3 found slain in car

• By KIMBERLY VETTER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jul 10, 2009 - Page: 1A

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Two men and a woman were found fatally shot inside a car Thursday on Byron Avenue, bringing to five the number of people killed in the Brookstown area within the past month.

Police discovered the three bodies about 5 a.m. Thursday, after receiving a call from a woman about a 2003 silver Honda Accord with tinted windows parked in her driveway at 6047 Byron Ave., said Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, a Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman.

“The car was still running,” said Deborah Turner, the woman who called police. “I thought it was odd, but I never imagined people were dead inside.”

Police identified the victims as:

• Adrian Stewart, 27, 1243 St. Joseph St.
• Marcus Thomas, 24, 1104 N. 35th St.
• Gabriella Eisworth, 20, 22951 Greenwell Springs Road.

Eisworth was sitting in the front passenger seat, McKneely said. Thomas was sitting in the back seat behind Stewart, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

The car, with the bodies still inside, was towed from Turner’s driveway about five hours after police arrived. McKneely said the car was taken to the State Police Crime Lab, where investigators could comb it for evidence.

As of late Thursday, police had not determined a motive for the shootings, McKneely said. They also had not made any arrests or named any suspects.

Investigators believe some shooting occurred inside the car, but do not believe the victims shot each other, McKneely said. Police believe at least one more person was involved.

Tanaka Jackson, who lives two houses down from where the bodies were found, said she heard about 10 gunshots at 4:30 a.m. but didn’t call police because she frequently hears guns fired and didn’t think they were nearby.

“I didn’t realize they were so close,” she said while watching her 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son play in her front yard. “Two bullets went through my neighbor’s house.”

Crime scene investigators marked the bullet holes on the side of the house with tags and talked to a woman inside. The woman did not come to the door when The Advocate sought a comment.

Several people who watched investigators work Thursday’s crime scene said they wanted to move from the Brookstown area because of the violence.