Leila Mulla
April 4, 2013 By Bill Parry and Christian Murray
A Long Island City woman was indicted Wednesday for allegedly killing a man in Baton Rouge nearly three decades ago.
Leila M. Mulla, 47, of 33-78 11th Street, was charged with first degree murder for the Nov. 28, 1984, slaying of Gary Kergan, a Bossier City, La., fast food restaurant owner. She is being held without bond while awaiting trial.
Mulla, a former exotic dancer, has been in custody since her arrest in Queens on Dec. 3, 2012. Her former boyfriend Ronald Dunnagan, of Bossier City, was also arrested.
On the day of the murder, Kergan was seen leaving a nightclub with Mulla. He was wearing $8,000 worth of jewelry and was carrying $2,000 in cash. Kergan was last seen at Mulla’s home before his death.
The original charges were dropped in 1984 for lack of evidence due to the fact that Kergan’s body was never found. However, last year, a Baton Rouge specialist division began re-investigating cold case files.
New DNA techniques linked specks of blood found in the trunk of Kergan’s car to the original suspects. Investigators allege that Mulla and Dunnagan beat Kergan to death before disposing of the body.
However, Dunnagan was released after the grand jury chose to pretermit, neither indicting or clearing the defendant. Charges might be brought against him at a later date.
“Twenty-eight years ago, the District Attorney’s office pledged to never give up on Gary’s case, and it never has,” said a Kergan family spokeswoman. “Our family can finally move forward.”
The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorneys office has not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
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