Rousseau gets 21 years to life
4:25 p.m.
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By Thatcher Moats
Times Argus Staff - Published: January 30, 2009
BARRE - Leodor “Kahoona” Rousseau, the leader of a group of people who beat a Barre man to death, pleaded guilty Friday afternoon to second-degree murder and kidnapping. A judge sentenced him to 21 years to life.
Details of the plea agreement were being released this afternoon.
James Saunders, who was 33 years old, went missing in May 2006 and was found buried in the woods in Vershire that September near a home once rented by Rousseau.
Seven people were charged with crimes related to the death, including three teenagers who lured Saunders into the car where he was beaten as the car was driven.
Rousseau is the last person to resolve his case out of those seven people.
The murder was said to be retribution for a drug rip-off.
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