Meshell Hale
A Baton Rouge woman is sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 poisoning death of her boyfriend Damian Skipper. East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said it was persistence that led to the second-degree murder conviction of Meshell Hale.
“It took us seven years, a lot of experts, lots of work, in this case, just an exhaustive amount of work, and then a presentation over two weeks in trial resulted in a verdict,” said Moore.
Moore said when they exhumed Skipper’s body, they found high levels of barium acetate which they believe Hale used to poison him and possibly her estranged husband Arthur Noflin. Moore said they believe money was the motive.
“She was a beneficiary on life insurance policies. Surely seemed to be what the text messages revealed and more than likely the motive and the intent,” said Moore.
Two years after Skipper died in a Baton Rouge hospital his body was exhumed and his death was ruled a homicide after barium was found in his system. The charred remains of Noflin, the estranged husband, were found in the back of a truck in New Orleans in 2016. Moore said both men had been hospitalized with similar symptoms before their deaths.
“But it really wasn’t until you put two and two together with the two bodies and the relationship with her that things started to fall into place and the investigation picked up and resulted in where we are,” said Moore.
Hale has only been convicted for the death of Skipper.
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