A Louisiana mother was shot dead by murderers her brother accused of raping her to kill her daughter – pretending to be the target to save her daughter’s life, officials said.
Brittany Cormier, 34, was found shot to death in her Montegut home on Jan. 13 along with a 37-year-old neighbor, Hope Nettleton, who was visiting her at the time, said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Timothy Soignet.
Investigators quickly focused on Cormier’s brother, Beaux Cormier, 35, a convicted sex offender accused of raping his niece, the sheriff said.
They accused him of hiring two friends to kill the girl – even helping with surveillance when he joined them on their first planned mission, which was aborted.
When the killers attacked on January 13, Brittany Cormier pretended to be the target – while her daughter and stepdaughter hid in a closet, the sheriff told The Advocate.
“Brittany Cormier was murdered as a result of telling the sniper that she was actually the rape victim, probably saving the life of the real rape victim,” said Soignet in a statement.
Nettleton was shot dead while trying to fight the sniper, he said.
Samantha LeMaire, a friend who said Cormier was “like a sister” to her, told the lawyer that the mother “would do anything for the children”.
“But up to this point? I never thought it would reach this point, ”she said.
“I like to think that she locked them in the closet to protect them,” she said of her daughter and stepdaughter. The girls’ names or ages were not disclosed.
Soignet told The Advocate that Cormier quickly became a suspect because there was a “very solid rape case” against him “that provided the reason.”
Other suspects, Andrew Eskine, 25, and Dalvin Wilson, 22, later confessed to being hired for the attack, the report said. All three are now being held on $ 2 million bail on two counts of first-degree murder.
“The death penalty is definitely on the table,” said prosecutor Joe Waitz Jr ..
Cormier – already a convicted sex offender – still faces third-degree rape for the alleged attack on his niece, the sheriff said.
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