Two more people arrested in missing Duson teen case

Two family members of a missing 15-year-old girl have been arrested in connection with the girl’s April 30 disappearance, bringing the total number arrested in the case to three.

Duson Police Chief Frank Andrew said Patricia Andrus, 40, and Portia Felix, 20, who both live in the same home in the 400 block Toby Mouton Road, were arrested Wednesday night in Keiosha Felix’s disappearance.

Keiosha Felix is related to both women, Andrew said.

On Tuesday night, Duson police, with assistance from the Zachary Police Department, arrested Leon Wilkerson Jr., 43, on a warrant for second-degree kidnapping and simple rape of Felix. The warrant was issued by the 15th Judicial District Court.

Andrus was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on counts of accessory after the fact to simple rape and improper supervision of a minor by a parent or legal custodian. Felix was arrested on one count of obstruction of justice.

“We basically feel they are involved and they have information they’re not sharing with us,” Andrew said, declining to go into additional details about the women’s arrest.

The girl was last seen leaving Andrus’ home on April 30.

The Advocate normally does not identify victims of sex crimes or alleged sex crimes, but is doing so in this case because police are asking the public for help in finding Keiosha Felix. Police have created a Facebook page called “Find Keiosha Felix Now.”

Anyone with information about Felix’s whereabouts is asked to call either the Duson Police Department at (337) 232-9211 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.

The teen’s disappearance initially was investigated as a juvenile runaway case, but that changed a few months later to a missing person when investigators learned family members had not spoken with the girl and did not know where she was, Andrew said.

Andrew said investigators had a late start on the case “because of the lies that were told by the parties involved.

“The family said they had spoken with her,” Andrew said. “We assumed that they were telling the truth that she was in contact with other family members, which is why they are in jail basically.”

In an affidavit for warrant of arrest, Lt. Gerald Credeur wrote that Keiosha Felix was in the state’s custody and was at Patricia Andrus’ home on a weekend pass.

Trey Williams, a spokesman for the state Department of Children and Family Services, said he could not confirm nor deny whether Felix was indeed in the state’s care.

Credeur wrote that he had talked to several witnesses who had all stated that Wilkerson, Andrus’ boyfriend, had raped Keiosha Felix. Andrus initially denied knowing anything about the rape, but later told Credeur that Keiosha Felix had told her that Wilkerson “played with her privates,” Credeur wrote.

Andrus would not say whether Wilkerson had actually raped Keiosha Felix, Credeur wrote.

When Credeur asked Andrus why she had not reported the incident to law enforcement or to the state Department of Children and Family Services, “Andrus stated she asked Leon about it and he said it was not true so she left it alone.”

In the affidavit for warrant of arrest filed in Portia Felix’s arrest, Credeur stated that Portia Felix lied to investigators during several interviews in an effort to make police believe the family was in contact with Keiosha Felix when it actually was not.

During one interview, Portia Felix told police that her cousin had been on the phone with Keiosha Felix and that she had overheard Keiosha’s voice during that phone call, Credeur wrote.

Portia Felix has since bonded out of jail after posting a $500 bond, according to online jail records.

Andrus remained incarcerated at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on a $30,000 bail as of Thursday afternoon, according to jail records.

Wilkerson remains incarcerated at the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail. Andrew said authorities are in the process of having him transported to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.