HOUMA -- A 19-year-old with Houma connections has been charged with killing two Baton Rouge women, stealing someone's car and driving it to Houma on Thursday, authorities said.

Meanwhile, Baton Rouge police discovered another couple Friday slain under similar circumstances and are investigating whether the same man was involved, authorities said.

Trucko Stampley of Baton Rouge shot and killed Denise Pedescleaux, 45, and her mother, Marie Pedescleaux, some time after 9 p.m. Tuesday in their home in Baton Rouge during a burglary attempt, police said.

The Courier

19-year-old Trucko Stampley.

The women’s bodies were found around 9 a.m. Wednesday by one of Denise Pedescleaux’s co-workers at Greenbriar Elementary School in Baton Rouge. The younger woman, a fifth-grade teacher, was shot once in the head, while her mother was shot once in the torso, according to Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Though he declined to discuss specifics, McKneely said there was "substantial evidence" linking Stampley to the murder.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday, police say Stampley drove Denise Pedescleaux’s 2006 Toyota Avalon to a Houma duplex on West Park Avenue between Paulette Street and Oakshire Drive. There, while the owner was away, Stampley stole an antique, non-functioning revolver, a hand-held scanner that monitors police-radio frequencies, jewelry, a laptop computer, an X-Box 360, a coin collection and a knife, said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry J. Larpenter.

Stampley left the Avalon, with its specialized Southern University license plate, parked in the driveway, police said.

He then drove away in a duplex resident’s 2006 Dodge Charger, Larpenter said. Contrary to early reports, the keys to car were inside the house, not in the car’s ignition.

The Charger was recovered less than eight hours later in Baton Rouge, and Stampley was arrested shortly afterward. McKneely said neighborhood residents assisted police in locating and arresting Stampley, who was caught in a backyard.

"It really was the neighbors that helped us out, the neighbors and people in the community," McKneely said. "The community was very helpful."

Stampley faces two counts of first-degree murder, burglary and illegal possession of stolen things in Baton Rouge.

In Terrebonne, Stampley is charged with auto theft, possession of a stolen vehicle for the Avalon and burglary.

The Pedescleaux murders show similarities to the killings of Charles Elmore Colvin III and his wife, Ann Lynn Colvin, whose bodies were found shot to death in their Baton Rouge home Friday, police there told the Advocate. The husband’s body was near the door, and the wife’s body was in a bedroom, Baton Rouge police told the newspaper.

When the latest victims were killed, however, has yet to be determined, so police do not know if they fit into Stampley’s known whereabouts, Larpenter said.

Calls to the Baton Rouge police department about the second pair of slayings were not returned late Friday.

Stampley may have had more of a Houma connection than originally thought, Larpenter said. Based on new information from local acquaintances of Stampley’s, detectives now believe he made two trips to Terrebonne Parish -- one soon after the Pedescleaux slayings in Baton Rouge, and a later trip in the morning, when he swapped the cars, the sheriff said.

The residents of the West Park duplex where he stole the Charger had no connection to Stampley -- they were truly "innocent bystanders," Larpenter said.

"These people weren’t killed, by the grace of God," Larpenter said.

Though Larpenter declined to elaborate on what exactly Stampley was doing in Houma during the two trips, the sheriff said Stampley is not suspected of any crimes in Terrebonne other than the car theft.

The possible scope of Stampley’s alleged crime spree continues to widen, however, as the investigation progresses, the sheriff said. Among the items Stampley allegedly stole from the house was a knife, and, when he was captured in Baton Rouge, that knife was covered in blood, Larpenter said.

"The knife didn’t have blood on it when it left Terrebonne Parish," Larpenter said.

Little is known about the source of the blood, as investigators are testing it now to see if it was even human. Both pairs of double-slaying victims were shot, not stabbed, so it was unlikely it used on them, Larpenter said.

McKneely credited officers from the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office and other local law-enforcement agencies with helping expand the search for Stampley.

"Our detectives worked with their guys, they assisted us in getting information out on this guy," McKneely said. "It was a joint effort; we wouldn’t have gotten this far without all the help we received. I’d like to thank everyone for helping us get this guy off the street."