LA LA - Kassie Federer, 19, LSU student, Baton Rouge, 13 Sept 1999 *DNA*

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Kassie Lynn Federer, age 19, a junior at LSU & member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, was murdered in her Park Blvd apartment in Baton Rouge on Sept. 13, 1999.

She was murdered after she returned home from class & sometime before 3pm. She had locked the door behind her after returning home. Someone kicked in her front door and shot and killed her. The bullets went into her lungs and head. She had the phone in her hand; she was likely trying to call for help. The only thing missing from her home was her blue school bag.

Kassie's murder remains unsolved.

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5380774&clienttype=printable

http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tangipahoa/obits/obitssur/federer.txt

http://www.crimestoppersbr.com/PageDisplay.asp?p1=26311
 
Some have speculated that Kassie may have been a victim of one of the Baton Rouge serial killers active at the time she was killed, including Derrick Todd Lee or Sean Vincent Gillis.
However, IMO, Kassie's death doesn't seem to fit their MOs.

Derrick Todd Lee stalked and murdered women around LSU's campus; his DNA tied him to the murders of LSU students Murray Pace, Geralyn DeSoto, & Carrie Yoder. Another of his victims, Gina Green, was a nurse who lived very close to LSU's campus & Murray Pace's home. However, DTL's victims were beaten, strangled, and had their throats slashed. There's never been any info released that says any of his victims were ever shot. Similarly, SVG killed his victims in ways similar to DTL; there's no indication any of his victims had been shot, either. Similarly, I cannot find any indication that Jeffrey Lee Guillory, a serial killer who operated in North BR (who killed mainly black prostitutes or drug addicts) used a gun on his victims. One of the three victims linked to him had a crushed skull; another was strangled.

I'm more inclined to think that Kassie Lynn's murder was a robbery gone bad. The intruder came in to rob (and maybe attack) her, but she went for the phone. He saw the phone in her hand and shot at her multiple times, grabbed the school bag, and ran out. Unless maybe DTL or another killer used a gun to get into women's homes (although Kassie's door was broken down, apparently) and sometimes to get women to another location, even if it wasn't used to kill them...but maybe just for control? (Although Lee's surviving victim didn't say anything about him having a gun).

This brings me to the possibility of Brandon Lavergne, murderer of Mickey Shunick & Lisa Pate. We know he had a gun when he abducted Mickey, as well as a knife. When Mickey got the knife away from him and nearly killed him with his own knife, he shot her in the head. The gun seems to have been a way to get Mickey in the car and backup in case the knife wasn't enough to kill her. We know he'll use a gun on victims if he's pushed into a corner. But the gun aspect is the only thing so far I can find to suggest maybe BSL may be the perp. But it doesn't feel right to me. BR is over an hour away from BSL's hometown of Church Point, although we know he got around.

Park Blvd is in the Garden District area of BR (nice area, pretty expensive homes, lots of professionals and LSU professors live in the area). However, it sits on the cusp of one the higher crime areas of BR. Literally right behind Park Blvd (towards the river), things go down hill pretty fast. The area is well-known for crime and drugs. I'm wondering if robbery wasn't the motive for this reason. Maybe the perp saw Kassie return from school carrying only her school bag & figured her wallet must be in it. When things went badly and he thought she had called 911, he grabbed the only thing he could in such a short time, her school bag, figuring it at least had her wallet in it.

It's crazy to me that this happened in the middle of the day in broad daylight. However, DTL appears to have attacked Carrie Yoder, Murray Pace, and maybe Pam Kinnamore in their homes in daylight.
 
"She obviously entered her apartment, [and] locked the door," says Sgt. Madeline Brooks from the Baton Rouge Police Department. "Some time that afternoon, before three, someone kicked the door in, and shot and killed her."
"It appears that she had the phone in her hand, most probably had grabbed it, trying to call for help," Brooks says.
http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5380774&clienttype=printable

Obituary

The seven of hearts displays the face of Kassie Lynn Federer, of
Baton Rouge. She was shot to death Sept. 13, 1999, in her
apartment.
Federer's mother and father, Debby Durapau and Warren Federer,
who were at a news conference in Baton Rouge, said they just want
closure.
"Was it a case of mistaken identity?" Durapau asked. "We just
want to know what happened to our daughter."
http://www.katc.com/news/unsolved-crimes-featured-on-playing-cards/
 
A poster on Kaitlin Aydell's thread posted some info on Kaitlin's killer that made me think of Kassie's case. Kaitlin was a 13 year old girl who was killed by Mark Lewis in 2007 in French Settlement, LA. He is currently serving LWOP in Angola. In 2010, he confessed to abducting & killing Janet Parker Benoit. It seems she was driven in her car from BR to Denham Springs, where he left her dead in a church parking lot (he had no connection to that church). She was found shot to death in her car.

In 1993, he abducted a woman from Cortana Mall in BR. She escaped and he spent two (yes only two!) years in prison for her kidnapping. He was out in 1999 when Kassie was killed.

http://www.livingstonparishnews.com...54a-bf69-5864-9a3c-20df90ac85f2.html?mode=jqm

The fact tha Janet Parker Benoit was shot to death made me think of Kassie and that he could perhaps be responsible. Maybe he went into abduct her, saw she had grabbed the phone (maybe even thought she had already dialed 911), freaked out and shot her. (LE has the gun used in Ms. Benoit's murder, so I assume they would know if it was the same gun...not that he wouldn't necessarily have access to more than one gun).

