A strange case of murder is unfolding nine months after the body of Slidell native Brooke Buchler was found in an abandoned Navy Base in the Bywater.
Buchler had been shot in the head.
Now, NOPD investigators say it was done by two men to silence Buchler.
The two men, Dylan Craddock, 27, and Cody Matthews, 33, are suspected of tracking down, kidnapping and nearly beating to death a man Buchler accused of raping her.
Buchler had told several friends on August 20th about the attack by the man she reportedly knew.
In retaliation, suspects Craddock and Matthews lured the man to Buchler’s apartment where they set upon him administering a beating that brought him close to death. They then took the man to a wooded area west of Slidell where they dumped his body.
The victim survived and was taken to a hospital.
Craddock, Matthews and Buchler fled to a hotel in St.
Bernard Parish on August 21st.
One day later, Buchler was reported missing.
She was found two days later at the abandoned base in Bywater.
Craddock and Matthews were later picked by Slidell Police on suspicion of attempted murder and kidnapping.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, Matthews was recorded on a phone call speaking of the murder and saying he would not tell authorities where the murder weapon was unless he received immunity.
New Orleans Police, who have jurisdiction in the case booked both men on second degree murder charges on October 1st.
The pair have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Both face mandatory life sentences if convicted with additional attempted murder and kidnapping charges adding 50 and 40-years to the sentences.