Jatory Evans, 29, who was accused of killing his pregannt girlfriend and her parents last November, was found hanging in his jail cell on Wednesday
A Louisiana former national guardsman accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her parents before torching their home committed suicide by hanging, an autopsy has confirmed.
Jatory Evans, 29, used a bedsheet to hang himself inside his Jefferson Parish Correctional Center cell in Gretna, where he was found Wednesday afternoon.
He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Ochsner Medical Center.
Last November, Jatory allegedly stabbed his 20-year-old girlfriend Sydney Hanson, who was seven months pregnant with their daughter, multiple times in the upstairs bedroom of her family’s townhouse in Old Jefferson.
He then stabbed her mother Samantha, 45, ‘20 to 25 times’ and shot her five times in the home’s front yard, per the Sheriff’s office.
Jatory is also accused of killing Sydney’s father Dwayne, 46, who was found dead in the kitchen from two gunshot wounds, and of setting Sydney’s body on fire, causing the whole place to go up in flames, investigators said.
Sydney Hansen, 20, was seven months pregnant with Jatory’s daughter when she was stabbed multiple times in her family’s home in Old Jefferson, Louisiana
Jatory is also accused of killing Sydney’s parents, Dwayne, 46, and Samantha, 45
He was arrested the morning after the murders at his home with scratches and cuts consistent with having been through a physical struggle, but denied any involvement and provided an alibi.
Sydney had told a court that Jatory slashed her parents’ car tire, stalked her at her workplace, and threatened her with sharing inappropriate photos online, and had been granted a restraining order against him just two weeks before her death, according to the Times-Picayune.
Jatory, who served more than a year in Afghanistan, was awaiting trial on three chargers of first degree-murder and one charge of first-degree infanticide for the killings at the time of his death.
Sydney had been granted a protective order against Jatory just two weeks before her death, arguing he stalked her at her job and had slashed her parents’ car tire
Dwayne, Samantha, and Sidney are pictured with her twin sister Cassidy (second from the left)
The Hanson family have said that although they won’t get to see justice come to their loved ones’ killer, they are relieved they won’t hear the crime’s details in court
Sydney’s twin sister, Cassidy, and the rest of the Hanson family have said they plan to move on and live their lives to the fullest as the victims would’ve wanted, and although they won’t get to see justice come to Jatory, they are relieved they won’t have to hear the gruesome details of the crime in court.
‘Our family and friends can now look forward to a future without never-ending court dates and a painful trial,’ Dwayne’s sister, Dawn Hanson, said in a statement.
‘We look forward to healing as a family and never having to stare evil in the face again.’
Jatory’s death marks the third suicide inside the Gretna jail in just the last two months, and the Sheriff’s office now plans on reviewing its protocols.
‘We’re going to meet with the parish to see if there’s anything we need to change to try and prevent this from happening in the future,’ said Interim Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto.