Lake Charles, LA –
On Wednesday July 17 at approximately 5:00 p.m. Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to the dead end of D. Williams Road off of Rigmaiden Rd. in DeQuincy in reference to a dead body. When deputies arrived they observed the body of a black male laying on the side of the road. Initially detectives were unable to identify the body by conventional means due to it being severely burned. After DNA testing the victim was identified as Zacchaeus H. Burton, 29, Baton Rouge.
During the initial investigation detectives learned Burton had arrived in Calcasieu Parish on Tuesday by bus from Baton Rouge and was staying with an acquaintance, Nathaniel Mitchell, III, 40, 307 Redwood Avenue, Iowa. Detectives believe Burton and Mitchell traveled separately to the DeQuincy area on Wednesday where Burton was subsequently murdered later the same day around noon. Detectives believe he was killed and then badly burned in the same location where his body was found.
After further investigation Judge Robert Wyatt signed an arrest warrant in the amount of $1,000,000 for Mitchell for 2nd degree murder. Detectives learned Mitchell boarded a plane in Lake Charles to St. Louis, Missouri on Sunday, July 21; and now consider him a fleeing fugitive. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mitchell is asked to contact Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office immediately at (337) 491-3605 (or call Crime Stoppers at 439-2222 if they wish to remain anonymous).
The investigation is continuing and more arrests and charges are likely.
CPSO Detective Keeba Barber is the lead investigator on this case.
UPDATE: Mitchell was arrested July 29, after he turned himself in. He was booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center.