Transcript of Darkest Before the Dawn New

Whoever said it's darkest just before the dawn knew what they were talking about. I go to work early. You could say I go to work so early it might be considered late. It's dark out too. I can't decide if the headlights in my car are getting worse or if that's my eyesight. It's not the quickest route by any chance, but a lot of mornings lately I've been taking Collins Boulevard coming down down 190 toward our studios in Covington. And as I come through here, of course the area has changed dramatically since then, but I can still of course identify where Roxanne's body was found. As I pass that point, I'll say something silently to myself, or either sometimes out loud, "We're working on it. Stephen's gonna figure this out." It won't take much longer, and then I'm past. It's funny that 40-plus years later, so many people are still thinking about and working to solve this crime. But Stephen Montgomery has been very clear that this is an uphill battle, and the longer it goes, the harder it's going to be to pull off. But I also know that investigator. I feel like I've gotten to know him quite well, and there's no give up in that guy.

So even as I question whether this is going to work Here we are, a year and a half down the road from the start of the podcast. I sit here and wonder, what's next? Will anything ever happen? And then something did.

The following is a production of North Shore Media Group.

Good morning. I'm Colonel Robert Hodges, Superintendent of Louisiana State Police. To my left is the District Attorney Colin Sims for the 22nd JDC, St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, and other law enforcement personnel from the Covington Police Department and Louisiana State Police, as well as some community—

And it's like life just went on. And these young girls never really got away from their offenders. I mean, it's no wonder no boy was willing to come forward in 1982. They were terrified.

Our office has a mandate to bring justice to victims. It's what we wake up every single day and do. We do it with our partners standing behind us. And as you can see, the commitment is strong. Like the Colonel said, a young life was left like trash in the fairgrounds in Covington in 1982. A mother who never saw her son.

How you doing?

Well, Brian and Eloise are talking nonstop trying to keep me from freaking out.

But that was just part of Willie, what he was, what he did. A lot of it, he done it for fun, just to see if he could do it.

We expect in the next coming weeks to present this case to a grand jury for indictment, and we will begin the process of bringing closure to this family. Today is the start of a process that will continue and one that we will see to fruition and that justice is achieved for this family.

Yeah, because— yeah, if y'all can— if y'all can hear— y'all can hear me fine? Much better. Perfect. Because every time you hit that— gotcha. Thank you. All right, all right, all right. Uh, good morning, y'all. Uh, my name is, uh, Trooper Mark Rameon with the Louisiana State Police. I'm the public information officer for, uh, Troop L. Uh, currently, shortly, we're going to have, uh, Robert Hodges, our colonel with the state police, going to be coming, and he's going to be giving a debrief about an update on the Roxanne Sharp cold case murder. Uh, following him will be District Attorney Colin Sims. He will be speaking on behalf of the 22nd Judiciary. Um, if we have any questions, we ask you to please save it for the end. We're going to start with our questions from the left-hand side, from us working to the right-hand side. Please keep the questions relevant to the case, and they will be in here shortly.

My name is Charles Dowdy with the North Shore Media Group, and this is episode 8 of the true crime podcast Who Killed Roxanne. I found out something big was happening earlier in the week. After waiting so long, this was kind of shocking, and I did not know how to respond. I recorded that opening bit of my car early on Tuesday morning, not because I had to or felt like I needed to. I mean, I knew something was going to happen in Roxanne's case. I did not know exactly what, and I had no clue What to do with myself. I wanted to scream it out loud. The whole week I was an emotional wreck and I couldn't tell anyone why. I was stunned by the intensity of my reaction. It was visceral. It still is. Powerful. Just waves of emotion at random times. I mean, I never knew Roxanne. I know part of why I was feeling so weird was that I did not know how to react. Do you celebrate something like this? Once again, here's Colonel Hodges with Louisiana State Police.

