COVINGTON, La. — Retired pastor Father Otis Young has been identified by the St. Tammany Coroner's Office as one of the victims in Monday's double killing in St. Tammany Parish, it was announced Tuesday afternoon.
The coroner said he died of "blunt and sharp trauma."
The bodies of Young and a second person, who has yet to be identified, were found behind a glass company early Monday morning when the owner opened up the business.
The coroner is awaiting DNA results on the second victim.
Both bodies were burned beyond recognition. Young and pastoral associate Ruth Prats were said to be missing since Sunday night. St. Peter has posted a photo and tribute to Prats on their social media pages.
Antonio Donde Tyson was arrested in the case and faces two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree kidnapping.
In 1993, Tyson was sentenced to 40 years for Forcible Rape, 40 years for Armed Robbery, and 30 years for Aggravated Burglary, all to run concurrently.
The Department of Corrections explained Tyson did not serve a full 40 years because of how Louisiana law was written at the time of his conviction. It required him to serve at least 50 percent of his sentence with the option of parole after.
Department of Corrections:
“Sentence Time computation is determined according to the applicable Louisiana laws in effect at the time of the commission of the offense(s). Per the requirements of Act 138 of 1991, he was required to serve 50 percent of the sentence in prison before releasing via goodtime onto goodtime parole supervision. Tyson's original goodtime release date under this calculation was February 1, 2012. However, due to his conduct in prison, Tyson lost 4,219 days of goodtime. He also earned 360 days of goodtime for courses and programming he took while incarcerated. He released from prison on August 21, 2022. Since his release, and up to his arrest, he has complied with the conditions of his goodtime parole including employment and having a place to live.
Tyson’s brother said over the phone he has a heavy heart and is at a loss for words. He shared the following on Facebook, in part: “This is not what we do nor stand behind we are stronger and better than this as a Tyson our condolences goes out to the family that this has happened to...you all have our deepest sympathy and will be in our prayers and we are truly sorry for what has happened.”