Bob Arthur, pictured in November 2022, returns to the Metairie apartment complex where his son, Shawn, died in 2017. Police and the parish prosecutor have refused to treat the case as a homicide, although two people have convicted in federal court in connection with the incident (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator).
A Missouri man investigating his son’s death filed a lawsuit this week against a Louisiana district attorney who’s demanding more than $18,000 for copies of investigation records related to the case.
Since his son’s death nearly seven years ago, Bob Arthur has pursued justice with little to no help from police or prosecutors.
He has insisted there was foul play ever since his 40-year-old son, Shawn Arthur, was found dead at his Metairie, La., apartment in February 2017. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office concluded Shawn’s death was accidental, the result of drinking too much alcohol. The coroner’s office would later revise the cause as “undetermined,” but investigators refused to budge on treating the fatal incident as a crime.