Tip from ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ TV show closes 2010 Louisiana cold case

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A LaPlace man is behind bars after a tip from a television show helped detectives close a decade-old double homicide cold case.

According to the Kenner Police Department, Dernell Nelson, 35, was arrested on April 22, 2021 on two counts of first-degree murder for the 2010 murders of Hermania Ellsworth and Charles Davis.

In June of 2010, police say Ellsworth and Davis were found shot multiple times before crashing a vehicle into a tree in the 700 block of Farrar Street in Kenner, Louisiana. The couple was pronounced dead on scene.

The couple’s three-year-old son was found in the backseat, injured from the impact of the crash.

Kenner Police re-opened the investigation in March of 2021 after receiving a tip from the television documentary series “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Detectives were able to connect Nelson to the homicide by DNA and additional circumstantial evidence.

Officials believe Nelson may also be responsible for a July 2010 double homicide where Herbert Glass and Lynette Williams, who lived in the same block of Farrar Street, were found shot to death and bound by duct tape, floating in Lake Ponchartrain.

Officials believe both homicide cases are related and Kenner detectives have been in contact with St. Tammany Parish investigators.

Additional arrests are expected.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Kenner Police at 504-712-2222 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

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