Jury Returns Guilty Verdict in Murder of Franklinton Man
December 17, 2024
District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on December 13, 2024, a Washington Parish jury found 23-year-old Elijah Jyquarius Nehemiah Williams of Amite guilty on all charges related to the shooting death of 23-year-old Xykie Barker of Franklinton. After deliberating for approximately 50 minutes, the jury announced guilty verdicts against Williams on charges of second degree murder, aggravated burglary and three counts of theft of a firearm. Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Authement and Jay Adair presented the case to the jury and Judge Ellen Creel presided over the four-day trial.
According to trial testimony, a resident on Tammy Lane in Franklinton called 911 at approximately 2:30 a.m. on August 28, 2021, to report the sound of gunshots at a nearby residence. Officers with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Franklinton Police Department responded to the residence in question and found its front door open. When the officers approached the open door, they noticed shell casings on the ground and blood smears on the house’s exterior. Officers entered the residence and followed a blood trail to the kitchen area where they discovered an adult male lying in a pool of blood. The victim, identified as Xykie Barker, was found deceased with eight gunshot wounds.
Officers immediately checked the surrounding area and on Highway 438, approximately a half mile from the murder scene, they came across an abandoned vehicle. It appeared the driver had lost control of the vehicle while trying to navigate a sharp turn in the road, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and become disabled. While officers were investigating the abandoned vehicle, a middle-aged man pulled up in a truck and said his son had called him for help with a flat tire. The man said he drove from Tangipahoa Parish to the location of the disabled vehicle pursuant to directions provided by his son. Officers allowed the man to check the vicinity for his son. The man drove down Chappell Road and officers saw three subjects enter the man’s truck. When the truck was driven back toward them, the officers conducted a traffic stop. The three passengers were identified as Elijah Williams, Elisha Brown and Travon Washington. The older man granted the officers permission to search his truck and officers observed several rifles, one being an AR rifle, on the backseat of the truck and several backpacks in the bed of the truck. The older man said the three younger males were in possession of the backpacks when they approached his truck. Inside the backpacks were several handguns with suspected blood on them. The AR rifle and one of the handguns were later determined to belong to the murder victim. Ballistic analysis of two other handguns recovered from the backpacks matched them to casings and projectiles recovered from the murder scene by the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab.
Officers questioned the three young men and all admitted to being at the scene when the murder occurred. However, they denied any involvement in shooting the victim. During a break in the interrogation of Williams, detectives stepped out of the interview room leaving him alone in the room. With the video equipment still recording, Williams muttered to himself, “I wonder if I can get my AR rifle back.”
Travon Washington, 23 years old and from Amite, was tried before a jury in February of 2024 and found guilty on all charges. In April, he was sentenced by Judge Creel to life in prison. On December 9, 2024, 22-year-old Elisha Brown of Hammond pled guilty to manslaughter, aggravated burglary and three counts of theft of a firearm and Judge Creel sentenced him to 40 years in prison. On February 26, 2024, 25-year-old Deanna Johnson of Hammond, the ex-girlfriend of the victim, pled guilty to manslaughter and aggravated burglary. She was the one who suggested the victim be the target and she lured him out of his residence the night of his murder so the three male defendants could ambush him. Judge Creel sentenced Johnson to 50 years in prison.
Judge Creel has set sentencing for Elijah Williams on January 15, 2025. Second degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.