A triple homicide at a homeless camp has rocked the neighborhood, fueled calls for government help
A triple homicide in Louisiana a camp for the homelessallegedly fueled by a stolen bicycle, highlights the inherent dangers of these camps – not just for their residents, but for those in the surrounding communities, an expert told Fox News Digital.
On April 3, 44-year-old Mindy Ann Robert, 33-year-old Marcey Vincent and 53-year-old Warren Fairley were found dead, all shot multiple timesin a makeshift camp, hidden from view by brush on a vacant lot in Jefferson Parish, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
The crime in these camps is causing growing concern throughout the country, which has experienced Homelessness increase of 18.1% in 2024. according to a December report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Federal officials have cited rising numbers of asylum seekers, a lack of affordable housing and natural disasters as reasons for the rise in homelessness.
“These homeless encampments are a health and safety threat to the general public,” Mark Powell, a former San Diego reserve police officer who oversaw the city’s Monarch School for Homeless Youth while on the city’s school board, told Fox News Digital. “It is the duty, the obligation of our city leaders, our elected politicians, to do everything they can within the law to eradicate these encampments and provide the people living in the encampments with the dignity they deserve through some sort of shelter program.”
Noel Marine faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of obstruction of justice. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)
In the Louisiana case, Noel Marine, who was known to visit the victims at the camp, was arrested and faces three counts of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice in their deaths. It is right now held on $100,000 bailit says in court records.
Investigators believe Vincent and Robert were homeless and lived at the camp, while Fairley lived in a house nearby. Robert’s family assumed she lived nearby because they had recently seen her struggling on a nearby street corner, NOLA.com reports.
“Sometimes other people would stay [at the campsite] and use narcotics,” Det. Ryan Vaught testified during a Nov. 19 hearing in Jefferson Parish Court.
A man walking with one of the female victims reportedly called 911 around 9:40 a.m. when he found the three bodies.
People living in a homeless encampment collect their belongings after Louisiana State Police instructed them to move to another predetermined location as they clean up ahead of a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Marine, 55, became the prime suspect after his fingerprint was also found on a metal folding chair at the scene. His fingerprints were in the National Combined DNA Index System due to previous convictions, including four counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and other drug charges.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in April 2005, court records show. At the time of the shooting, he was wanted on a misdemeanor theft charge after allegedly stealing from a Walmart in February of this year, according to court records.
Marine reportedly claimed he was staying at a friend’s house in Metairie at the time of the shooting, but his alibi was torn apart after the friend told detectives Marine wasn’t there.
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Mindy Ann Robert (44) was one of the victims of the triple murder. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)
Although gunfire was heard in the area around 1 or 2 a.m., no one saw the killings, according to Vaught. However, Marine’s friend gave a statement to police after he allegedly confessed to the killings, Vaught testified.
After being brought in for a second round of questioning, the Marine claimed that another man had shot the three victims. He said he spoke to the man who confronted him at the camp after Marine stole his bike. The other man brandished a gun and the Marine entered the camp to retrieve the stolen property, according to the Marine, who said he then heard gunfire.
However, police have not named the man Marine is charged with, and no one else has been arrested for the murders.
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Marcey Vincent, 33, was shot on April 3 at the Old Jefferson homeless camp where she lived. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)
Powell said the incident is the latest example of why the government has an obligation to regulate homeless encampments.
“In this case, three people were killed. That doesn’t mean that someone jogging through a park or jogging near a homeless camp can also become a victim as easily as this one,” Powell told Fox News Digital.
“It’s the city’s duty. If they’re going to allow homeless encampments like this, it’s their duty to make sure that they’re cleaned up, that they’re regulated, that there’s some sort of police presence that visits these homeless people to camp on a regular basis,” Powell said.
Warren Fairley, 53, worked at a nearby restaurant as a cook, his family told The Times-Picayune. He had been a regular visitor to the homeless camp before he was killed there on April 3, police said. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)
“Not once a month or when they get a call, but they have to have some kind of insurance,” he continued. “[Otherwise] you’re going to end up with more incidents like this where there’s rape, murder, assault, battery, theft, rampant drug dealing – that’s what you’re going to find in these homeless camps.”
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“A lot of people don’t even want to run in the park because they know there’s a homeless camp there and they’re afraid — the people who commit crimes are the ones who control the property,” Powell said. “They don’t pay taxes, they don’t do anything yet. [But] people who pay taxes who don’t commit crimes are the ones who are affected.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
