The death of Eddie James Sonnier at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola a little more than a week ago might have closed what could be the final chapter in the deaths of two Teche Area teenagers.

But people in the Teche Area, especially the families of the victims, will continue the struggle of grasping why such an evil act took place Nov. 5, 1977.

Almost four decades ago, Sonnier and his more notorious older brother Elmo Patrick Sonnier killed Loretta Ann Bourque, 18, of New Iberia, and David LeBlanc, 16, of St. Martinville. For the families, the murders are not the only thing through which they have suffered. The aftermath of the execution of the elder brother also weighs heavy on the hearts of family members, especially the Bourques.

Catholic Sister Helen Prejean began her crusade against the death penalty when she began writing to Patrick Sonnier. Using the elder Sonnier as part of the storyline in her book “Dead Man Walking” to oppose the death penalty, and not talking to the victims families, was another blow to an already distressed family. Prejean even admitted not reaching out to the victims’ families was a mistake.

In 2007, Marty Bourque, brother of Loretta, talked about how the events of the murders, trial and later anti-death penalty book deeply hurt their family. His father, Godfrey Bourque Sr., who died in August 2012, had written an introduction to a self-published book “Dead Family Walking” that told the tragic story from the viewpoint of the victims’ families.

The Bourques and LeBlancs were unimaginably hurt when their children were violently taken from them. It is likely the wounds for the surviving families are too deep to completely heal.

A former neighbor of the LeBlancs admitted whenever people who knew the victims’ families would run into one another, the murders inevitably came up in the conversation. A high school classmate of both victims says he still remembers a re-enactment of the crime during the trial and Eddie Sonnier’s smirk upon hearing the verdict. The anger evident is plain.

These murders have permanently affected the human psyche in Iberia Parish.

Eddie Sonnier died Dec. 19 at Angola “unexpectedly” and was buried at 1 p.m. Thursday without fanfare, not unlike the dozens of inmates who are buried each yearat  the state’s largest maximum securityprison.  

With his death, the last physical reminder of one of the most heinous crimes in Iberia Parish has passed from this world, but the talk of what happened that fall night likely will not fade any time soon. It is not likely such brutality will ever be understood.

JEFF ZERINGUE

MANAGING EDITOR