The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
Listener discretion is advised.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
Hello everyone and welcome back.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And my handsome husband and co-host, Eli Sulkowski, is feeling a little sick this week, so it
will just be me bringing you the podcast this week.
Right at the top, I just wanted to say a really big thank you to Arianna, who recently donated
to our Buy Us a Coffee, which just helps us cover the cost of podcasting and all the expenses
that go into it.
Thank you so much for your donation.
It means the world to us.
I know times are tight right now.
Grocery prices are expensive.
Everything's expensive.
So when people find an extra five, 10, or even more, it just blows my mind.
I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you.
So this week we are on episode 44, and we are on a cold case this week.
So today I have for you the case of Luther Meshell, which takes place in March of 1991
in Shreveport, Louisiana.
But first, a little bit about Luther.
Luther is 50 years old in 1991.
He was born February 24, 1941, and he would be 82 years old today.
He often went by the nickname Bud or Buddy.
He was a retired pulpwood truck driver.
And a pulpwood truck driver, those are those trucks that have all the logs on the back
of them that you sometimes see driving down the interstate.
So he used to drive those trucks, but he had been injured pretty severely 20 years earlier
when a tree had fallen on him in Texas.
Because of this, he used crutches and a wheelchair to get around.
He was the loving father of two, Allen and Tammy.
Allen is 17 years old in 1991, and Tammy is in her early 20s.
Luther had just celebrated his 50th birthday the month before in his home on Michel Avenue,
which is spelled differently from his last name.
It's the French spelling for Michael.
His home still had the decorations up, crepe paper and balloons.
Luther loved music.
He would occasionally DJ for friends and for parties happening around the area.
According to his daughter Tammy, quote, he was very outgoing.
The most important thing to him was me, Allen, his mother, and his music, end quote.
And now a timeline of events.
On Wednesday, March 27, 1991.
So like other cases that we've covered here on Cold and Missing, I don't know a lot
about the days leading up to the murder, but here is what I do know.
At around 735 in the evening, Luther's 17 year old son finds Luther dead on the floor
of his bedroom.
There are few details available about the crime scene, but what we do know, the scene
was very brutal.
There was blood smeared on the kitchen floor.
Luther had been stabbed multiple times in his chest and his back and his throat had
been cut.
At the scene, investigators note that the phone line had been cut so that way nobody
could call for help.
In addition, several items were taken from Luther's home.
Most notably, his 1997 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was missing, his TV, his stereo, and $30.
His daughter Tammy says, quote, my daddy didn't have a lot of material things.
They stole his TV, his stereo, his car, $30 and his life.
And I just don't understand.
It was obvious they were there as a robbery.
They didn't have to kill him, end quote.
Eventually investigators will determine that Luther had been dead around two days by the
time he was found, which would place his death somewhere between Sunday, March 24 and Monday,
March 25.
The next day, Thursday, March 28, police find Luther's 1997 Oldsmobile Delta 88 in a parking
lot of an apartment complex in the Queensborough neighborhood of Shreveport.
This would have been about 15 minutes away from Luther's home.
There are no details around the condition of the car or what, if any, evidence the police
were able to pull.
Tammy, Luther's daughter, believes that her father was targeted because he used a wheelchair.
Police spokesperson Cindy Chadwick says, quote, robbery looks more probable than any motive,
end quote.
His son Alan summed it all up by saying, quote, it is just terrible, end quote.
And then this case feels like it goes cold pretty quickly.
I'm sure police were working it around the time of the crime, so March of 1991 into April
of 1991.
But there's no reporting on it that I could find in local newspaper or in the local media.
So the next big update that I could find happens in 2009.
And this comes by effort of Allen and Tammy, Luther's children.
They start a campaign to find their dad's killer.
So they make up a bunch of posters and spend hours putting them all over Shreveport, specifically
around where their father lived, hoping to jog someone's memory.
There were no details if any leads came from this, but it got people talking about his
case again in June of 2010.
So this would be 19 years since Luther's murder.
Police say they have no leads or suspects.
The Shreveport spokesperson at this time, Bill Goodin, says, quote, the passage of time
does not diminish our desires or efforts to solve these homicides.
The detective who worked these crimes feel a solemn sense of responsibility in that they
must solve the case to bring closure and justice to the families and victims, end quote.
Over the years, Crimestoppers had put Luther's case on billboards in the Shreveport area,
and police had put his case on playing cards put into the prison system.
So this is something that we've talked about on the podcast before as kind of an investigative
tool where police will make a deck of cards and each card has a different cold case or
missing person.
And they put them into the local county jails and prisons with the belief that people in
prison would know more about cold cases or missing people.
All in all, they're just trying to get a jailhouse informant.
Luther's daughter Tammy says, quote, it's been horrible.
Everyone said that time would heal the wound, but that hasn't been true in my case.
The longer it goes, the worse it is.
I just want to know.
I simply want to know.
Police say they continue to review the case file in hopes of finding new leads that might
lead to arrest.
But as of now, they have nothing.
Tammy said, quote, if anyone can remember anything, please come forward and help solve
this so my brother and I can heal and get some closure.
I'm not concerned about the jail time or the death penalty.
I just want to know, end quote.
In March of 2016, the local media started covering Luther's case on the anniversary
of his murder each year for a few years.
