workplace, and they took him into custody. He just grinned. He thought he was smarter than everybody else, and he thought he was untouchable.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I was at a red light, and my phone rang, and Tanner Dryden said, guess who I have in the backseat of my car? David Anthony Burns. And I think I ran through that red light. I had to pull over. I was shaking and crying so bad.

[Hugo Holland]

Anthony Burns pled not guilty to the murder of Courtney Coco.

[Marissa Pinson]

Prosecutor Hugo Holland prepares for a trial based on witness testimony without any physical evidence connecting Burns to Courtney's murder.

[Hugo Holland]

I fully realized the problems with the case. I wasn't sure how strong Jude was going to come off, and I didn't know if the jury was going to believe the three confessions. I warned Stephanie and Courtney's family, we've got a 50, 50 chance of winning this at trial. Let me go and explore a possible manslaughter plea. When I approached the defense lawyer with that, he laughed at me. He said, we're trying the case. And I said, well, okay, bitches, let's do it.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Anytime you take a case of this magnitude to a jury, you never know the outcome.

[Marissa Pinson]

Eighteen years after Courtney's death in October 2022, the case goes to trial.

[Stephanie Belgard]

We finally got our day in court. Anthony would not look us in the eye.

[Marissa Pinson]

Prosecutor Holland brings in his three witnesses to testify that Burns admitted he killed Courtney Coco.

[Hugo Holland]

There was a skittish witness, did not want to be there.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

When Seamus gets on the stand at trial, he doesn't exactly say what was on the recording. He tried to color it a little bit.

[Hugo Holland]

And then the third one was a homeless guy who I had to send Glenn Younger with the state police to arrest at a shelter in Missouri. And the witness looked right at Anthony and said something like, anthony, you know what you Told me, why don't you get up here like a man and tell him what you told me? That got a reaction from Anthony. You could tell he wanted to beat the guy up.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

Mr. Holland put up on the screen this silhouette drawing that Jude Wilson had drawn of Anthony Burns. And he does a still frame of a video of Anthony Burns driving down the road in a car. It really got the jury's attention. The defense attorney came at it very aggressively. How could you pick someone from a silhouette and pick them from a lineup?

[David Rabelais]

The family, home, they didn't know. I guess they had a certain amount of fear that he was going to get off.

[Marissa Pinson]

The jury leaves for deliberations. In a surprising move, the 12 members return in just over an hour.

[Hugo Holland]

And I knew just because I've done this more than once, that a jury is not acquitting somebody in 75 minutes.

[Detective Tanner Dryden]

The jury came back with a unanimous verdict of guilty for David Anthony Burns for second degree murder and the death of Courtney Coco.

[Hugo Holland]

Anthony Burns was dutifully convicted and tossed into Angola for the rest of his life.

[Stephanie Belgard]

The trial, it was bittersweet. Still, to this day, I still don't know how Courtney died. I don't know where Courtney died.

[David Rabelais]

I believe the motive was Anthony Burns attempted to have sexual relations with Courtney that night in. And she spurned him, and he killed her.

[Hugo Holland]

So what does he do? Well, he uses the comforter that was on her bed, wraps her up, and puts her in the trunk of her car. As soon as the body gets dropped off, Anthony does what Anthony's gotta do. He's gonna show her. So he poses the body like he does, and then get on over to Houston to get rid of the car.

[Courtney's Family Member]

I will one day get Anthony to tell me what he really did to Courtney.

[Stephanie Belgard]

The next day was All Saints Day, exactly 18 years to the day that I kneeled on Courtney's grave and promised her I'd find out who put her there. I was on my knees thanking the Lord for bringing somebody into my life that actually helped me, and that was Woody.

[David Rabelais]

It's so good to see you.

[Stephanie Belgard]

My hero.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Still got your bracelet?

[David Rabelais]

First day in your kitchen when we took it on.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[David Rabelais]

And you gave it to me and haven't taken it out since. You can still read it.

[Stephanie Belgard]

It says, justice for Courtney. And the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

[David Rabelais]

Right. It just means a lot to me. And at some point, I know I gotta take it off, but I can't make myself do it yet.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Oh, this is so precious.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I know. I think about Courtney every moment. Of my day.

[Courtney's Family Member]

That is my absolute favorite.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Courtney brought lots of joy to our lives. She's teaching him how to dance.

[Courtney's Family Member]

That's just Lacy.

[Stephanie Belgard]

Even though she was only here for 19 short years, she did a lot. She touched a lot of people's lives.

[Courtney's Family Member]

Because that was the last time I saw her.

[Stephanie Belgard]

I felt a calling to be a victim's advocate for people that didn't have nobody in their corner. I do it because Courtney pushes me forward to keep going, and I feel like with me helping others, that her death wasn't in vain because that's what she wanted to do was help others.

[Woody Overton]

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[Hugo Holland]

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[Woody Overton]

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[Hugo Holland]

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[Stephanie Belgard]

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[Hugo Holland]

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[Woody Overton]

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[Marissa Pinson]

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[Hugo Holland]

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[Marissa Pinson]

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