LA LA - Willard "Bill" Daspit Jr, 58, going to his camp 3 doors away, dirt bike & glasses found in wreck 100 yds from home, Coteau Holmes, 9 Sep 2023

[slowpoke]

This (LINK-The Advocate, 2/22/2024) might be behind a paywall, so I’ll paraphrase:
A resident told Daspit’s wife they saw Daspit walking on Banker Road, and a person in a white vehicle started talking to her husband. Her husband wasn’t seen on cameras further down the road.
The wife also said there were five cameras showing him walking back and forth like he was confused.

===

I don’t know, then, if he was actually seen getting into the white vehicle, as the wife asserts in that KLFY article, 9/18/2024 in the prior post (“Lara theorizes Willard could have been kidnapped after being told he was seen being picked up by someone in a white vehicle the night he went missing.”)

Also in the KLFY article is a video purportedly showing him walking, but it doesn’t say where. Anyone recognize the location? From around 1:12 in the video. Here’s one screenshot from it:

 

[tarabull]

Snipped...
...Lara Daspit said she got a call from the local grocery store down the road who said they might have seen him on their security cameras.
https://www.klfy.com/local/st-marti...-martin-parish-man-asks-for-help-finding-him/
“They have him on video at Broussard’s Grocery Store and the fire station has him on video too,” Lara Daspit said.

So, that screen shot posted above might be from in front of the grocery store, this map below is zoomed in, look above the building there's the camera on a pole. Next zoom out a little & turn yourself around to see across the street, (now i am not 100% certain but) this could be the shot...imho

Broussard's Grocery · 1348 Bayou Alexander Hwy B, St Martinville, LA 70582

★★★★★ · Fishing store

maps.app.goo.gl

ETA: Justin Case, i will go check the view from the fire station...brb.

ETA2: yep nope, IMHO not a view from firestation (but it is 2 miles away!!!!!)

map:

Coteau Holmes Volunteer Fire to Broussard's Grocery

maps.app.goo.gl

streetview:

Coteau Holmes Volunteer Fire to Broussard's Grocery

maps.app.goo.gl

ETA3: i wonder which location captured him on camera first, that little building across the street from the grocery store (amongst the trees) might have appealed to him, for whatever reason...just hope it's been checked out, in and around it. just moooooo.

 

[buyerninety]

Correct, Broussard's Grocery.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8NF4HRDhkW7Qv7gy6

(Compare with video screenshot-)
Zoom in, note & match pole with signs (actually a light
pole), Zoom back out, pivot to left, note & match pole
on north side of road with white cylinder (transformer?)
on it, pivot (back to) right, tree and grass island match
(making allowance that the Google Maps is from 2013).

I'd really like to know any email of any one of the
searchers that met at the fire station.

 

[Teche]

KLFY/CBS just reported that human remains have been found off of Banker Road in St. Martin Parish. The St. Martin Parish St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office Dept. notified Mrs. Daspit. LE is working on identifying the remains.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating after someone discovered human remains in St. Martinville.

Deputies said the person discovered the remains at around 7:30 Sunday night in a wooded area off of Banker Road.

Human remains found in St. Martinville

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating after someone discovered human remains in St. Martinville.

www.katc.com

 

[cocomod]

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating after someone discovered human remains in St. Martinville.

Deputies said the person discovered the remains at around 7:30 Sunday night in a wooded area off of Banker Road.

Human remains found in St. Martinville

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating after someone discovered human remains in St. Martinville.

www.katc.com

At one point, reports indicated that he was seen on surveillance video near the fire station and then near Banker Road. The remains were found approximately 3 miles from the fire station. Sounds most very plausible that these could be him.

Here is a map from the fire station to Banker Road:

Par Road 4 to Coteau Holmes

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[iQuill]

I'm surprised we haven't heard anything ... surely they have identified the remains? I hope the answers come soon.
MOO

 

[moonrise]

Still nothing? Is it unusual for it to take this long?

 

[cocomod]

Still nothing? Is it unusual for it to take this long?

His wife says on FB she has been told it will take time.

 

[CuriousWhiskers]

Shocked there are still no updates on the remains.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Vergenal provided a DNA sample for state police to cross-reference, but said she was told that Daspit's DNA did not match any samples in their database. She provided additional DNA in the form of a hair brush, but said she hasn't heard back from the agency.

Speculation on social media over Daspit's disappearance followed shortly after when a video surfaced of Daspit and Vergenal on an episode of Dr. Phil discussing marriage issues. Users suggested either that Daspit ran away or that Vergenal played a role in the disappearance.

"If you watch the whole video, he clearly states he loves me," Vergenal has said. "I emailed Dr. Phil three years before that episode."

In regard to the body found near Banker Road, little information is known, she said. She's not even sure if it was a man or a woman.

After two years, the whereabouts of St. Martin man is still a mystery and closure eludes his wife

During the past two years, Lara Vergenal has handed out flyers, put up billboards, posted on social media and spoken to anybody who would listen about her husband's disappearance.

www.theadvocate.com

 

[teeby]

What an odd case. How does it take this long to identify him/rule him out if they have his DNA to compare?

 

[CuriousWhiskers]

Here are links to a new podcast hosted by a reporter from the local news station KLFY:

Cajun Case Files - Case Summary

Cajun Case Files - Interview with Lara Daspit

 

[Coppertop15]

Why does this case keep getting weirder?

 

[Teche]

I’m from this area. I believe that Mr. Daspit’s remains will be found by hunters or fishermen. The land that is cleared for sugarcane rows and canebreaks, or marshland used for hunting, fishing and crawfishing.