[UPDATE: Lafayette PD confirms that the white pickup truck Brandon Scott Lavergne allegedly used in the kidnapping and killing of 21-year-old Mickey Shunick was set on fire. Police Chief Jim Craft would not comment on any evidence that points to her death and says Lavergne is not cooperating.
Craft says Lavergne's Chevrolet Silverado Z71, set on fire in San Jacinto County, Texas, had been reported stolen in Montgomery County. The vehicle was burned within days of the PD circulating a picture of it from Mickey's route the night she disappeared, according to Craft, who confirms that the damage to the rear tire of Mickey's bike, located near Whiskey Bay May 26, is consistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Though he was not specific, Craft says police have evidence that places Lavergne and his truck near Whiskey Bay where the bike was found. Craft said the break in the case came June 14 when police got a call to the tip line from "a concerned citizen" with information that Lavergne's vehicle may have been involved. The vehicle Lavergne, an offshore worker, was driving when stopped July 5 by State Police and taken to the Lafayette PD was also a white Chevy Z71, Craft says.]
The registered sex offender accused of kidnapping and killing UL Lafayette student Mickey Shunick, who went missing May 19, allegedly burned the white pickup truck used in commission of the crime, a source with information about the investigation tells The Independent.
Thursday afternoon Lafayette Police arrested 33-year-old Brandon Scott Lavergne for first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping and searched his Swords home in rural St. Landry Parish. The sex offender website confirms Lavergne's ownership of a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado, believed to be the vehicle he set fire to. On the night Schunick disappeared, a similar model Chevrolet Silverado was photographed at St. Landry Street by a City Hall camera that also captured Shunick riding her bike.
It's unknown whether police were able to gather any evidence from the vehicle; the Advocate published a photograph Friday showing detectives carrying large bags away from Lavergne’s home last night. The paper also retrieved from its archives a story about Lavergne's 2000 conviction for oral sexual battery: He was accused of tying, blindfolding and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman while he was stationed as a soldier at Fort Polk.
A news conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. Police are not expected to divulge how they were first put on Lavergne’s trail or what key evidence they have linking him to the case. There is rampant speculation online that this TigerDroppings.com post, by someone calling himself Adam4LSU, may have played a role. 
Adam4LSU also provided a link to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office's sexual offender database.
View the database's full report on Lavergne here.
The Independent will update this story after today's press conference.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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