Jury gets trial of man accused of killing a Kent grandmother and burning her body
Jurors got the trial Wednesday of a man accused of killing a Kent grandmother during a burglary of her home and then setting her body on fire along a Pierce County road.
Lance Gene Francoise Rougeau, 28, is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of Linda Sweezer. He’s also charged with first-degree burglary, residential burglary and motor vehicle theft.
Deputy prosecutor Kevin Benton told jurors during closing arguments that Rougeau’s blood and Sweezer’s blood were found in her home and that Rougeau’s DNA was found in her car.
Defense attorney Leslie Tolzin argued there was more than one person involved in the case and that investigators left DNA evidence untested.
Sweezer had been in the process of adopting her 4-month-old granddaughter, Benton said, and was supposed to return to work from family leave Oct. 23, 2017. She wasn’t there.
Her partially burned body was found early the next day near 24th Street Court East and 169th Avenue East.
Sweezer had stab wounds to her head and neck, Benton said. She also was strangled, which he said was the primary cause of her death.
Police later found the baby alone in Sweezer’s home in the 23200 block of 105th Avenue Southeast.
There were signs of homicidal violence there, Benton said.
Evidence shows “she did not leave that home willingly,” the prosecutor said. “She fought.”
There was blood spattered in the house, a bloody knife, an overturned stroller and a bloody sleeping cap, Benton said. A lanyard had both her blood and Rougeau’s on it.
Sweezer’s vehicle was found a couple miles from her body.
There was blood in the trunk, and Benton said a cigarette butt, a drug pipe and the steering wheel contained Rougeau’s DNA.
“His blood is in Linda Sweezer’s home,” Benton said. “... His DNA is on three items in her vehicle.”
He also accused Rougeau of burglarizing another home soon after, taking a backpack and another vehicle.
The backpack, with keys to that vehicle and to Sweezer’s inside, was found in Rougeau’s mother’s home. She lived about a mile from Sweezer.
Tolzin said evidence suggested that multiple people were involved in the case and that the only thing his client should be held accountable for is second-degree burglary.
Prints found on the trunk of Sweezer’s car didn’t belong to Rougeau or Sweezer, Tolzin told jurors.
There were two pipes found in the car, and one wasn’t tested for finger prints or swabbed for DNA, he said. There also was other DNA evidence in the case that wasn’t tested, he argued.
“When you presume guilt, you leave the hard questions unanswered,” Tolzin said.
He noted that Sweezer had blunt force injuries.
“Where’s the blunt object?” he asked. “... Is it with the person who actually killed her?”
