NEW ORLEANS — A group of suspected Ku Klux Klan members could find out today whether they will face formal charges stemming from the death of an Oklahoma woman who police say was killed after an initiation ceremony gone awry.
A grand jury is scheduled to consider formal charges against the eight who were arrested in the November death of Cynthia Lynch, 43, of Tulsa, Okla. Police have said she was recruited to join a Louisiana-based KKK group over the Internet and was shot to death in November when she tried to leave an initiation.
Police have said the group’s leader, Raymond Foster, 44, killed Lynch.
He has been booked on a second-degree murder charge. Seven others, including Foster’s 20-year-old son Shane, were booked on obstruction of justice charges.
The grand jury will begin hearing the case today, said Rick Wood, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office in St. Tammany Parish, north of New Orleans. He would not give any details on what evidence may be presented.
Authorities said at the time of Lynch’s killing they believed she had a falling out with a head of the group, referred to alternately as the Sons of Dixie or the Dixie Brotherhood. She is believed to have been shot to death on or about Nov. 9.
Investigators said they found weapons, Confederate flags and six Klan robes at the campsite where Lynch was killed. Lynch’s former attorney had described her has a lonely and troubled person who may have sought a sense of belonging with the group.
Investigators said statements from suspects suggested Lynch had gone through the initiation but was ready to leave after two days because she didn’t get along with Foster.
All the suspects are from Washington Parish, which was infamous for Klan activity in the 1960s. The KKK is now considered loosely organized.
Raymond Foster, his son and most of the other suspects remained jailed Tuesday. Foster’s bond was set at $500,000. Bonds for the other suspects varied.
A message left for Raymond Foster’s attorney was not returned Tuesday.
Attorneys for two other defendants said Tuesday their clients did nothing wrong.
Ernest Barrow III, attorney for Andrew Yates, 20, said his client arrived by boat at the site where authorities say the killing occurred apparently after Lynch was shot. People were running out of the woods, and Yates alleges that Raymond Foster stole the boat at gunpoint and took the body away, Barrow said.
“He didn’t witness the shooting. He witnessed people putting the body inside his stolen boat,” Barrow said of his client.
Jerry Fontenot said his client, Timothy Watkins, 30, was near the site but didn’t see the shooting. Watkins didn’t call police because the alleged shooter was armed, Fontenot said.
Yates was still in jail as of Tuesday. Fontenot was free on $10,000 bond.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
