Speaker A: WUUU FM proudly presents, live from the Goteke studios, it’s TC and the Am baby, along with Kat McKnight. Kat, welcome back to the microphone.

Kat McKnight: Hey, y’all.

Speaker A: You know, Kat, on this show, we like to do light hearted, irreverent humor. We joke a lot.

Kat McKnight: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Today, we’re gonna get a little heavy. It’s gonna get a little heavy. And, we are welcoming our guest. It’s his first time here into the studio, and he has been. He’s just spearheaded an investigation that has led to a podcast that is one day going to lead to a true crime dialogue. I believe a documentary that you may see on the streaming platform in the future. And this is all about the Washington Parish unsolved murder of Donna Arceneaux And this is. We are actually approaching an anniversary. So, October 23, 2017, the body of 40 year old Donna Smith Arceneaux was found in Franklinton. And, if you’re not familiar with the case, she was shot, with a gunshot wound. She was found with a gunshot wound, lower left breast area. And after a year into the investigation, some interesting things. So, I am welcoming to the show for the first time, and I hope it’s not the last time. Tucker Simmons. Welcome to the show, sir. How are you?

Tucker Simmons: Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Yeah, man.

There’s so much confusion surrounding the Donna Arsenal case

So let’s, first of all, you started this investigation, and I just have to ask, why now? You’re from Franklinton.

Tucker Simmons: Yep. Correct.

Speaker A: So what led you to investigate this? I mean, is it a homicide? Is it a suicide? There’s so much confusion surrounding this case.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah. So it started with, me investigating corruption and, some rumors about my family in Washington Parish overdose the last several decades. And I got a tip from someone saying that, my aunt was murdered and wasn’t actually, you know, didn’t actually commit suicide.

Speaker A: Okay, so. So Donna Arsenal was your aunt?

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, she was married to my uncle back in the early two thousands, and we grew up, you know, hanging out.

Speaker A: And she was a personal connection for you?

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, it is, yeah. my background is as a reality tv producer, so, I’m very much more comfortable behind the scenes, but this has changed the game a little bit.

Speaker A: Yeah. So if you had to give, like, for people who don’t know the case, if you had to give, like, the top three points that you wanted to get across with your podcast with. And I’m hoping you do get some true crime documentary done or produced. But what would you like to convey?

Tucker Simmons: The main thing is that the sheriff’s office, back in 2018, told the media that Donna had committed suicide. but in the hundreds of documents we’ve reviewed during our investigation, there’s not a single document that references suicide. we’ve interviewed the pathologist who performed the autopsy, and, he says he never suspected suicide. But, when asked if he felt pressured to rule it a suicide, he said, I’ll refrain, from saying anything about that.

Speaker A: Okay, so, this is weird. So, first of all, the official stance from Washington Parish sheriffs at the time, back in 2017, was suicide. Now, no one looked at the paperwork, but it said homicide. So it was like, what you would now, and I will say gunshot wound to the lower left breast. That’s not typically a place that someone is going to unalive themselves. that had to be a little suspicious before he arrived from the get go. And when did you discover that?

Tucker Simmons: it was a couple months into the investigation. Donna’s sister was really, cooperative and shared a lot of details and notes that she had, the day. The first time I met Donna’s sister for an interview, I received the autopsy from the coroner’s office in Washington Parish and it stated very clearly homicide. The bullet traveled through several different organs, and the only way it could have taken that trajectory is if Donna’s legs were above her head, which, suggests there was some sort of altercation.

Speaker A: Right. Wow. Okay, so what’s the latest? Now, I know you did the podcast release. That was kind of an event that you had in Franklinton, right?

Tucker Simmons: Yeah. Monday night, we had a listening event. We had a lot of folks in the community, and Donna’s family and my family come out in support of justice for Donna. And the goal really for that was to get people talking about it and.

Speaker A: Yeah, and, you know, just people talking about it. most of the people that you’re going to see on Facebook are horrible, just horrible people. And I have seen things in Facebook groups concerning the Donna Arceneaux case. And, I mean, people have just been, like, slandering her. She’s dead. And people are talking about how, you know, she was this awful woman. I’m like, oh, my God, like, what the h***? And I have to ask you, is there.

