NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — New clues in a cold case have led to the arrest of a New Orleans resident. You might remember back in 2016, a Tulane grad who was visiting New Orleans was found murdered.
On December 16, District Attorney Jason Williams announced a major break in the case.
Five years without answers, but now, the family is finally getting some closure. The Rolfes family now knows the man thought to be their son’s killer, and they take comfort in knowing that he is behind bars.
Facing one count of armed robbery and one count of second-degree murder, Ernest Weatherspoon was indicted and arrested.
In 2016, Thomas Rolfes visited New Orleans. A city he loved, the place where he met his fiancé, and the campus he studied at. Down here scouting locations for a wedding venue, Rolfes was mugged, shot, and left for dead. It was May of 2016, when Rolfes spent most of the evening at Ms. Mae’s then, later in the night was seen buying waters from Delta Fuel Gas Station.
Investigators and detectives worked for years trying to figure out who was responsible. Then, the case went cold. For two years, nothing. No leads. No new evidence, until now.
The newly formed DA’s Cold Case Unit has been working on opening cold cases.
It’s not like you see in the movies or CSI. There’s no quickly finding a fingerprint on a storm drain 10 years later but, Jason Williams says, it’s prioritizing violent crimes that help get answers on this case.
“Shifting resources in this office, not waisting women power and manpower and not going after every marijuana joint in the city or going after every simple possession of cocaine case. Resifting our resources to focus on violent offenders and also making sure we take a look back and not just deal with the current case that comes forward, is what has allowed us to give the Rolfes family some closure here today,” explained Jason Williams, New Orleans District Attorney.
Williams told us he has spoken to Thomas Rolfes’ mom and dad and his then, fiancé Liz Freed. They were shocked to hear the news, saying they feared they’d never get answers.
With an overwhelming amount of info to support this arrest, Williams said he was confident in the case.
He also said that the new components to this were brought forward voluntarily by people “doing their duty.” It wasn’t anyone seeking reward money.
More on the timeline and details of new evidence will be released later.
“I want to acknowledge the diligent work of Detective Sergeant Andrew Waldron and Detective Barrett Morton and all in the Homicide Unit and commend them for never giving up on their search for the perpetrator of this crime. It was their investigative work that led to this result. We are hopeful that this indictment will lead to a full prosecution and conviction to hold this individual accountable for his actions,” Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in a statement to WGNO News.