Today, we are proud to stand with our law enforcement and community partners to provide an update on the case that has impacted the Covington community for more than 4 decades, the 1982 murder of Roxanne Sharp. Roxanne's body was found on February 12th, 1982, 3 days after she was reported missing in a wooded area near the Saint Tammany Parish Fairgrounds. Investigators determined she had been raped and murdered. Despite extensive work by the Covington Police Department, the case remained unsolved, largely limited to the absence of DNA tracking technology and limited public cooperation at that time. Over the years, the case has been revisited as forensic science has advanced, but its critical breakthrough remained just out of reach. In 2020, Louisiana State Police partnered with the Covington Police Department detectives to reexamine this case. By 2023, the Louisiana State Police Covington Bureau of Investigation field office assumed the lead role on the investigation. They conducted a comprehensive review of all original case files, re-interviewed witnesses and potential suspects, and also collected additional evidence. The original case evidence was also resubmitted for advanced DNA analysis. In 2025, an LSP partnership with the North Shore Media Group and Charles Dowdy, pictured with us, led to the podcast Who Killed Roxanne, which generated national attention, but more importantly, new leads, renewed public cooperation.

The response provided critical information to continue moving the case forward. With new information and advancements in the investigative technologies, Louisiana State Police collaborated with the District Attorney's Office and the Covington Police Department to obtain arrest warrants for aggravated rape and second-degree murder on four individuals: Harry Taylor, Darrell Spell, Carlos Cooper, and Billy Williams. All four suspects were associates of Roxanne Sharp in Covington in 1982. On April 21st, 2026, Billy Williams Jr. was arrested and booked in the Saint Tammany Parish Jail. At the same time, agents with the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation Unit located and arrested Darrell Spell in Dayton, Ohio. On April 22nd, 2026, LSP detectives made contact with Perry Taylor and Carlos Cooper, who are incarcerated within Louisiana Department of Corrections on unrelated charges. So just to be clear, 2 arrests were made that weren't already in custody. The other 2 were already serving time in Louisiana prisons for unrelated charges. All 4 will ultimately be booked back here in the St. Tammany Parish Jail. These arrests made a major mark and step forward, but this case is about more than an investigation. It's about promise that no victim is ever forgotten.

I want to thank our LSP investigators and all assisting LSP personnel for their persistence in pursuing this case and bringing it to a close. In addition, we want to thank our partners, the Covington Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, DA Colin Sims, the Saint Tammany Parish Coroner's Office, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Charles Dowdy with the North Shore Media Group and the WDSU Channel 6 Local for their dedication and collaboration. This was truly a team effort strengthened by the community's willingness to come forward and give us the information needed to close this case. Roxanne was a 16-year-old girl with a life waiting to be lived. She was a young mother who left behind a 2-year-old son who never knew her. Today we hope this brings a measure of justice for Roxanne and a beginning of healing for her family. Thank you, and I'll turn it over to our District Attorney, D.A. Colin Sims.

And there it is, 4 names. After all of this, 4 men have now been charged with Roxanne's rape and murder. 4 men known to Roxanne. 4 men, some of whom have been mentioned in this podcast. Names you would hear when people talked about the old days in Covington. These were men who would have spent time around Roxanne. And before this story goes forward from here, I gotta back up just a bit. Friday morning, 9:30, the meeting before the press conference. A conference room in the courthouse. The DA is at the head of the table. To his right is the superintendent of Louisiana State Police. They are talking about Roxanne's case and what each will say to the press, just getting organized on how the press conference will go. To the DA's left is one of his assistant DAs, maybe the woman who will lead the prosecution, or maybe not. I have no clue. I've interviewed her before though, and she's impressive as hell. Well, all of them are impressive as hell. There's 15 or so police officers crammed in there, including investigator Stephan Montgomery. He will hate that I say this, but we would not be in this room but for him.

Stephan's in a suit. Hadn't seen that before. He's a plainclothes guy, and no offense, but he does the plainclothes thing well. Now he looks sharp. Polished. Most of the cops are in uniform. I'm abruptly wondering if I'm the only person in this room who isn't armed. Space is a little tight. It's a little warm. What in the hell am I doing here? Suddenly I realize the State Police Superintendent is looking at me. He's speaking to me. I nod and say, "Yes, sir." I have no idea what he just said or what I just agreed to. We file out of the conference room, up the stairs into another room. Reporters are there, cameras, and Roxanne's niece is on the front row. It will forever be one of the most incredible days of my life. And for most of the professionals around me, it was a Friday. I've never felt as insignificant as I did in that conference room, and at the same time, more proud. Like I said, weird, weird emotions. Here's DA Colin Sims.

