Louisiana stabbing spree: four dead, suspect Kaegan Solet arrested after manhunt

A 47-year-old man was arrested Sunday after a stabbing spree in Houma, Louisiana, left four people dead and a child in critical condition.

Louisiana stabbing spree kills four; suspect arrested after weekend manhunt

Kaegan Jude Solet, 47, of Houma, Louisiana, was arrested on Sunday in connection with a stabbing spree that killed at least four people and left a child in critical condition, NBC News reports, citing the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office.

Authorities identified Solet as a person of interest in Friday's attacks and launched a search over the weekend. Houma is a city roughly 55 miles east of New Orleans.

Deputies first responded to a scene where they found a child with apparent stab wounds. The child was airlifted to hospital and remains in a critical but stable condition. "We do believe that he will pull through, but again, this is a day-to-day thing," Lt. Blake Tabor, a sheriff's spokesperson, told NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans.

Officers subsequently discovered multiple deceased victims inside nearby homes, bringing the confirmed death toll to at least four.

Tabor told NBC News the attacks were not a "random act of violence" and said there "is a link" between Solet and the victims, without elaborating on the nature of that connection.

Prior arrests and charges

Court records show Solet had previously been a suspect in at least two other stabbings, one of them fatal.

In January 2019, the same sheriff's office arrested him on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Kemple Paul Scott Lovell, described at the time by local reports as a homeless man. A grand jury declined to indict Solet and the charge was dropped; a public defender had been appointed to represent him.

In December 2019, he was arrested in connection with the stabbing of a 59-year-old woman in a hotel room. The woman survived. Solet was subsequently tried by a jury on attempted second-degree murder and found not guilty, Houma Today reported at the time. NBC News said it had reached out to his attorney in that case for comment.

Court records further show that Solet's arrest history stretches back to 1997. As recently as 2025, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to six months with credit for time served.

The investigation is ongoing.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)