Mystery solved victim identified

A forty year-old mystery has been solved.

During the early morning hours of December 5, 1981, a pedestrian accident on I-10 westbound in Breaux Bridge left an unidentified young women dead.

At the time of the initial investigation, law enforcement officers were unable to find anything among her belongings to help identify her .

Several attempts were made to locate next of kin to no avail.

Sheriff Becket Breaux announced earlier this week that the ongoing investigation had come to an end.

The victim has been identified as Michele Elaine Oakes Boutilier aka Michele Oakes-Gautreaux, who at the time of her death was 26 years old. Her last known address was in Cut Off.

She was laid to rest in March 1982 in St. Bernard Cemetery 2, in a burial plot provided by St. Bernard Church. A tomb, casket and funeral service was provided by Pellerin’s Funeral Home. As reported previously, two Breaux Bridge residents looked after her grave site until their deaths. Then, an unidentified person took over the care of her tomb to ensure that she was not forgotten.

Several local and federal law enforcement agencies in adjoining states were provided information both at the time of her death and throughout the years to determine if any of their missing persons cases were linked to this investigation. However, no match was ever established.

LSU FACES Laboratory assisted in the investigation by creating a facial approximation of the victim in an attempt to identify her. Information about the incident was also entered into their database. 

Additionally, her body was exhumed in December of 2006 to develop an anthropological profile and DNA samples were extracted.

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office created a Facebook post on December 14, 2017 with the hope of utilizing social media to find a family member or friend. Following that post, several hundred tips, inquiries, and well wishes poured in from across the United States and a few foreign countries.

Then on January 10, 2022, a Facebook message was received that ultimately led to a potential match. DNA samples were obtained from the parties involved and were sent to the LSU FACES Laboratory, Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory and the University of North Texas Health Science Center for Human Identification for analyzation and comparison. Following extensive testing, a match was confirmed.