Tucker Simmons: Is.

Speaker A: And without spoiling your episodes or anything like that on the podcast, but was there a, main suspect or anything like that?

Tucker Simmons: Yeah.

There are multiple suspects in this case; there are multiple leads

Well, to your first point, there are lots of folks who like to speak poorly of the victim, which is, frustrating because they say it in a way that makes it seem like it makes her case less of a priority in some way.

Speaker A: Oh, right.

Kat McKnight: well, they can’t defend themselves. And the plain and simple is, like, it doesn’t matter what your character was, especially if you were murdered. I mean, that doesn’t matter.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah. And, you know, the fact is, she was an amazing woman. She had a lot of friends. She was a cosmetologist in Franklinton. She did everyone’s hair and nails, so she was beloved. But, folks especially close to the investigation like to speak poorly of her.

Speaker A: that has to be frustrating. Yeah, for sure. And this is a member of your family, and you grew up with her. So as far as, like, any investigation that you’ve done, because I don’t know if the Washington Parish sheriff’s office did a good job at investigating or ever came up with the suspect, but. Did you?

Tucker Simmons: Yes. there are multiple suspects that were initially looked at. Our investigation has, led us to a very specific person and people around them. and interestingly enough, I’ve been awake all night because, one of those folks who’s an interested party, has decided to intimidate not only me, which I’m fine with, trying to get me to stop digging, but also family, members of mine and my 13 year old nephew. And, Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker A: Okay, hold on, hold on. So how did this. How did this play out? So you don’t have to say, you know, the name of the suspect, but you’ve been up all night? Because, I mean, do you. I mean, do you fear for. Would you say you fear for the life of family members, your family members? but, it is just intimidation, right? I mean, that’s.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, yeah, it’s. You know, I will reiterate, there are multiple suspects. There’s one person that I’m particularly interested in. but the incident that happened last night, actually, I’m not in fear of their lives, but, it infuriates me that someone would involve a 13 year old.

Speaker A: So what did they do? What did this person do?

Tucker Simmons: Screenshot stuff on Facebook and send it to profiles and.

Speaker A: Dude, okay, I just got chills running up my spine. So they’re posting pictures of your 13 year old nephew.

Tucker Simmons: They’re sending it privately to you. Facebook account, not to me. I don’t think he has the balls. Can I say that?

Speaker A: Yeah, you just did. You just did, buddy.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, they’re not sending it directly to me, but, it’s just telling, because these folks names have never come out of my mouth publicly. I keep all of that very close to my chest, but they seem to be squirming after episode one. And episode one was just the beginning. So if this is what’s happening in episode one, I can’t imagine what’s going to come in 45678, but we’ll see.

Speaker A: Well, I feel for you on that whole intimidation. That is just, you know, that’s a mental. That’s a mental thing.

Kat McKnight: Well, that’s horrific.

Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. And like I said, chills up my spine on that.

Your podcast focuses on the unsolved murder of Donna Arceneaux

Now, the name of your podcast. Because, look, people love podcasts. People love especially true crime. This is what it is. What is the name of your podcast?

Tucker Simmons: It’s called freeze Frame. Freeze frame. an investigation into the unsolved murder of Donna Arceneaux Season one. Season two. we’ll see if it’s a continuation or a new story in Washington Parish

Speaker A: How many episodes are you gonna have for season one?

Tucker Simmons: we have eight episodes that bring us to present day. that encapsulates the last four years of our investigation. We’ve, reserved episode nine and ten, possibly more, for, updates on what happens.

Speaker A: That’s what I was going to ask you. So you already have them in the can? They’re done. They’re ready to go. But you haven’t updated. Like things like last night where you were intimidated by screenshots of your 13 year old nephew that were being sent around, to intimidate you. That would be like an episode nine thing.

Tucker Simmons: If you did updates, episode nine will be lively.

Kat McKnight: Oh, I’m sure.

Speaker A: I’m sure. Your hope and goal is to solve the case 100%.

Tucker Simmons: my goal going into this was obviously to alert the public that Donna did not commit suicide, that the Washington Parish sheriff’s office, under the previous administration, wasn’t, as transparent as I think the community deserves. and I think that may just be a lack of resources and, maybe not the best training, but, yeah, to solve it. And for her children to know that she didn’t do this to herself and she didn’t leave them with no note or no, you know, nothing.

