LA LA - Gary Kergan, 29, Baton Rouge, 28 Nov 1984

Hilda Swenson

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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kergan_gary.html



Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

# Missing Since: November 28, 1984 from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
# Classification: Endangered Missing
# Date of Birth: October 2, 1955
# Age: 29 years old
# Height and Weight: 5'11, 170 pounds
# Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes.
# Clothing/Jewelry Description: Jewelry worth $8,000.

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Details of Disappearance

Kergan was last seen leaving the Night Spot Lounge on Plank Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 28, 1984. He was accompanied by Leila "Erika" Mulla, a teenage exotic dancer, at the time. Kergan was carrying $2,000 in cash when he disappeared. He has never been heard from again. His late model pink Cadillac was later found abandoned in Metairie, Louisiana, with puddles of blood in the trunk.

Authorities believe Mulla and her boyfriend, Ronald Delton Dunnagan, murdered Kergan inside their apartment on Byron Street on the night of his disappearance. They fled the area for Las Vegas, Nevada after his disappearance. When authorities searched Mulla and Dunnagan's apartment, they found evidence of a violent struggle, including bloodstains. Entries in Mulla's diary indicated she was planning to murder Kergan.

Mulla and and Dunnagan were arrested and charged with his homicide. Authorities believe Kergan was murdered inside an apartment in the 2900 block of Byron Street, sometime after 2:00 a.m. on November 29. Blood and other indications of a violent struggle were found inside the apartment. When questioned by police after her arrest, Mulla implicated Dunnagan in Kergan's homicide. However, both defendants were released three months after their arrest and the charges were dropped. Mulla refused to testify against Dunnagan, and Kergan's body could not be found even after one of the most extensive searches in Baton Rouge history. Prosecutors did not believe they had enough evidence to convict Mulla and Dunnagan of murder.

The case was reopened more than twenty-five years later and, in December 2012, Mulla and Dunnagan were re-arrested for Kergan's murder. Authorities stated DNA typing was able to prove it was Kergan's blood inside the apartment, which gave them the proof they needed. Photos of the defendants are posted below this case summary. Dunnagan was living in Bossier City, Louisiana at the time of his second murder arrest; Mulla was in in New York City. He was charged with first-degree murder and she with second-degree murder; both of them were also charged with simple robbery and conspiracy. They are awaiting trial.

Kergan and his brother co-owned a chain of Sonic drive-in restaurants in southern Louisiana in 1984. He was married in 1984 and has a son. Kergan was declared legally dead in 1986. He has never been located, but foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.

Dunnagan Mulla
Left: Ronald Dunnagan in 2012;
Right: Leila Mulla in 2012

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Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Baton Rouge City Police Department
225-389-8617
OR
225-389-3844

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Source Information
The Doe Network
The Baton Rouge Advocate
NamUs
WAFB 9
 

Attachments

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Missing for 30 years this week; Leila Mulla was sentenced earlier this year.

http://ohianews.com/kent-native-pleads-guilty-in-1984-louisiana-murder/

A Kent native and Theodore Roosevelt High School graduate has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for a 1984 murder that was finally solved by Louisiana police in 2012 with the help of DNA evidence.

Baton Rouge police named Mulla and Dunnagan — described as “a drifter” — as suspects early on in the investigation. The couple fled to Las Vegas after the murder, according to media reports, and were arrested there in December 1984. However, the Baton Rouge District Attorney at the time lacked enough evidence to charge them, and they were released. Gary Kergan’s body still has not been found.

BBM I hope she tells them where he is; satisfied that she is finally convicted after living freely for close to three decades. Check out Charley Project for other new information and that LE is hoping her testimony will help them to convict Dunnagan.
 
Prosecution will depend heavily on Mulla's testimony:

http://www.nola.com/crime/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/09/kergan_murder_trial_baton_roug.html

Both Cummings and defense attorney Susan Hebert indicated the trial will hang on the how credible the jury considers the testimony of Leila Mulla, the then-19-year-old prostitute and exotic dancer who was allegedly the last to be seen with Kergan alive. When Baton Rouge Police Department cold case detectives tracked her down in 2012, she was a working as a registered nurse in Astoria, Ore.

Hebert indicated in her opening statement that Mulla couldn't be trusted because she offered her testimony in exchange for a plea deal. Mulla's "self-serving" testimony has changed, Hebert said, and has grown more elaborate over time as law enforcement pressured her to paint a more detailed picture.

But Hebert said Mulla's inflation of her story, which grew more "hysterical" over time, will give jurors enough reason to distrust her and acquit her client. The prosecution will try to paint the witness as a reformed woman who in 1984 was young and vulnerable to Dunnagan, who was 36 at the time, Hebert said. But Mulla has not accounted for her own "foolishness" and role in the crime.

"There's a saying that sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil's brother," Hebert said, referring to Mulla. "This time the D.A. made a deal with the devil himself."

More coverage:

Opening statements begin, witnesses take stand in cold case killing from 1984

Club owner testifies dancer, her boyfriend never returned after night Crowley businessman was killed
 
Disturbing details surrounding the murder of Gary Kergan.

"'I'm so sorry...I was screwed up': Ex-prostitute testifies how she helped kill Louisiana businessman in 1984"

http://www.nola.com/crime/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/09/baton_rouge_cold_case_kergan.html

When Leila Mulla took the witness stand Thursday (Sept. 10) inside a Baton Rouge courtroom, it had been 30 years since she set foot in the same room as defendant Ronald Dunnagan.

Despite her best efforts to bury the decades-old memories of the early morning hours on Nov. 29, 1984, Mulla testified she has thought of Dunnagan every day since then.

