GRAND ISLE, La. — Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office issued a new arrest warrant in their investigation into a nearly 40 year homicide investigation.
JPSO said they believe Patricia Tito, 58, was involved in killing Lester Rome of Grand Isle during the 1980s. His remains, found in a Sabine Parish water well in 1986 went unidentified for 35 years and were known as, "The Man in The Well."
The sheriff's office also identified Delvin Avard Sibley, 76, as a person of interest, partly based on statements Tito made to investigators.
"Our investigators are asking anyone with knowledge of Sibley's possible involvement in the homicide or later disposal of the victim's remains to come forward," NOPD Captain Jason Rivarde said.
Sibley had been arrested previously with a second-degree murder warrant related to the Rome's killing in 2021 but according to NOLA.com, prosecutors apparently never took the case to court.
Patricia Tito, who was already in prison for a 2003 Shreveport homicide, led JPSO investigators to Sibley as well as to the location where she said Rome was killed in Grand Isle, according to Capt. Rivarde.
Tito told sheriff's deputies that Rome was killed near Elmer Island and that as a teenager she was there during the killing. She put the blame on Sibley, then in his thirties, as the one responsible for murdering Rome.
"At the time of the initial investigation, Tito was found residing in Mr. Rome's home and operating his business," Rivarde said. "She claimed that Mr. Rome had simply gone on a trip and denied any knowledge of foul play."
Rome was 58 when his family reported him missing in early 1984, and and for nearly 40 years his what happened to him was a mystery.
Two years later, the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office opened a murder investigation after a man's remains were discovered in a water well in Many, La. At that point law enforcement said they believed that Rome had been killed by blunt force trauma and possible stab wounds.
The case was known for decades as, "The Man in The Well," until 2021 when forensics experts eventually identified the man as Rome. This breakthrough came after LSU's forensics department made a possible connection between the Man in The Well case and Rome's disappearance.
Captain Rivarde questioned Tito's claim that she was innocent and issued a second-degree murder charge.
"While the level of her involvement is not entirely clear, and despite her protestations of innocence, Tito obviously had knowledge of Mr. Rome's death and failed to make any effort to notify law enforcement or a member of his family between 1984 and 2021," Rivarde said.
JPSO also said that the well in Sabine Parish, where Rome's body was found had been a property once owned by the murder suspect Sibley's family.
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