Four men have been arrested and charged in the 1982 rape and murder of 16-year-old Roxanne Sharp, whose body was found on Feb. 12, 1982, in a wooded area near the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds in Covington, Louisiana.
The arrests came after Louisiana State Police detectives in the Covington Field Office reopened the case in 2023, reviewed the original file and evidence, re-interviewed witnesses and potential suspects, and sent older material back for DNA analysis. Investigators said a 2025 podcast, Who Killed Roxanne, also produced new information, leads and witness cooperation that helped move the case forward.
State Police said investigators obtained arrest warrants for aggravated rape and second-degree murder for the four men. On April 21, detectives, Troop L, SWAT and Covington police executed search and arrest warrants at Williams’ home in Covington, and Williams was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail. That same day, agents with the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Spell at a home in Dayton, Ohio, and he was booked into the Montgomery County Jail pending extradition to Louisiana. On April 22, detectives contacted Taylor and Cooper, who are already incarcerated in the Louisiana Department of Corrections on unrelated charges.
The case stayed unsolved for more than 40 years because investigators had limited physical evidence and little cooperation from the public. Collin Sims, the 22nd Judicial District Attorney, said the case shows what persistence, collaboration and advances in investigative technology can accomplish, while Covington Police Chief Michael Ferrell said cold cases do not close by themselves. He said they close because people keep showing up year after year and refuse to quit.
The arrests do not end the case, but they do answer the question that hung over Covington for decades: who was going to be held responsible for Sharp’s killing. Investigators now have four men in custody or facing extradition, and the next phase will play out in court.