Speaker A: Right.

Tucker Simmons: I’m not law enforcement, so I can’t make an arrest. A lot of folks reach out and say, when are you. When’s someone gonna be arrested? I have no idea, unfortunately.

Speaker A: Well, the case was turned over to the Louisiana state police now, but they kind of took their time with it. in other words, how long was it? It was 2017. And did you suspect the Washington Paris sheriff’s department at the time? a cover up or corruption or anything like that?

Tucker Simmons: I mean, a lot of people talk about a cover up. I think there were decisions made in the initial investigation. There was a report to the media that it was suicide when they actively had homicide investigators working the case. I asked the former sheriff, Randy Seale, if he could explain why that happened. his response was pretty much, I’m not sure how all that happened, and, ah, asked me to call someone else yet.

Speaker A: Homicide was on the report. The death certificate.

Tucker Simmons: Right, it was on the death certificate, but, the death certificate didn’t come out until, over a year after she was discovered. But the initial, coroner’s investigators report that we have obtained a, shows that he logged into their system just a couple hours after he was called to the scene, that the scene looked tampered with. It didn’t fit the, description that one of the people on scene gave. And he describes bloody towels in the laundry room. And just a lot of things that are concerning. And he wrote in there that the suspected manner of death was homicide and that was in within a couple of hours of coming to the scene.

Speaker A: Okay. Okay, he did.

Speaker A: So he said Homicide 2 hours after the discovery.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. so, and you did, and I recall, as everyone in Franklinton probably knows, and everyone in Washington Parish probably knows, the billboard that you put up right over there by swamp monster on the, on the wall facing on Washington street there. So did anything change after you put up the billboard?

Tucker Simmons: Completely.

Speaker A: really? Yeah, I bet.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, we put up the billboard, and we made it provocative on purpose. And, it worked. We have been criticized for making Franklinton look bad.

Speaker A: Come on. Come on.

Tucker Simmons: But, it worked. And we have received hundreds of tips. We’ve received, we added an anonymous upload button to whokilleddonna.com dot.

Speaker A: I saw that. Yeah. Have you gotten a lot of anonymous uploads?

Tucker Simmons: We have gotten hundreds of files and things that came through that upload button.

Kat McKnight: did you get legitimate ones? I mean, I’m sure you’re getting a lot of fluff ones.

Tucker Simmons: We got a lot of stuff that was not relevant. A lot of things we already knew.

Speaker A: But, I will say maybe even some disinformation too. You gotta be mindful of that, for sure.

Tucker Simmons: Yeah, we have sifted through a lot of things that were not relevant and didn’t add up. But a lot of the documents we have confirmed are legitimate and they were hugely, important to our investigation. And I think that billboard was very important for them, so.

Tucker Simmons is working on a true crime podcast about Donna Arceneaux

Speaker A: And Kat, you have heard the first episode?

Kat McKnight: Oh, I did.

Speaker A: What was your take on it.

Kat McKnight: Oh, it was definitely fascinating. Definitely has the hook, and it’s kind of cool because, you know, obviously, we work on radio, but I’m hearing you, like, that’s the same voice I just heard on the podcast.

Speaker A: And you are hearing the voice of Tucker Simmons here in the studio, a reality tv producer. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna have a true crime documentary. He definitely has podcast out, which is freeze frame, an investigation into the murder of, Donna Arceneaux Is that the correct title of it?

Tucker Simmons: Yes, sir.

Speaker A: So if you had.

Tucker Simmons: Kat, go ahead.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, go ahead. Go ahead.

