Two people wanted for 1984 Grand Isle ‘Man in the well’ cold case

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) — The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s assistance in solving a murder case that’s nearly 40 years old.

The case began in January of 1984, when the family of Lester Rome reported Rome missing.

In their investigation, detectives identified Patricia Tito as a possible suspect. At the time, Tito was living in Rome’s home and operating his business. When asked about Rome’s whereabouts she told them that Rome had gone on a trip. With no leads, the JPSO eventually suspended the case.

Two years later, in April of 1986, a homicide investigation was opened by the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office, after the discovery of human remains in a water well in the town of Many, Louisiana. But the victim remained unidentified for 35 years.

In 2021 the Sabine Parish Coroner’s Office identified the remains as Lester Rome, and Tito was once again a suspect in the case.

After Tito was arrested she told detectives that she was present at the time of Rome’s murder and was the one who brought him to the location, but she identified Delvin Sibley as the murderer. Through further investigation, detectives learned that the well in which Rome’s remains were found, was on property formerly owned by Sibley’s family.

Sibley is currently wanted for questioning by JPSO as a “person of interest” in the investigation. An arrest warrant has been issued for Tito on a charge of second-degree murder, although she’s already in jail on an unrelated homicide charge.

Anyone with information regarding the initial disappearance and murder of Lester Rome, the whereabouts in 1984 of Delvin Avard Sibley or Patricia Tito, or any other information that may be of help to investigators is asked to call Captain Dennis Thornton of the JPSO Cold Case Unit at 504-364-5300, or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

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