A man from Louisiana is accused of murdering a 72 year old woman and then driving around with her deceased body for a month while attempting to secure loans in her name.
Christopher Talton Cater, 43, stood trial this week for his alleged crimes, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office. He faces charges of first-degree murder, identity theft and unlawful disposal of human remains.
The victim, Sheila Ortega, was reported missing by her family on 20 August 2023. Relatives stated that they had not heard from Ortega for a month.
On 21 August, police discovered the missing woman’s SUV in a shopping centre car park in Lake Charles, where they found Ortega’s decomposed body. Cater, who was at a nearby business at the time, was immediately arrested.
Cater, 43, was already under suspicion due to an incident the previous night when he was stopped while driving Ortega’s SUV. “She’s entered into the system that evening,” explained Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso.
“About 8 p.m., a deputy does a traffic stop, meets the guy at the car, and doesn’t see anything. [The first deputy] asked if he knows her whereabouts. He said, ‘Yes.'”.
The suspect deceived the deputy, claiming he’d left his victim in Arkansas with some friends. Cater insisted he intended to collect her again within days, according to the sheriff’s office.
Cater was released at that point but was challenged once more the following day when officers searched the SUV and discovered Ortega’s body.
“When we confront him, he says, ‘I know why you’re here,'” Mancuso continued in remarks to Lake Charles-based NBC/CW affiliate KPLC.
Officers said the 43 year old admitted guilt almost immediately.
“When detectives spoke with Cater, he advised deputies he killed Ortega approximately one month ago,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
“Cater also admitted to detectives to opening several loans using Ortega’s information, after her death.”
The suspect was originally charged with second-degree murder, but that charge was elevated once deputies discovered his alleged backup scheme.
Whilst exploiting his victim’s identity to secure loans, Cater seemed to have devised a fallback strategy should he be apprehended, police said.
Prosecutors maintained that Cater murdered the elderly woman on July 21, 2023 and afterwards used Google to research how to dispose a body and employ the insanity defence to escape punishment, according to a courtroom report by KPLC. The 43 year old’s search history reportedly contained incriminating evidence, including phrases like “The best way to get rid of a body,” and “Does the insanity plea work in a murder case.”