However, in 2016, it was noted that while the family believed that robbery was a motive,
they also believe a female acquaintance was involved in the murder.
But there are no more details surrounding this.
Police have not given up on the case.
Corporal Marcus Hines says, quote, you can't afford to give up on a case because there's
been so many cases in the past that through continuous efforts, they've been able to
be in arrest and closure for the family, end quote.
And Luther's daughter Tammy says in March of 2016, it's been 25 years full of questions
of so many memories being lost, end quote.
And that was really the last update that I could find.
Media had covered the case again, but there had been no real updates or changes in the
story from years prior.
And at this point, this case is now 32 years cold.
So if you know anything about the murder of Luther Meshell in March of 1991 in Shreveport
at 318-673-7373.
And the sources for the timeline today come from the Shreveport Journal, The Times,
and KTBS 3.
So that is all we know of Luther Meshell's murder.
And it's obviously such a horrible one.
Here's a man who was already vulnerable.
You know, he was using crutches and wheelchairs to get around.
So the brutalness of this crime just seems like way too much.
What I keep coming back to in this case, as I've been researching it again and again,
is just how brutal his murder truly was to be stabbed so many times, to have your throat
cut.
The fact that there was blood smeared in one room, but he was found in another room, just
suggests such great violence and, frankly, overkill that seems so unnecessary for the
things that were taken.
A TV, a stereo, $30.
And his car, which was later abandoned.
So really all these people got were a TV, a stereo, and $30.
And I say people.
Maybe it's just one person.
I don't know.
I was interested when I read later in the 2016 review of the case in the local media
how the family mentioned a female acquaintance just because this case does seem so violent.
That just for a robbery to have taken place, that it's like there has to be something
more involved in this.
And of course, maybe it was just robbery.
Me personally, in my life, I know somebody who was murdered after she walked in on her
home being robbed.
And her murder was really brutal as well.
And nothing of any significant value was taken.
And the person who has been charged with her crime didn't know her beforehand, had no personal
vendetta against her or her family, but just happened to be robbing her home when she came
home from school.
So I do have a personal experience with just like a violent robbery kind of gone wrong
or interrupted.
So I do know that it can happen.
And I do believe it does happen.
It's really sad to see people's lives taken over material things, things that can be bought
and replaced, traded, and things that eventually upgrade, get new things.
But people's lives can never be replaced.
That's just something I come to again and again is just like why, what is the motive
here?
Was it just robbery as the police say is the most likely things were taken, of course,
but is there something else?
Again, I don't want to speculate too hard on that, but the family did mention the female
acquaintance.
Another thing I have a lot of questions about is just his car being found.
I would love to know more details around that.
Was there anything missing from the car?
What kind of condition was the car in?
Was it locked?
Was it unlocked?
Were the keys in it?
Have his keys been found?
Were they able to lift any fingerprints from the steering wheel, the rear view mirror,
the car handles, the car door?
I think if I was handed this case tomorrow and just asked like, hey, what would you do
next?
I think one of the first things I would be interested in is, is there anything from this
car that could be tested with advanced technology or just reviewed more closely?
And also while police say they have no suspects or leads, I wonder if there has ever been
a person of interest or just who have they interviewed and crossed off?
Is there somebody that they considered that they were able to rule out?
I would just be interested to know who has popped up in this, what stories have cropped
up in Luther's death, just because there's so little information surrounding it.
But as soon as I heard the story, I just instantly felt that this is a case that cold and missing
should cover.
This is somebody who was already vulnerable.
This is somebody who could take care of himself and did take care of himself, but somebody
like took advantage of his vulnerability.
And I just, you know, it feels like it just is such a great injustice.
And I just knew it was a case that I had to find out more about and research and just
try to get his name out there again.
So again, if you know anything about the murder of Luther Meshell in Shreveport, Louisiana
in March of 1991, please call the Shreveport Caddo Parish Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373.
And again, another big thank you to Arianna for donating to us.
If that's something that you are interested in, if you've got $5 burning a hole in your
pocket, you can go to our website, coldandmissing.com.
And from there, you can donate to us.
You can also leave us a review, which we appreciate so much.
We've had lots of reviews on the website recently and on Apple podcasts.
So thank you, thank you, thank you again.
If you've done this, it really helps other people just find us and view us with credibility,
knowing that other people have listened and have enjoyed.
So thank you for being part of that.
I appreciate it so much.
And just by reviewing and sharing this podcast with your friends and family, you are helping
get these names out there, helping get these cases back in people's minds and talking about
them.
And you are directly doing this work along with us.
So thank you so much for being here, for coming along with us on this journey as we enter
our second year here shortly at the end of the summer.
Will be our one year anniversary of the podcast.
And I'm so proud of this and I'm so proud of the community that's being built around
it.
If you want to be a part of it, you can follow us on Instagram at Cold and Missing.
We have lots of conversations in the comment sections.
Also on YouTube, I always post our podcasts just on YouTube.
There's no fancy video with it.
I am in my mid thirties and very busy, so I do not have time to make videos.
I do apologize, but I do put the audio up there with pictures of the people we're covering.
And there's lots of conversation happening in the comments over on YouTube as well.
So you're always more than welcome to join us over there and hop in.
But other than that, I hope you have a great week and stay safe, y'all.