HARVEY, La. — A New Orleans Police Department employee moonlighting as an Uber driver was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a Harvey motel Thursday afternoon by a man Sheriff Joe Lopinto said, just wanted to kill someone, did so, and then filmed the aftermath and posted it to social media.
Yolanda Dillion, 54, a 10-year fiscal budget analyst for the NOPD was picking up a fare in New Orleans for a trip to Harvey.
According to Lopinto, the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Brandon Jacobs, told them that he woke up Thursday morning and decided he wanted to kill someone. He apparently planned to kill the first Uber driver he encountered but realized he needed a ride back to the place he was staying and so killed Ms. Dillion, who was providing the ride back to the Travelodge in Jefferson Parish in the 2200 block of the West Bank Expressway.
Lopinto said that Dillion was stabbed to death before dropping Jacobs off and that Jacobs then just walked back to his room at the motel.
"It took place in the vehicle,"' said Lopinto. "A major stab wound that incapacitated her almost immediately."
Lopinto said detectives worked with Uber to get information on the fare picked up by Ms. Dillion and then made the arrest. The sheriff said Jacobs simply said that he woke up that day and decided to kill someone.
“I didn’t pick her,” Lopinto said he told investigators. “Uber picked her." Lopinto said she was the random person who picked him up that day.”
Lopinto said Jacobs posted the video of Ms. Dillion dying to Facebook but the sheriff's office contacted the social media company and said the post was quickly taken down.
"Luckily, he does not have a lot of followers," he added.
He is being held on a second-degree murder count.
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said Ms. Dillion was important to the department.
"Our team is taking it pretty hard," he said. "She will be dearly missed. She was quiet. She was humble. She was a quiet giant."