KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Victim of Louisiana KKK slaying identified
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Cynthia LynchCOVINGTON, LA (WWL) - A Tulsa, Oklahoma woman was murdered in rural southeast Louisiana in connection with a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual, the sheriff of a New Orleans suburb says. Eight arrests were reported.
The St. Tammany Parish Coroner's office said Wednesday that the woman was 43-year-old Cynthia C. Lynch of Tulsa. Sheriff Jack Strain says Lynch had been recruited over the internet to come to Louisiana, join a Klan faction, and then return to Oklahoma to sign up more members.
However, authorities say she asked to be taken back to town from the ritual site in a rural area. It happened in the woods near Sun, Louisiana, which is located between Covington and Bogalusa. Now, experts are speaking out about the crime.
Former FBI special agent, Jim Bernazzani, says he is not surprised. "These guys are extremists to begin with, and they will convict themselves, given time, especially in resolution of conflict," he says. Extreme, but unorganized, he adds. Bernazzani says the FBI did a statewide assessment and did not see the KKK organizing. "I don't see any kind of grass-roots movement organizing. I tell ya, I see a bunch of guys who once in a while get together, but for the most part, uh, it's more rhetoric than anything else."
Judy Robinson says she has evidence that they are out there. Two weeks ago, someone spray-painted the letters "KKK" on her brother's car and "White Power" on her propane tank. "It made me feel bad, really, cuz I thought this was all over, but I guess always, there will be a few." She believes she knows why she was targeted. Robinson says for the first time ever, she put up a campaign sign at her home in upper northeast Washington Parish. The sign was in support of President-elect Barack Obama. "I was so proud to put the Obama sign in my yard and it's gonna sit there until I get ready to move it (laughs)." She says she's never dealt with anything like this before.
Meanwhile, the man accused in the shooting, Raymond Chuck Foster, is being held without bond on a second-degree murder charge. Seven other suspects are under arrest, including Shane Foster, Raymond Foster's son. Their bond is set at $500,000 each. They are all being held at the St. Tammany Parish jail.
The following suspects face various charges in the case:
Raymond "Chuck" Foster - 44
Shane Foster - 20
Frank Stafford - 21
Timothy Michael Watkins - 30
Alicia M. Watkins - 23
Andrew Yates - 20
Random Hines - 27
Danielle Jones - 23
Photos courtesy: St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office
