St. Tammany Farmer, Covington, Louisiana
Thursday, February 26, 1987
Former Assistant D.A. Brutally Murdered Near Her Home 

Investigators inquiring into the murder of former Assistant District Attorney Margaret Coon have hit a stonewall according to St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Patrick J. Canulette.

Canulette said Monday that his office has interviewed several suspects in the case, but declined to name them.  “Everyone is a suspect right now, you are a suspect,” Canulette said to a reporter.  No motive for the murder has been established, deputies said.

Meanwhile, a coroner’s report said that Coon was stabbed in the lower left side of the back, a sheriff’s spokesman said.  A knife with a 7-inch blade was used in the murder and was pushed in to the hilt, said Chief Duputy Wallace Laird. 

Laird said the report said the bottom of the heart was pierced indicating the knife was pushed into the body in an upward motion.  He said a bruise was noticed around the wound and a rib was cracked by the blow delivered by the murderer.

Coon’s body was discovered at about 5:30 a.m.  Friday morning, but the coroner’s report said she was killed sometime Thursday evening.  “She was seen jogging at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, so she was alive at least until that time,” Laird said.

Her body was discovered at about 5:30 a.m. February 19 in the 600 block of North Beau Chene Drive in exclusive Beau Chene subdivision near Mandeville.  Her Afghan dog was found standing by her body when investigators and ambulance attendants arrived on the scene, authorities said.  For a short period of time, the dog would not allow authorities to approach the body, deputies said.  The dog, Canulette said, was seen by neighbors running around loose.  Afghans are a large breed of dog, but the breed has a reputation as being docile and not a protective animal.

Canulette said Coon was not sexually assaulted nor was she robbed by her assailant.  The body had a lot of jewelry on it and did not appear to be tampered with, he said.

Sheriff’s deputies said they are not sure if Coon was murdered by someone who specifically intended to kill her or whether she was murdered by a “perverted” person.

Investigators later searched her condo apartment at 123 Grand Cheniere for clues, Laird said.  He said no evidence that the apartment had been entered and looted was found.

An earlier report that a man had pulled a knife on a Beau Chene security guard was discounted by Laird.  “We were misinformed about the knife,” he said, “there is no evidence that the man who ran away from the guard had a weapon of any kind.”

Laird said that incident occurred at about 7:oo p.m. Thursday.  “We don’t think he had anything to do with the Coon murder since she was seen alive an hour and a half later.” He said.  He said security personnel chased the intruder, but lost him in the chase.

He said Coon was clothed in a jogging outfit.  She had the jogging top tied around her waist and had a light.  Coon, 41, was a native of Baton Rouge, but attended Bolton High School in Alexandria.  She was married to former Mandeville Mayor Bernard Smith.  Coon and Smith once shared office space in Covington as law partners, but Smith left the practice to attend medical school.  Smith was mayor of Mandeville from 1976 to 1980.

The couple separated several months ago and Coon had been dating another man, the Sheriff’s Office said.  Deputies declined to say who she was dating or when they began dating.

Neighbors told deputies that Coon moved into the apartment last fall, but was not always at home, even on weekends.  She did not have company often and regularly jogged in the evenings and early morning hours, deputies said.

Coon graduated from LSU Law School in 1975 and served as an assistant district attorney with both Marion Farmer and his successor, Walter Reed, from 1980-1986.  She resigned from that office to take a job with the law firm of Walker Bordelon, Hamlin, and Theriot in January of last year.

She was the only assistant district attorney retained by Reed from Farmer’s staff when Reed took office.  Reed used her mostly to prosecute cases of sexual abuse of teenagers and non-support cases.  However, under Farmer’s administration she prosecuted criminal cases and won murder convictions in 1981.  She also handled other felony trials, appeals and extraditions.  Coon also was legal counsel to the S. Tammany Parish School Board for a time under Farmer.  “She was a very aggressive prosecutor, but genteel and ladylike at the same time,” Reed said last week.  Reed said he assigned her mostly to cases involving spouse abusers and juvenile cases, but she was not excluded from handling other assignments.

“She had a real concern in her heart for kids,” Reed said.  In fact Reed said he was attempting to get Coon to return to his office at the time of her death.  “When she left I told her she had a job with me anytime she wanted it,” he said.

Reed said, Coon’s death had devastated everyone in his office.  “We canceled grand jury proceedings this morning; (Feb 19) to assist the Sheriff’s Office in the investigation,” he said. 

Coon, in 1984 was the first woman to be elected president of the St. Tammany Parish Bar Association.