HOUSTON – Neil Patrick Broussard, 51, is behind bars in Lake Charles, Louisana, after a crime spree that sparked a 24-hour manhunt Wednesday. Broussard charged with killing two teenagers, kidnapping another, and severely wounding her mother.
Broussard is a registered sex offender, who had already had charges pending in Houston and Lake Charles.
Louisana police actually began looking for Broussard last Friday to serve a warrant for rape and child molestation. Early Wednesday morning, he went to a friend’s house in suburban Lake Charles and confronted forty-year-old Catherine Hidalgo.
He allegedly shot her repeatedly then killed her 17-year-old daughter Tyler, along with a visiting friend, 18-year-old Caleb Charleton. Broussard fled, kidnapping Hidalgo’s 14-year-old daughter and stealing her car.
“I think his state of mind was he was on the run and he was desperate, just trying to get away from police,” said Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso.
Police in Houston were notified because Broussard was charged here last year for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl, who he met as the coach of a summer league basketball team. He allegedly assaulted her repeatedly for two years.
He was still on bond for that charge.
“We had asked for a $150,000 bond at probable cause court. The judge released him on a $100,000 bond, which he very quickly made. So obviously we don’t know if he’d been held to a higher bond, who knows he might still be in custody today.” said Denise Nichols, the Chief of the Harris County D.A.‘s Crimes Against Children Division.
On Wednesday, Broussard released the 14-year-old girl unharmed in Lake Charles. He remained at-large until Thursday morning when he walked into a Lake Charles Dollar General Store and surrendered.
Broussard is in custody, but he’s not talking. Louisana police are still not sure why he turned so violent.
“Our victim, who is recovering hopefully, is going to survive and give us a better picture of how this transpired.” Sheriff Mancuso said.
Broussard is being held without bond in Lake Charles.