Authorities in Louisiana have made an arrest following the death of an Austell woman.
Eugene Louis-Jocques, 21, is charged with murder, arson and aggravated assault in the death of Beauty Couch, 22, the Cobb County Police Department said Saturday.
Cobb detectives had identified Louis-Jocques as a suspect in the homicide and secured an arrest warrant. Detectives with the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Proactive Enforcement Unit informed their Cobb counterparts of the arrest.
Louis-Jocques is in the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Facility awaiting extradition to Georgia, the department said.
The victim’s remains were located not far from where her family’s car was found burned, according to Cobb police.
At 12:18 p.m. on Aug. 23, Austell firefighters were called to the intersection of Joe Jerkins Boulevard and Landers Street, at the corner of George E. Beavers Park, and found a vehicle fully engulfed in flames. It was towed to a wrecker yard once the fire was extinguished.
Austell police then went to the address where the vehicle was registered and learned that Couch, the owner’s daughter, had not been seen since the previous morning. She was the one who most commonly drove the vehicle, police said. Officers went back to where the vehicle was found and searched the area, only to find a body in the woodline.
Cobb police, who were called to take over the investigation, said the body matched the description of Couch.
“Based on the initial scene investigation, foul play is suspected,” a department spokesperson said last week.
Details about the victim’s manner of death haven’t been released.
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