A Jefferson Parish jury convicted 62-year-old Winston Bartholomew on Wednesday for the second-degree murder of Gary Olver, also 62, inside Olver’s Metairie apartment. As reported by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, the violence erupted over a dispute about rumors Bartholomew believed Olver had been spreading about his girlfriend.
The tragic incident, which took place on May 14, 2024, began when Bartholomew, accompanied by his girlfriend, visited Olver upon seeing his car outside the apartment complex. The encounter escalated when Olver allegedly made unwelcome physical contact with the woman, prompting Bartholomew to react with a physical assault. “He wasn’t attacked. He wasn’t threatened. He wasn’t hit in any way. He threw the first punch,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron said during the trial.
A witness in the next apartment overheard the confrontation and the desperate cries of a woman pleading, “Stop it, stop it. You’re going to kill him.” A subsequent silence was followed by a final thud, described by Aaron as the blow that ended Olver’s life. After the fatal beating, Bartholomew made his way to the tavern below and nonchalantly ordered a beer, while the apartment manager, alerted by neighbors, discovered Olver’s severely injured body…