A Jefferson Parish judge sentenced a woman to life in prison in connection with a cold case murder of a Grand Isle man. Patricia Tito pleaded guilty to murdering Lester Rome. Rome was found dead in a well in Sabine Parish after he went missing in 1984.
According to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office, Rome was 57 and the owner of a lounge on Grand Isle when he was last seen on Jan. 9, 1984. Tito, then a teenager who was Rome’s live-in girlfriend, continued operating the lounge in his absence. She continued to live in his home and drove his car until his brother arrived on the island and evicted her, according to the district attorney. Tito told residents that she drove Rome to the airport for a trip before his disappearance. Tito claimed she had gotten ownership of his businesses and that he had given her the lounge before leaving the state. In 1986, Rome's remains were found in a well on a farm outside Many, Louisiana. His remains were not identified until 2021. Tito was serving a 40-year manslaughter prison sentence in connection with a killing of a Shreveport woman she shot on Aug. 31, 2003, according to the district attorney. Tito told a Sabine Parish detective she knew Rome was murdered, but only witnessed it. She said another man killed Rome over a drug debt. Tito returned to Jefferson Parish in 2022 for questioning in Rome's death. According to the district attorney, she said Rome was entering a business relationship with her and made sexual advances toward her. She said their business arrangement fell apart, and Rome was killed shortly after that. Tito was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury with the second-degree murder of Rome in December 2023. On Wednesday, Tito pleaded guilty as charged to second-degree murder over the objection of her court-appointed attorney. She pleaded guilty under North Carolina v. Alford, wherein she stated that the guilty plea was in her best interest, according to the district attorney. Judge Danyelle Taylor sentenced her to the mandatory life in prison without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.