Kat McKnight: No, I did listen to the first one, and I am hooked already. It’s very fascinating. And there’s so much information already. So definitely has a good hook. And, I mean, just the closure for the family alone, because thinking somebody killed themselves, like you were saying, there’s no note. Why did you do this? It doesn’t matter how, what issues they had, money or not. That doesn’t matter. You still, for the family, want that closure. And even if it’s a murder, you want that, you know, validation. But, I mean, I remember, listening to it. One of the things was, somebody had cleaned up a bathroom, so you can’t shoot yourself in a minute and a half and then sit there and clean up areas. Clean up a bathroom. Make sure there’s no blood. You know, was the weapon missing or something? There was, like, a stain. So there’s so many different things that it’s just, like, just listening to that one episode, there’s, like, there’s no way that was a suicide. And so, I mean, it’s definitely interesting, and I commend you for being out there, especially when you’re getting these threats, because that just means you’re doing a good job and you’re getting closer to the truth. And that’s what’s scary, because that’s when people are going to attack, because they’re getting scared. So, thoughts and prayers to your family, and you’re doing a great job, and you’re going to get the person that did this.

Tucker Simmons: Well, thank you so much for that.

Tucker Simmons: The case is nearing its seventh anniversary. So, Louisiana State Police still investigating

Speaker A: And, Tucker, now, if there’s one final thought that you would like to get across to the listener today, what would it be?

Tucker Simmons: please listen and share, because, so far, over the last four years, as we’ve gone public, the more people that talk about it, the more outrage there is in the community for things not happening. And the, missed opportunities originally, the more pressure is on law enforcement, and we’re grateful that the state police have finally assigned a detective who is actively working the case.

Speaker A: How long did that take?

Tucker Simmons: well, the billboard went up, and then a couple days after, they found the manpower and resources that they had.

Speaker A: A coinky thing, the power of advertising, I’ll just say. so we’re approaching the seven year anniversary, the murder. anything special planned or anything like that?

Tucker Simmons: not for us. I think, we will probably post some stuff in remembrance of Donna. I know her family thinks about this every day.

Speaker A: Sure.

Tucker Simmons: And, I think a lot of folks forget that Donna was a mom, a sister, a daughter. She was a hairdresser, and she did nails. And a lot of people loved her. I think on the 7th anniversary, right around the fair in Washington Parish I, think I just want people to remember that Donna was beloved by a lot of folks, and she deserves justice.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Tucker Simmons, I commend you, sir, and I encourage you to, you know, carry on, keep going until you get to the truth. And, God, I really hope that comes soon. I really do. So.

Tucker Simmons: Me too.

Speaker A: Yeah. And if there’s any final thoughts, any shout outs or anything you’d like to give at this time, now would be the time.

Tucker Simmons: I guess want to thank the state police for, finding resources and working the case. The Washington PR sheriff’s office under the new administration seems to be interested in Donna’s case. I have no inside info, but, I’m hopeful that any eyes that can get on the case and actually make some change, will take place in the near future.

Speaker A: So, Louisiana State Police, do they still rule this as a cold case homicide?

Tucker Simmons: I believe so. the last I heard, it was a cold case homicide. That takes less priority due to a lack of manpower and resources. And it’s taking a long time because the standards of the Washington Parish sheriff’s office in 2017 were not the same standards of the Louisiana state police.

Speaker A: Gotcha.

Tucker Simmons: So I’m not sure what to make of that, but, I think most of us know what they mean.

Kat McKnight: It’s a lot of nice verbiage for something completely different.

Speaker A: And look, Tucker, give out your. Where people can go. Where can they go to hear the podcast? Is it available on Spotify? Itunes?

Tucker Simmons: It is. So, you can go to freeze framepodcast.com and there’s links all the different places that you can listen, but apple Music, Spotify, our heart radio, Amazon music, audible, all the places you get your podcast.

Speaker A: Awesome. Well, man, I hope you come back. I really do.

Tucker Simmons: I’m more than happy to, if.

Speaker A: You wanted to come back on the anniversary, we would. We would, give you the airtime because we believe in what you’re doing and you’re doing the job that I think a lot of people should have already done and this case should have already been solved. Yeah, but it’s not. And, it does make for a good podcast. Kat McKnight will tell you you can get hooked. A lot of people are into this true crime thing, and this is truly a crime and truly an injustice. So with that, we’re gonna take a break. Tucker Simmons, thank you for coming in today, buddy m. We hope you come back soon with good information and news and updates. And speaking of news and updates, cat, we have, ah, another, guest coming in this morning, so we’ll be right back. You’re listening to TC in the am only on Cat Country. 98.9 y’all.