[Since learning about Lewis, I am also wondering if maybe one or some of the abductions/murders of women in the Baton Rouge area that are often "attributed" to Derrick Todd Lee but have never been positively tied to him may have actually been perpetrated by Lewis.]

And I'm including a link to Kaitlin Aydell's thread if anyone is interested. I wasn't familiar with the case until someone posted on it recently and bumped the thread:
Found Deceased LA - Kaitlin M. Aydell, 13, Livingston Parish, Feb 2007 - Page 2 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
 
It's hard for me to imagine someone kicking a door down in the middle of the day to commit a robbery. Doing so would almost guarantee you being caught although this time it didn't. It looks like some sort of crazed individual out for some vendetta or, much less likely, some sort of gang hit. Even a serial killer would use some subterfuge, I would think. If it was just some guy gone berserk, I would have expected some other murders in the area that same day.
 
Can't believe I haven't heard of this case. I wonder what caliber weapon was used and if they utilized ATF's ballistics database. Not knowing they even had such a thing I went looking, turns out they do.
 
Can we examine the obvious and/or get it out of the way? Did she have an ex-boyfriend? The door kicked-in sounds like spur-of-the-moment, heat of passion rage.
 
I agree with you! It does not seem to be the work of those serial killers. I live within this area, so when I saw LSU student, I immediately clicked on the page! Let me know if you need any additional information about the area, LSU, or Louisiana. :)
 
Three shots fired. One gunshot wound. Small caliber weapon. No gangs. No vindictive ex boyfriend. Lee was in jail...of course we know there's more than one serial killer in La. Backpack was taken-purse was left behind.
Stalker or road rage that followed her home?
 
Thanks for the rundown imak119.



:welcome5:
 
Oh, dear, imak. In that case, I'm doubly grateful to you for the information. I'm so sorry.
 
http://www.lobservateur.com/news/st-charles-natives-hope-show-will-help-find-their-kids/article_9584cbc1-5e4c-5791-8770-bd09ba9a1e45.html?TNNoMobile

This early 2000 article has a blonde haired man fleeing the scene after the shots were fired which were heard by neighbors evidently.

Neighbors in the family-oriented apartment complex heard the shot at 3:30 p.m. and saw a blond-haired man fleeing the scene. The suspect was further described as in his mid-20s, fair skin with freckles, 5 feet 9 inches in height and 185 pounds.

not only that but...

During questioning of apartment management, a maintenance man revealed he had seen and talked to a man answering the same description. He had discovered the man in Kassie's apartment "as though he belonged there" one week prior to the murder while Kassie and her roommate were at classes at LSU

Debby Murry has no clue who that person could have been. Questioning of the roommate and their friends turned up no one fitting the description.

Kassie and her roommate had only been in the apartment for two months and had no idea an intruder had been there.

I wonder why these details are left out of the subsequent articles through the years, and if a sketch was ever produced. What am I missing here?
 
One neighbor gave the description that led to a police sketch. The sketch was very generic - no specific details that would make the person stand out. I remember feeling like we were looking for a needle in a haystack... Every mid 20s white male kinda looked like the sketch. Maintenance man was pretty certain it was Kassie's apartment but never 100% - Police went with it just in case. The person that gave the description had some issues with keeping his recollection consistent and moved out of the apartment complex shortly after. I guess that is why the sketch wasn't pushed any further in the media.
 
One neighbor gave the description that led to a police sketch. The sketch was very generic - no specific details that would make the person stand out. I remember feeling like we were looking for a needle in a haystack... Every mid 20s white male kinda looked like the sketch. Maintenance man was pretty certain it was Kassie's apartment but never 100% - Police went with it just in case. The person that gave the description had some issues with keeping his recollection consistent and moved out of the apartment complex shortly after. I guess that is why the sketch wasn't pushed any further in the media.

Thanks for clarifying that for us imak119. I hope for some Justice for your sister and family.
 
Three shots fired. One gunshot wound. Small caliber weapon. No gangs. No vindictive ex boyfriend. Lee was in jail...of course we know there's more than one serial killer in La. Backpack was taken-purse was left behind.
Stalker or road rage that followed her home?

IMAK119-
Thank you for joining. I started this thread when I read about Kassie's murder, as I'm a member of the same sorority as Kassie (although in another chapter at a different university, but we still consider members from other chapters "sisters"). I got my master's degree at LSU and didn't live too far away from where Kassie lived.
Her case is really perplexing and I often find myself hoping for a resolution and justice for Kassie.

I thought of Kassie last night (as well as Murray Pace & Carrie Yoder- victims of DTL & Christine Moore, another possible DTL victim, who were all LSU students who lived near campus) when I heard about an attempted abduction on LSU's campus (http://www.wafb.com/story/24782001/lsu-issues-alert-for-attempted-abduction-on-campus).
 
I'm thinking of the sketch- Just our of curiosity, does anyone know the height and (1999ish) weight of Sean Vincent Gills? I haven't been able to find it anywhere. He's white & somewhat fair-skinned, although I'm not sure he could pass for "blonde." I don't think a gun necessarily fits with his M.O., but who knows.
 
:bump: for Kassie & fresh eyes to look at her thread/case.
 
Any idea what was in the backpack or why it was taken. It seems like that may be related to the motive.
 

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