Today is the first step to bringing closure to that family, to giving that young lady who was left behind brutally raped a voice today to go and put her abusers in jail for the heinous acts they committed so long long ago. These cases take the public, it takes experienced law enforcement who have no quit in them to pick up a file and go through every single thing that was done in 1982 and then revisit things done in 2010 and then collaborate as a collective with experiences. And there's a lot of experience standing behind me and some who couldn't be here with us today that have 30 and 40 years of doing cold cases, homicides, excellent police and detective work. And like the Colonel alluded to, evidence— not evidence, but technology that wasn't available to collect evidence that now exists today to help do certain things to guide an investigation. There aren't always things out there that are, that are the, you know, the smoking gun that say, oh, it's absolutely this guy, had we only tested that. That is not usually the case. It's putting all of these little pieces together. It's partnering with Charles Dowdy and, and selectively providing information at a podcast to trigger and spark community involvement, community interest, and to say things.

And, and one of the detectives said it, made a very good observation earlier as we were getting ready to come here, and it's not always just the eyewitness accounts. It— how did things look in 1982? Things, when you're putting eyes on it now, buildings that didn't exist, businesses that didn't exist, development that has occurred. You need people to repaint that picture for you, and that's what was triggered in this case. So Charles, thank you so much for your efforts in this case. For those of you out there, I know we have many cases that are cold cases that have gone unsolved. I can assure you there's a team —committed to solve them and work on them. We can't always promise an outcome, but what we do promise is the work ethic and determination to get there that a team like this and the team of people that aren't here today bring every single day to this job. I expect in the next coming weeks to present this case to a grand jury, uh, for indictment, and we will begin the process of bringing closure, uh, to this family. Today is the start of a process that will continue and one that we will see to the fruition and that justice is achieved for this family.

Thank you. Of course, the press conference didn't answer a lot of questions, and you would not expect it to. Very little was said about the evidence against the four men, and we probably won't know a whole lot about that until a trial. There was some conversation about advances in DNA, and the DA spoke about a new process for retrieving or obtaining DNA. Don't expect me to make a lot of sense of that right now. But even as I stood up there among those law enforcement professionals, and even as I have acknowledged multiple times how much work has gone into breathing life back into Roxanne's case, I think this quick statement from the press conference sums up how I feel about our contribution.

And just to follow up on a question you had that we discussed earlier about the podcast, I want to say that when this occurred in 1982, 1982, one of the obstacles was a culture of fear in the area with the people that were involved in it. And this podcast helped us generate new witnesses, you know, and collect information that really helped get us there. The podcast was a crucial— a crucial part of getting us information that we needed. And like the Colonel said and the District Attorney said, to rebuild that— what this was in 1982 is what it is now to investigate it.

In recent times, but the podcast was phenomenal. That's Lieutenant Heath Miller with Louisiana State Police. There was one person I wanted to see as soon as the press conference broke up. Sure, we hung around and talked for a few minutes, but I wanted to speak to Donald Sharp, the retired chief deputy from the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office. I wanted to give him this list of names and hear what he had to say about them with the police, with the DA, I'm not gonna get anything more than what was in the press release. With Donald, who knew what I would get? Donald is a walking history book for that time in St. Tammany, and I knew that he knew these men. Since I was at the courthouse, he suggested we meet at one of the local places where some of this criminal element used to hang out. It is now a family-owned restaurant called Mattina Bella, but Donald showed me where the pool tables were and pointed out the old bar I've eaten there many times, and the food, the service, and the atmosphere, it's all excellent. But the acoustics were not conducive to recording. So after bailing out on a meal, we sat on a bench together outside.

Of course, we started with a story about Robert Willie, Covington's most notorious citizen. Even on the day of 4 men being charged with Roxanne's murder, Willie was around, which seems weird, but Willie is not quite done with this story. Like Donald Sharp, Willie knew these men. He committed some crimes with some of these men. When it comes to crime around here, all roads somehow lead back to him. Donald pointed at a nearby building and explained that Willie had broken out of the old jail on the top floor of that building.

Willie escaped. There was a number of them escaped that day. They got— had an exercise yard up there. On the roof? On the roof. It was actually in a well area. They just put a fence over the top of it. Of course, they got all the time in the world to figure out how to get out. They got it broke loose. Willie crawled up, a couple more guys did, and all the way down was this jump. Willie jumped, and he landed right in a yucca plant right on the corner on the other side of the building. And got up and went all the way to Wymer Road to Billy Williams' house. Nobody was home. And he went that far on a broken ankle. That's crazy. And he knew how to go through these back streets and cover it and nobody would see him. But once he got out here by the Ozone, he went through the woods all the way and waded across the river and got him a stick and made him a crutch. He wound up going to Mr. Robert Wymer's grocery store out there. There was a little bar in the back with one pool table.

