Louisiana Crime Stoppers Earns National Recognition for Cold Case Work and Senior Outreach

A Small Parish Program Making a Big National Impression

A Louisiana law enforcement program that serves a parish of fewer than 100,000 people just brought home two national awards — and one of them is tied to a woman who vanished more than two decades ago. Major Mark LeBlanc and Lt. Elizabeth Bernard returned from the 50th Crime Stoppers USA Conference in Washington, D.C. carrying two national awards: one for Radio Public Service Announcement and one for the St. Landry Parish TRIAD Community Initiative. It's the kind of recognition that puts a small Acadiana parish on the national map — and keeps a cold case from being forgotten.

Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz expressed pride in the work of the St. Landry Crime Stoppers Board, Major LeBlanc, and Lt. Bernard, emphasizing that Crime Stoppers entities work consistently to get anonymous tips to law enforcement to prevent and stop criminal activity. That mission, it turns out, has found an unlikely but powerful ally in the true crime podcast world.

A 21-Year-Old Cold Case Gets a Second Chance

The Radio PSA award resulted from the 21-year-old cold case of missing person Sandra Burris and was featured on the nationwide podcast "The Deck." On a hot summer night in 2005, Sandra Burris and her best friend went clubbing in their small Louisiana town — and Sandra never came home. Her case has lingered without resolution ever since, the kind of tragedy that can quietly fade from public consciousness without sustained effort to keep it alive.

For years, some law enforcement agencies have replaced the faces of traditional playing card decks with images of missing and murdered people and distributed those cards in prisons, hoping inmates would come forward with information needed to crack cold cases wide open. "The Deck" podcast, produced by audiochuck, built its entire format around that concept. Each week, the show works with investigators and family members to bring listeners the details of some of the coldest cases from around the country, in hopes that someone listening can finally bring these victims the justice they deserve. The collaboration between St. Landry Crime Stoppers and that platform is exactly the kind of creative outreach that national award committees take notice of.

Serving Seniors, Earning Recognition

The second award, for the TRIAD Community Initiative, reflects a different but equally important side of Crime Stoppers' work. The TRIAD initiative focuses on bringing the best possible vendors, services, and anti-crime awareness to senior citizens, with events held every three months in Arnaudville, Port Barre, Eunice, and Opelousas. Free food and live entertainment are provided, along with door prizes and numerous resources from vendors and state agencies. It's community policing in its most accessible form — meeting residents where they are, literally and figuratively.

Under the direction of Deputy Chief Thibodeaux, St. Landry Crime Stoppers has now won every category under Crime Stoppers USA, with awards voted on by the national awards committee in recognition of a program's work to help law enforcement solve crimes. That's a remarkable sweep for a program competing in the under-100,000 population category against agencies from across the United States and its territories.

Anonymous Tips, Real Results

What makes St. Landry Crime Stoppers' track record especially striking is how much it has accomplished with a relatively modest footprint. The program's consistent national success is built on a straightforward but effective model. The main goal of Crime Stoppers is to spotlight a crime, receive anonymous tips, and pay out cash for information leading to an arrest. Since 2017, the program has won Best Crime of the Week in Television three times, Radio four times, Print Media three times, and Social Media and Community Service awards in the under-100,000 population category.

For Sandra Burris's family, the national spotlight on that Radio PSA award is about more than a trophy. It's a reminder that her case is still open, still being worked, and still deserving of public attention. Anyone with information about her disappearance can contact St. Landry Parish Crime Stoppers at 1-337-948-8477 — anonymously, and potentially for a cash reward. In a case that has gone cold for over two decades, the next tip could be the one that finally matters.