A Louisiana man who appears to have been on a one-day drug with a woman killed her in a car Monday in an online attack showing he stabbed, strangled and tortured her, authorities said.
The live broadcast resulted in a 35-year-old Earl Lee Johnson Jr. man accused of murder in the 34-year-old murder of Janice David, who was found in the vehicle Monday night with his hands tied and bloodied. from more than 10 stab wounds, Sergeant This was said over the phone by L’Jean McKneely, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department.
“This is a very terrible, very atrocity,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The video stream was posted on Instagram, which is owned by Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, according to Stephanie Otway, a spokeswoman for the company. Baton Rouge Police Department said earlier Tuesday that the video was streamed to Facebook Live, which is run by Meta.
Sergeant McKinley said by telephone that Mr Johnson had no lawyer since Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.
Baton Rouge Police Department said it learned of the attack hours after officers had already arrested Mr Johnson on Monday afternoon in connection with an unrelated vehicle theft.
Louisiana State Police was notified Monday by Meta of an Instagram video showing Mr Johnson attacking Ms David, police said. Meta learned about the violent video from a user who notified the company.
U.S. troops later found the car where the recorded attack appeared to have taken place, Sergeant McNeely said.
They then reported their findings to Baton Rouge police. Sergeant McKinley said that when Mr. Johnson was asked about the attack while in police custody, he admitted to “killing someone.”
The attack took place in the front seats of a vehicle that was parked in the parking lot of an office building, Sergeant McKinley said. Mr Johnson put his phone on the board and recorded Ms. David’s beating, while appearing to “talk to people who watch online, mentioning what she’s doing,” he said.
Sergeant McKinley said Mr. Johnson also tried to set the car on fire while Mrs. David’s body remained inside.
Authorities said they believe Mr Johnson and Ms David have been on the drug for at least three to four days together. Sergeant McKinley said they used heroin and methamphetamine.
“It looked like he was under the influence of something,” said Sergeant McKinley.
Authorities are still investigating how they knew each other, he added.
Ms. David’s family was “shocked” after detectives informed them of her murder, Sergeant McNeilly said.
It was unclear how long it took Meta to download the video after it was published and notify authorities. Ms Otway said in a statement that Meta “removed the video from our platform, deactivated the account that published it and will support law enforcement in their investigation.”
She added that Meta seeks to “cut off these flows as soon as possible when they are reported to us”.
“People can report violations during a live broadcast,” she said. “They don’t have to wait for the live broadcast to end.”
In recent years, Meta has had to fight live video on its platform, which shows shootings and other acts of violence, while the company continues to fight its role in police content.
In 2017, three men in Sweden were arrested on suspicion of raping a woman and broadcasting the attack live to a private Facebook group. In February of that year, two radio journalists in the Dominican Republic were fatally shot during a live broadcast on Facebook while reading the news on an FM radio station.
In the Louisiana case, Sergeant McKinley said, the live video helped authorities make an arrest.
“I’ve seen things like this happen all over the country,” he said. “But in this particular area, this is the first time something like this has happened.”
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