Dial Dalfred: Family feels left in dark by police after death of loved one
St. Landry Parish, La. (KLFY) It’s a three week old story we haven’t heard about until this week. The family of Eric Celestine says their loved one was stabbed to death and they haven’t gotten any updates from law enforcement.
The family believes a response is overdue.
We get answers in tonight’s Dial Dalfred report.
On January 5, 2020, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office was called out to a local hospital after a patient was admitted with a stab wound to the chest.
That man was Eric Celestine.
Celestine would die from his injuries that same day.
Nearly three weeks since his death, his family is looking for answers.
Shamike Brumfield is Eric’s first cousin. She says after hearing a few details from people who claimed to know what happened the night he was killed, it was shocking to not see the story in the media.
“It really hurt us to our core that the next day we didn’t see one write up, we didn’t see anyone report it, we didn’t see anything happened to him. It was like his death was unnoticed.”
Per our request, the sheriff’s office released a statement regarding the Celestine case on January 27.
It laid out a few basic facts of the case: there was a disturbance between husband and wife, the man was stabbed in his upper right chest, and the wife was questioned and released pending the location of additional witnesses.
“My concern is that I don’t want this to just be a narrative of a black man who was “being aggressive” and he just got stabbed.”
Brumfield says she isn’t isn’t speaking from a place of malice, and in the end they simply want to know what happened.
“As righteous as forgiveness is, so is justice. We just want the truth.”
If there’s an ongoing issue in your neighborhood or community or there’s a story you’d like me to investigate, send me an email at dialdalfred@klfy.com.