Social media influencer Beauty Couch, known as Beauty Katera on Instagram, was found dead near her burned out car in the Atlanta area. Her boyfriend, Eugene Louis-Jocques, 22, of Naples, Florida, was arrested in Louisiana on a murder charge. (Beauty Katera’s Instagram)
Police in Louisiana arrested the boyfriend of Instagram influencer Beauty ‘Katera’ Couch, who officers discovered murdered near her burned out car in the Atlanta area, according to authorities.
The investigation began around 12:18 p.m. Thursday when Austell, Georgia, firefighters were called for a brush fire. When they arrived, they found a vehicle fully engulfed in flames. They put out the fire and the car was taken to a wrecker yard. Austell police went to the home where the vehicle was registered, and they learned the owner’s daughter, Couch, 22, had not been seen since Wednesday morning, Cobb County Police said in a press release. She was the person who most used the vehicle.
Austell police searched the area near where the fire took place and found Couch’s body near the wood line. Cobb County police Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation and suspected foul play, though authorities did not release a cause of deat.
Authorities identified Couch’s boyfriend, Eugene Louis-Jocques, as a suspect and got a warrant for his arrest on charges of murder, arson, and aggravated assault. U.S. Marshals on Friday learned Louis-Jocques, 21, of Naples, Florida, had ties to the St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana, which is north of New Orleans. Members of the St. Tammany Parish identified areas where Louis-Jocques could be hiding out, and they set up surveillance, a press release from the agency said.
Around 4:40 p.m. Friday, detectives saw Louis-Jocques driving, and they conducted a traffic stop and took him into custody without incident, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities booked him into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center, where he is awaiting extradition to Georgia. A motive for the slaying has not been released.
“Let the message be that we do not take kindly to people who think they can commit a crime elsewhere and try to hide in St. Tammany Parish,” Sheriff Randy Smith said in a statement. “We were happy to help our counterparts in Georgia by locating this suspect and taking him into custody so he may face justice and Miss Couch’s family can begin to receive closure during this difficult time.”
Couch had over 150,000 followers on Instagram and often posted pictures of herself roller skating. Her sister, Lelia Brown, said in an emotional interview with Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA that Couch was found dead in the woods “like an animal.”
“I can’t imagine her being in this situation at all because she’s so lovable, so caring, so fun, so amazing,” she said. “She impacted a lot of people and she did nothing to anybody for anyone to want to do her like this.”
Her mother, Kimberly Couch told WSB-TV that she didn’t understand why anyone would want to hurt her daughter.
“She was a sweet girl, she never bothered nobody,” she told the outlet. “She never bothered nobody. She was a friend to everybody. She loved going skating. She loved going to work. She loved her clothes. She loved wearing her hair so pretty.”
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