He goes in there. He knew the people. They knew him well. They said, "Robert, what are you doing?" "I jumped off the top of that courthouse. I broke my ankle." They put him in a chair, a recliner chair, put ice on his ankle. He told us to call the sheriff's office, tell Donald Strutt to come pick me up. The car was— I went out there. He's sitting there drinking a Schlitz beer. I said, Willie, what are you doing? Ah, I want to get out a little while and get me a beer. So I said, hurry up, let's go. Can I finish my beer? I said, by all means, yeah, finish your beer. Schlitz beer. He finished. I just give him the hand because he put the ankle. And they said, well, you got to help him with the car, you got a broken ankle. I said, I didn't help him in here, I'm not helping him out.

Now this would have been pre-murderous crime spree for Robert Willie, and this wasn't all that Donald Sharp shared with me. Good Lord, the people sitting beside us waiting for their table inside will probably need therapy after overhearing some of the stuff Donald was talking about. It was a lot. And just like me, they were listening. We finally got around to the 4 men who had just been charged with Roxanne Sharp's death. I showed him the press release and asked him how it made him feel that these 4 men were now charged with her crime.

You had a young guy who saw the case earlier, took it and ran with it. He didn't let up. And it was just— that young guy being Stephen Montgomery. Yeah, uh, just a fine police officer, good investigator, very meticulous, and took his time doing his thing. I don't want him coming after me. No, when he gets after you, he's going to be after you, you know, and, uh, you better not slip down. And it was just— it gave me a lot of satisfaction, I guess. I was happy, really, I was, and I still am. I was happy that Stephan got him and the way he'd done his business, you know. I want to go through these guys one by one, and I know we talked inside, but the acoustics were so bad. So if you'll repeat some of that. But let's start with Perry Wayne Taylor of Covington. What would you say about him? Perry Taylor is where he needs to be. He is a dangerous individual. And if he was to get out of jail, he will hurt some more people. A lot of people. He's dangerous. He's that dangerous. He served time for manslaughter in In what case?

He served time on, on a case that I arrested him on, uh, of a young man named Dennis Hemby from Missouri. They— him and Robert Willie drowned him in the river and hid him in the woods, drug him in the woods, and the case stayed there like that for 5 years. Nobody ever seen the body, found the body, or nothing until Willie told me about it when he was down different reasons. So he gave me the information on him, how they killed him. They sat on him. Perry sat on him and drowned him in about a foot of water. That's how deep the river was. Tell me about Darryl Spell. Darryl Spell was a person who lived in the Ozarks just like the rest of this crew, born and raised right there. Darryl Spell had a lot of knowledge of everything that happened in and out of that Ozone where this bed of gangsters was born and raised. Now, did Darrell Spell participate in all of those crimes? No, but he knew about them. Well, who is Carlos Cooper? Carlos Cooper was another one that came out of that same little neighborhood. And from the time he was 15 years old, He started being in the trade of learning how to be a criminal.

He did. And he was watching people like Perry Taylor, Robert Willie, all the ones before him. And even Darrell Spell, they all knew him well. And Carlos Cooper was investigated for 2 other rapes before he was found guilty on the one he's serving time for. For it. And people just got scared to come talk, the victims that would come. Darrell Spell knew a lot. I think he knows exactly. If he would just go ahead and talk and tell them what he knows about Perry Taylor and his actions with Roxanne Shaw, that's what he needs to do. And he knows, I believe he knows. And then Billy Williams was the one that was arrested here earlier this week. Billy Williams was a, a guy that I I never had a lot of dealings with him, law enforcement side, the criminal side. He kind of stayed in the Wymer Road area, which was Willie's stomping grounds, 'cause Willie was friends with that whole entire family. He stayed there a lot when he escaped from jail one time, and he was covering past time. He only had 30 days left and escaped. He went to the Williams family home.

Nobody was there. They were all truck drivers. But Billy Williams was— knew Dallas Bellwell. They were friends. So did he know Carla Scooper. He knew all these actors.

