Brother-sister duo charged with murder in the deaths of three people found in two locations

A brother and sister from Louisiana have been charged with murder in the deaths of three people found in two different locations.

Matthew Sonnier, 29, and Ebony Nicole Sonnier, 31, were arrested on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of two men whose burned bodies were discovered in Rapides Parish.

Authorities said on Thursday (26 October) they found the remains of 33-year-old Kendrick Dwann Horn and 28-year-old Jeremy Deon Norris from Alexandria when extinguishing a fire in a roadside ditch last week, The Associated Press reported.

The siblings also face first-degree murder charges in the stabbing death of Latish White. The Alexandria woman was found partially clothed in a Pineville road around three hours before Horn and Norris' burned bodies were discovered.

Matthew Sonnier was a "known acquaintance" of White, authorities said.

Rapides Parish Sheriff William Earl Hilton did not explain why authorities believed the two cases were connected. "I absolutely don't want to do anything that's going to cause a problem in the future for the prosecution," Hilton told reporters.

The Sonniers, of Alexandria, were arrested on Wednesday (25 October). Pineville deputy police chief, Darrell Basco, said Matthew was initially arrested on a second-degree murder charge in White's death, while Ebony was arrested on drug charges.

Hilton told reporters that the murder charges come from a "very intense investigation" that led investigators to hundreds of pieces of evidence found at eight different crime scenes. "There are so many different tentacles to this thing that went so many different places," he said. "No one can remember this many different crime scenes that we had to process."

According to KALB, the Sonniers are also charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of criminal conspiracy. Matthew faces an additional charge of carrying a firearm by a convicted felon.