The family of a 22-year-old woman found stabbed to death near her burning car in Cobb County said Monday she had been dating the man accused of killing her.
Beauty Couch hadn’t known Eugene Tobi Louis-Jacques very long, but he had already moved from his home in Florida to be closer to her.
Leila Brown can’t imagine why anyone would want to kill her sister. But that’s what police believe Louis-Jacques did.
“He has literally ripped my heart out of my chest and laid it in the woods,” Brown told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday night.
According to investigators, Louis-Jacques stabbed Couch repeatedly in the upper part of her body. He then left her in the woods in Austell, police said.
The next thing he did likely helped investigators find Couch’s body, her sister said. He allegedly set her car on fire.
At approximately 12:18 p.m. Wednesday, Austell firefighters were called to a brush fire near Joe Jerkins Boulevard and Landers Street, Cobb police said last week.
“Upon arrival, they located a vehicle fully engulfed in flames,” a police spokesman said. “The fire was extinguished, and the vehicle was towed to a wrecker yard.”
Investigators then determined the car belonged to Couch, who hadn’t been seen since the previous day. Her body was located when investigators returned to the area where the car was ablaze.
On Thursday, a warrant was taken out for Louis-Jacques charging him with murder, aggravated assault and arson. He was later located in Louisiana and arrested. Late Monday, Louis-Jacques was being held at the St. Tammany Parish jail awaiting extradition, records show.
A graduate of South Cobb High School, Couch grew up dancing. But a few years ago, she took her talents to the roller skating rink, her sister said.
“When she found out she could collaborate with the two, it was nothing but amazing,” Brown said.
Known as Beauty Katera on Instagram, Couch was a roller skating influencer with more than 150,000 followers. She also taught skating classes, Brown said.
“She would spend the majority of her spare time at the skating rink,” Brown said.
In addition to her family and friends, those in the roller skating community are also in mourning. Many commented on a GoFundMe page created by the woman who adopted Couch when she was a baby. As an adult, Couch was close with both her biological mother and the woman who raised her, her sister said.
“She has always been such a sweet, happy and talented child,” Deanna Thurman, who adopted Couch, wrote on the fundraising page. “Always smiling and dancing around the house at the tender age of 2. She was extremely active and vibrant with a love and passion for all things skating and dancing.”
Funeral plans were pending late Monday. Couch’s family is now focused on getting justice for the woman who made such an impact on others.
“She was definitely a star,” Brown said. “I definitely know she’s going to remain a star in the afterlife. It was amazing how she impacted the world.”
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