I thought this would be the first episode where we would not hear from investigator Stephen Montgomery. I've talked about this a few times already. We knew if we ever got to this point that the roles would change. His priorities have shifted to seeing those charged through the system. Now, I'm committed to telling this story to the end, but I've lost a lot of my access. I'm not going to be in a rush. I'm just going to track the story to the end to the best of my ability. Obviously, I figured the next big step would happen when the grand jury convened, but something was suddenly bugging me. Donald Sharp alluded to it in the clip I just played, and it was something I'd heard before. Someone raped and killed Roxanne, the crime almost medieval. Is that a one-off? If multiple men participated in what happened to her, what are the chances that was the only time it happened? They raped Roxanne and nothing else like that ever occurs again or before? After reflecting on that, I thought back to some audio I had from Stephen Montgomery. It took some digging, but I found it. When I first sat down with you and Donald and we started talking about the ozone and all the things that happened there during the late '70s and '80s, it almost didn't seem like it was real.

Do you think this was just an isolated incident?

Unfortunately, no, it wasn't. You know, Roxanne's murder is undeniably the worst thing that happened in the Ozone. But, you know, as we began telling her story, I started getting calls from other people who grew up in that neighborhood during the same time. And, you know, they started telling me about sexual assaults that they had experienced or narrowly avoided. And these people don't necessarily know each other. But the pattern is the same.

What happened to the people responsible for this?

Nothing. You know, it was a very different time back then, and every one of these victims were either too scared to tell anybody, or they didn't think anybody would believe them, or if they told a parent or a guardian, it was just handled between, you know, the families that lived in the neighborhood. Then it's like life just went on, and these young girls never really got away from, from their offenders. I mean, it's no wonder no one was willing to come forward in 1982. They were terrified. Thankfully, St. Tammany has some phenomenal resources for sexual assault victims today that didn't exist back then. You know, we have some of the best SVU investigators, I think, in the country. And, you know, they work hand in hand with places like the Child Advocacy Center and the Hope House to not only walk these, you know, these young victims through the legal process now, but to help them begin the healing process on the other side. You know, for anybody who watches Law Order: SVU, the lady who plays the detective on that show, Mariska Hargitay, She has a national foundation for survivors of sexual abuse. And, you know, we might not always be able to stop it from happening, but we can certainly do something about it.

It's sad that Roxanne will never have that chance, but if we can't do anything else, we can tell her story and maybe save somebody else.

So we're in new territory now. Four men stand charged with Roxanne's rape and murder. And all of a sudden it occurs to me, we don't necessarily have to sit idly by. There could be victims to talk to. And by we, I mean Stephan. We are not waiting for indictments. We are wondering if someone else experienced something at their hands. Something like what happened to Roxanne. Now, this is territory I know little about, but I do know a guy, and this is an expert in this field. So I'm gonna step out on a limb and see if he is willing to talk to me, and I'm definitely going to find my attorney friend Pete Burkhalter to talk about these charges and what they mean. And maybe, just maybe, by the time you hear from me again, there will be indictments. We don't know, but I think we've got another episode of our podcast shaping up. So tentatively, that's what you'll hear the next time on Who Killed Roxanne? Oh yeah, and I had a little bit of unfinished business to tend to this morning.

About to turn on Collins Boulevard, and I'm gonna ride by and see Roxanne again. On my way to work. It's been a week exactly since I recorded that first message to her when I found out things were happening, even if I didn't know exactly what. Kind of glad I didn't know what was happening. I'd have really freaked out. It has been a crazy week it's been a good week. Yesterday I did an interview with the anchor of NBC Nightly News. That's how ridiculous this has been. And now as I approach the site where Roxanne was found, I keep throwing back to the darkness that is around me right now. She's been down that dark road for a long, long time. If this podcast does nothing else, I feel like at least it brought her back into the light.

Who Killed Roxanne is a Northshore Media Group production. Original music by Cressley Calora. Connect with the podcast online at whokilledroxanne.com. If you have a tip or information for Louisiana State Police, call 985-635-3167 or email northshorecoldcase@lsmpd.org.

La.gov. Every good thing I do gives me something to lose. Every year that goes by, I lose what catches your eye. What if I'm I'm not who I say I am. What if it doesn't work out? What if I started the drought? What if I'm out of the things that make you want me? What if I'm not who I say I am? And I'm scared to admit that what if this is as good as it gets? What if this is as good as it gets? I'm feeling like you don't Maybe you don't see me. Am I talking just to talk? What if I'm not who I say I am? 'Cause I'm scared to admit That maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe this is as good as it gets.