Brandon Lavergne charged with killing La. coed Michaela "Mickey" Shunick, second woman
(CBS/AP) LAFAYETTE, La. - Brandon Scott Lavergne, who was arrested in the disappearance of Louisiana college student Michaela "Mickey" Shunick, was indicted Wednesday on charges of killing her and killing another woman 13 years ago.
Pictures: La. college student missing after bike ride
Lavergne was indicted by a Lafayette Parish grand jury in the death of Shunick, who disappeared May 19, and that of Lisa Marie Pate.
Pate, 35, was reported missing in June 1999. Her body was found three months later under large boards in a field in Acadia Parish near Church Point - a town about 12 miles from Lawtell, Lavergne's home.
Shunick's body has not been found. Police have not said why they believe the University of Louisiana at Lafayette student is dead.
A statement from the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Office says prosecutors will ask for the death penalty in both cases.
Lavergne, 33, was arrested July 5 on an unrelated warrant connected to his sex offender status and charged in the Shunick case. He had previously served eight years for tying up, blindfolding and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman in 1999.
Shunick was last seen riding away from a friend's house in Lafayette on her bicycle, days before her 22nd birthday. Her black Schwinn bicycle was found 25 miles away.
A surveillance video shows her on the bicycle on the morning of May 19. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft as said Lavergne owned a white pickup truck that was also spotted on the same video.
The vehicle was later found burned in Texas. Investigators also can place Lavergne in and around the remote, swampy area where Shunick's black Schwinn bicycle was found eight days after she disappeared.
Craft has said damage to the bike's rear tire might have come from being hit by a vehicle.
Last week, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office report said Lavergne checked himself into a hospital there to have stab wounds treated the day Shunick disappeared, and told a deputy that someone has attacked him at a gas station somewhere in the parish.
Complete Coverage of Michaela "Mickey" Shunick on Crimesider