Mulla remembered at least two trash bags were filled, some of them containing Kergan's clothes, their clothes, the wine glasses and wine bottle. Others, she indicated, contained parts of Kergan's body.

After loading the bags in the trunk of Kergan's Cadillac, which Mulla said she had "vague" memories of helping Dunnagan do, they drove to two different dumpsters in Baton Rouge. At one of the stops, Mulla said she got out of the car while Dunnagan unloaded some of the contents from the trunk. At the second stop, she sat in the car and "watched in the mirror" as he dumped the last of the bags. With little knowledge of Baton Rouge then and now, she wasn't able to remember where the dumpsters were located, she said.


http://www.ksla.com/story/30001115/day-2-of-murder-trial-from-1984-cold-case-sees-more-witnesses-take-the-stand-for-the-prosecution

Mulla said they specifically chose Nov. 29, 1984 because Kergan had a routine and prior to that, he had come to her apartment, had wine and sex. So that night, she said, "We had sex and when we were done, I went to the refrigerator and poured wine in both glasses. In one glass, there was white residue, and that's the glass I was to give to Gary and I gave it to him."

From there, Mulla said Kergan started choking and saying, "Help me." She said she got scared and Dunnagan jumped out of the bedroom closet where he was hiding and put a pillow over his face until he quit moving and breathing.
 
Dunnagan found guilty! Will be sentenced on October 7th.

http://www.nola.com/crime/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/09/cold_case_justice_66-year-old.html

A Baton Rouge jury convicted 66-year-old Ronald Dunnagan Friday (Sept. 11) of second-degree murder in the 1984 death of Crowley businessman Gary Kergan.

Wade said Friday outside the courtroom that his father disappeared the weekend of his 10th birthday. Now 41 and dressed in a suit, tears fell on his cheek in the hallway as he hugged his uncle Ted Kergan, who has pushed for the prosecution of his brother's killers for 30 years.

Ted's wife, Ann Kergan, said her husband's "dedication and tenacity" in his pursuit of justice for his brother, even 30 years later, helped result in Friday's verdict.

"I think it's great for kids in this generation to know that no matter how much time passes," she said, "the truth prevails."
 
Nov 3 2017
http://www.wafb.com/story/36757108/author-turns-three-decades-old-br-cold-case-into-a-book
[h=3]Author turns three decades old BR cold case into a book[/h]
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - It was one of the first big cold cases to come to fruition for Baton Rouge, a case three decades old with numerous twists and turns and now it's all documented in a book, "My Brother's Keeper."

"This book is about how Ted Kergan spent 30 years and well over a million dollars to bring his brother's two killers to justice," said author Chris Russo Blackwood, who is a first-time author of "My Brother's Keeper." It's a true story of a Baton Rouge cold case from 1984 and the brother of the victim.
"This is just the index from all the documents that I was provided," said Blackwood. "An incredible amount of research and investigation was done on the part of Ted Kergan. That's why this story had to be told. I mean who would do this? Who would go this far?"Now, both Mulla and Dunnagan are behind bars convicted in Kergan's death after a long trial in 2015. But, Gary's brother is still looking for closure. Gary's body has never been found.

“Ted continues to carry on his own investigation, still looking for his brother in a way,
” said Blackwood.
rbbm.
 
Demographics
Missing Age34 Years
Current Age69 Years
First NameGary
Middle NameS.
Last NameKergan
Nickname/Alias--

SexMale
Height5' 11" (71 Inches)
Weight170 lbs
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last ContactNovember 28, 1984
NamUs Case CreatedDecember 22, 2009
Last Known Location Map
LocationBaton Rouge, Louisiana
CountyEast Baton Rouge Parish

Circumstances of DisappearanceMissing from Baton Rouge, LA; car found in Metairie, LA
Physical Description
Hair ColorBrown
Head Hair Description--
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBrown
Right Eye ColorBrown

R/O

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The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 
Woman convicted in cold case killing tried to claim her sentence was illegal

BATON ROUGE - A woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for leniency tied to the killing of Gary Kergan in 1984 claimed the sentence she received was illegal and asked a court to correct it.

Things took an interesting twist when Leila Mulla withdrew her request this month.

District Attorney Hillar Moore said that was a smart move.

"We could have tried her for murder," Moore said. "We think the agreement we made was fair. She could have received a lot more, and I guess she had buyer's remorse."

As part of the plea in 2014, Mulla received 30 years for manslaughter and armed robbery. She was ordered to serve at least 85-percent of it and testify against Ronald Dunnagan. Dunnagan was convicted of second-degree murder in 2015 following her testimony and is serving a life sentence.

Mulla claimed her sentence was illegal and her case was set to be heard on April 17.

"This is somewhat unusual for us," Moore said. "It was clear in these circumstances. We were scratching our head."

Moore said what she did is very rare, agreeing to plea out to a crime where her sentence is spelled out and then claiming the sentence was illegal.

Mulla and Dunnagan are both serving time for the killing of Gary Kergan. Kergan was a businessman, and prosecutors said he was last seen on Byron Street in Baton Rouge. Investigators found Kergan's blood in a car that was found in Metairie, but there was never enough to formally charge Dunnagan with murder. The case went cold until DNA tests provided new information bringing the duo to justice. Kergan's body was never found.

In 2014, his family told us they felt a sense of relief that justice had finally been served.

"It feels amazing to have some closure for the case and to have some justice," said Wade Kergan, Gary's son.

"I've been mad for 30 years," said Ted Kergan, Gary's brother. "Now, I'm angry she took my best friend from me."
 
Dec 20th, 2019


 

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