Eight-year-old Nichole Lopatta was abducted from the area near the Tres Vidas apartments’ swimming pool in Terrytown, Louisiana, on June 2, 1985. She was lured away by a teenage girl who was part of a group that included two adults; a search ended when Nichole’s body was found in a wooded area north of LaPlace on June 6, 1985. An autopsy determined she had been raped and strangled.

Investigators focused on a trio who had come from Florida: 21-year-old John Francis Wille, 35-year-old Judith Walters, and Walters’ 14-year-old daughter Sheila, plus a 25-year-old hitchhiker, Billy Phillips. Phillips’ body was also recovered in the same woods; authorities concluded he had taken part in the abduction and was killed shortly afterward. Wille confessed to police in August 1985; Walters and Sheila gave statements implicating Wille and Phillips.

Wille was convicted of first-degree murder in December 1986 and sentenced to death; Walters was convicted in early 1987 of kidnapping, rape, and murder and received two consecutive life sentences. Sheila was never formally charged for her role in the abduction. Does anyone have memories or information about the Tres Vidas apartments or the events around Terrytown in June 1985?