Original Blog Entry: Slaying Linked to KKK Initiation

NBey6 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:53:01 GMT

WDSU.com

Slaying Linked To KKK Initiation; 8 Arrested

Woman Traveled From Oklahoma To Join

POSTED: 1:20 pm CST November 11, 2008

UPDATED: 4:08 pm CST November 11, 2008

COVINGTON, La. -- Eight people were arrested Tuesday in connection with the killing of a woman who apparently tried to back out of a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain said Tuesday.

The woman was slain Sunday morning, allegedly shot to death by a Klan leader from Bogalusa. Her body was found Monday in a ditch in the small St. Tammany community of Sun, about 60 miles north of New Orleans, the sheriff said.

Raymond Chuck Foster, 44, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting the woman. Seven others -- Raymond Foster's son, 20-year-old Shane Foster; Frank Stafford, 21; Timothy Michael Watkins, 30; Alicia M. Watkins, 23; Andrew Yates, 20; Random Hines, 27; and Danielle Jones, 23 -- are facing obstruction of justice charges.

Images:See Suspects In KKK Slaying

Shane Foster and Stafford are being held in Washington Parish and will be brought to St. Tammany Parish soon for processing. The other six suspects are being held in the St. Tammany Parish jail.

Strain said the woman lived near Tulsa, Okla., and was recruited over the Internet to come to Louisiana for initiation into the Klan. Deputies have not been able to confirm her identity.

She arrived in Slidell last week and was met by two members of the group, Strain said. She was taken to a campground near Pearl River for the initiation ceremony, and when she asked to be taken back into town, there was an argument. That's when Foster allegedly shot and killed her, Strain said.

The other members of the Klan group are accused of helping cover up the crime by burning items at the campsite, including the woman's personal effects. A clerk at a nearby Circle K alerted police after two of the suspects went into the store bathroom to wash blood out of their clothes, Strain said.

Investigators found Klan paraphernalia at the campsite, including flags and six Klan uniforms. Strain said Raymond Foster is chief of the Sons of Dixie or Dixie Brotherhood KKK branch.

Strain said the case does not appear to be connected to the recent election of Barack Obama as president. He told WDSU he was surprised to find out about this KKK group because it hadn't been very visible before.

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