Police arrest 4th suspect
Duson teen went missing on April 30
A fourth person has been arrested in the disappearance of 15-year-old Keiosha Felix, who has been missing since April 30, Duson Police Chief Frank Andrew said Monday.
Ronald Wilkerson was arrested Monday on a warrant from the Duson Police Department on one count of simple kidnapping, according to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.
Andrew would not say how Wilkerson’s arrest is connected with Felix’s disappearance, only that it is related to the case.
Wilkerson, of Jackson, was arrested at a motel in West Baton Rouge Parish, Andrew said in a news release. He was booked in the West Baton Rouge Parish Prison and then transported to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center. Wilkerson was being booked into that facility Monday evening, Parish Correctional Center officials said.
Andrew said he believes Wilkerson’s arrest will help authorities determine the girl’s whereabouts, but he declined to elaborate. The police chief did say he believes Felix is alive.
Wilkerson is the brother of Leon Wilkerson Jr., who was arrested July 24 on counts of simple rape and second-degree kidnapping in the Felix case.
Police have also arrested Patricia Andrus, Leon Wilkerson’s girlfriend and Felix’s aunt, and Andrus’ daughter, Portia Felix, in the girl’s disappearance.
Andrus was arrested on counts of improper supervision of a minor and accessory after the fact to simple rape. Portia Felix was arrested on one count of obstruction of justice.
According to a police affidavit, Keiosha Felix was in the state’s custody when she disappeared while on a weekend pass to the home of Andrus, who lives in Duson.
Police confirmed last week that Keiosha Felix was living at Maison De Mere in Lafayette. The state Department of Children and Family Services states on its website that the facility is a state-run shelter for teenage girls who are pregnant or parenting a child. Family members have said Felix is the mother of a nearly 1-year-old baby.
When the investigation began, police considered Felix an endangered runaway, but that changed July 23 when the Duson Police Department said it learned that some of the girl’s family members had lied about having had contact with her.
The Advocate normally does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes but is doing so in this case because police are asking the public for help in finding Felix.
For more information, visit the FindKeioshaFelixNow Facebook page.
Anyone with information about Felix’s whereabouts is asked to call the Duson Police Department at (337) 232-9211 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.