(AP) — A Baton Rouge man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 2007 slaying of two Louisiana State University graduate students from India.
Devin Parker pleaded guilty Monday to armed robbery and accessory after the fact in the killing of 33-year-old Kiran Kumar Allam.
Jury selection in Parker’s trial had been scheduled to start Monday. He had been charged with two counts of second-degree murder of Allam and 31-year-old Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma, both of India.
State District Judge Chip Moore set sentencing for Sept. 27.
The 22-year-old Parker and two other men — Casey Gathers and Michael Lewis — were booked in May 2008 in the killings, but only Parker was indicted. Parker identified Gathers as the triggerman and also told police he and Lewis were involved in the crime, an arrest warrant says.
Komma, a biology student from Kurnool, India, and Allam, a chemistry student from Hyderabad, India, were found dead inside Allam’s apartment at the Edward Gay Apartments on the LSU campus. Each had been shot once in the head.
Komma was bound with a computer cable, and Allam was found near the door.
Investigators have said they believe Parker, Gathers and Lewis were looking for a chance to rob someone and might have seen Komma arrive at the apartments to visit Allam.
The killings were the first on campus in more than a decade. The shootings shocked parents of many Indians studying in this country because India sends many students here each year.
The killings occurred near the end of final exams, as many of the University’s 28,000 students — and possibly potential witnesses — headed home for the holidays. Police said they had to overcome reluctance to talk to investigators among some international students, who worried that doing so might damage their visa status.
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