A man Kenner Police say is a “person of interest” in the strangulation of Anita McDonald in a Kenner hotel last night jumped from the Veterans Bridge in Grammercy following a high-speed chase.
Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations troopers started a pursuit somewhere near Grammercy Tuesday afternoon and followed the suspect on to the bridge, where he pulled over and jumped into the Mississippi River, according to Trooper Russel Graham of Troop A.
One of the troopers crashed at the bridge but was not injured.
Graham could not say why troopers were chasing the suspect, but he said law enforcement agencies from Jefferson Parish to St. James were gathered at the bridge to share information. However, Kenner Chief Steve Caraway confirmed that the person troopers were pursuing was a person of interest in the Kenner case.
McDonald was found dead in the Comfort Inn Suites on Idaho Drive in Kenner Monday night. Her death was similar to that of Jateese Hudgins, 21, a woman strangled at the La Quinta hotel in Metairie on August 10. Both were from out of state and had prior arrests for prostitution.
