http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100511/articles/100519860excerpt
THIBODAUX — Hours after his ex-wife went missing, Chris Fillinich walked through the abandoned house where she spent her last terrifying minutes and found an earring.
The star-shaped pearl earring confirmed for him that Angela Laudun had been inside, but it wasn't until later that he learned the disturbing details of her time there.
Four immigrant workers are accused of raping and killing Laudun, a 33-year-old from Cut Off, early Saturday morning inside that Galliano house, a place they had been hired to repair, authorities said.
The suspects then allegedly put her dead body in a Ford Explorer, drove south and hid her body in the woods off La. 3235 near Golden Meadow.
Gonzalo Cortes, 20, Esdras Garcia, 21, Luis Nava, 28 and Jose Moreno, 23, are each charged with first-degree murder and aggravated rape. The suspects, Mexican nationals working in Houma, remain at the Lafourche Parish jail. Each is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond.
An autopsy performed by the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office Monday revealed Laudun died of asphyxiation caused by suffocation due to non-lethal blunt force injuries. Her family said they were told this meant she was strangled.
“Nobody's a perfect person in life,†said Fillinich, who had two children with Laudun. The couple divorced in 1998. “But nobody deserves to die like that. Nobody deserves the hand she was dealt.â€
Members of Laudun's family talked for the first time Monday about the mystery surrounding her death and what they regard as false allegations that the mother of four, ages 3 to 15, intended to have sex with the suspects in exchange for money.
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