La. man sentenced to life in prison for strangling his girlfriend with a zip tie

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (TCD) — A 60-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was found guilty of killing his girlfriend in a parking lot three years ago.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office announced Oct. 30 a judge sentenced Dennis Sheppard to life in prison in connection with Jyra Holmes’ 2020 death. He was convicted of second-degree murder Oct. 2 after a jury deliberated for just 36 minutes.

On Nov. 2, 2020, Sheppard and Holmes reportedly got into an argument outside her apartment building on the 1500 block of Chelsea Road. He got out a zip tie, put it around her neck, and pulled it, causing her to suffocate. He then pushed her to the ground in front of witnesses.

Witnesses reportedly heard Sheppard say, “She wanted me dead; now she’s dead.”

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the apartment building parking lot and found Holmes deceased with the tie around her neck. Sheppard was apprehended three days later in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

According to the district attorney’s office’s statement, Sheppard’s attorney argued he committed manslaughter, not second-degree murder.

At the sentencing, Holmes’ twin sister said in her victim impact statement that Sheppard committed an “evil act,” adding, “I hope the only mercy you get for the rest of your life is the mercy you showed my sister.”

Judge June Berry Darensburg told Sheppard, “She had a full life ahead of her. She was very young. To take someone’s life, I would have to agree with the impact testimony: It was an evil act.”

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