By Pat Culverhouse

Minden Police Department detectives will be conducting more interviews with a 10-year-old suspect in the murders of former Minden mayor and councilman Joe Cornelius and his 31-year-old daughter.

Cornelius, 82, and Keisha Miles were reportedly shot multiple times inside their Austin Street residence Sunday morning by the juvenile relative for reasons that remain unknown, McIver said.

“The juvenile did admit to the shootings, and our detectives are still trying to determine the circumstances behind this,” he said. “We plan to interview him again Tuesday.”

McIver said the suspect is being held in the Ware Youth Center in Coushatta.

Officers reportedly responded to calls of shots fired at the residence Sunday morning, arriving shortly before 6:30 a.m. Inside, officers discovered the bodies of Cornelius and Miles lying near one another near a bedroom of the small house.

McIver said two different firearms have been recovered, and both were of the same caliber as empty shell casings found at the scene.

“It will take forensic testing along with an autopsy to make a final determination, but the conglomerate of evidence, plus the confession, points to these as the murder weapons,” McIver said. “Still, it will take forensics to confirm that.”

McIver said initial interviews of the 10-year-old did not reveal a motive for the shootings.

“We hope to learn more Tuesday,” he said. “But we did see something. I know there are many ways of expressing remorse or regret, but we did not see anything remotely like that with this suspect.”

ORIGINAL STORY

BREAKING NEWS: Double homicide claims former mayor, councilman Joe Cornelius and daughter