A woman living outside Crossville — one of two suspects in a decade-old cold case homicide — appeared in Cumberland County General Sessions Court Thursday and waived extradition back to Louisiana to face the charge
Judith Lynn Weiser, 76, Hood Dr., is being held under a $500,000 bond on a charge of felony fugitive from justice.
Charges of second-degree murder charge and obstruction of justice are outstanding for Weiser and Russell Lee, of Missouri, in connection with the August 1986 homicide of Paula Boudreaux, 22.
Cumberland County Sheriff Casey Cox confirmed Thursday that his department was contacted by detectives from the LaFourche, LA, Parish Sheriff’s Office and CCSO Investigator Bobby Moore worked with the agency to take Weiser into custody without incident.
While Weiser was being arrested here, LaFourche Parish deputies traveled to Mountain Grove, MO, and took Russell Lee into custody on the same charges.
Bond in Louisiana has been set at $1.1 million each.
Boudreaux was last seen at her parents’ home in Golden Meadow, LA, on Aug. 3, 1986. In January 1989, skeletal remains were found in Slidell, LA, but there was not enough evidence to positively identify whose body had been found.
In 2022, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office submitted details recovered from the body to the LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services lab in hopes the remains could be identified using modern technology.
Once an image of what the victim would have looked like was publicized, an anonymous tip led investigators to seek DNA from Boudreaux’s surviving relatives and a match was made.
Detectives then reopened the case and after reviewing the case file and conducting new interviews, it was learned Russell was involved in relationships with Boudreaux and Weiser.
Investigators also learned since the death of Boudreaux, Lee “amassed a violent criminal history” of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, battery, burglary, arson and other charges.
Statements and evidence implicating both suspects in the killing of Boudreaux, dismemberment of the body and dumping of the remains, KQKI News reported. Warrants were then issued for the pair’s arrests.