Insetl left: Cody Guccione (Lafayette Parish Jail). Inset right: Leo Jack (Melancon Funeral Home). Background: Scene in Lafayette, Louisiana, where Guccione stabbed Jack to death (KATC).
A jury in Louisiana last week convicted a 33-year-old man who stabbed his friend more than a dozen times before stuffing his body in a closet and walking out of the victim’s apartment wearing his clothing.
Cody Guccione was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Leo Jack, the Lafayette Parish District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Prosecutors said Guccione and Jack had been friends for about three years. Guccione knocked on Jack’s apartment door just before 6 p.m. Feb. 3, 2021. When Jack answered, Guccione attacked, stabbing him 13 times in the head, neck and torso. The suspect then dragged Jack’s body to a back bedroom and shoved him inside a closet. A neighbor was able to pin down for prosecutors the time of the incident as he testified he heard a loud fight in the apartment below him.
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Guccione proceeded to put on Jack’s clothing, including a “very distinctive” pair of shoes. Surveillance video showed Guccione walking out of the apartment wearing Jack’s clothes and carrying a trash can. The defendant returned to the apartment a few hours later to rip down Jack’s doorbell camera, video showed. Investigators also obtained cellphone data that placed Guccione at the scene. U.S. Marshals arrested him about five days after the murder and prosecutors later secured an indictment.
Prosecutors did not give a motive for the crime.
“I want to commend the jury in this case, who were very attentive during this fairly lengthy trial and were able to hear the witnesses and see the evidence and convict this defendant in this case. They gave our victim’s family some comfort that the person who killed their family member was convicted for this murder,” said Andi Lex, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case.
Sentencing is set for March 11. Guccione faces up to life in prison.
Jack’s obituary said he was a lifelong resident of Lafayette, which is some 55 miles west of Baton Rouge.
“‘Yola’ as he was affectionately known, was a genuine person whose smile would light up any room. He had a giving spirit and had a way of making everyone laugh. He will be truly missed by all those fortunate enough to know him,” the obituary reads.
