AMY SZPARA

LAPLACE – A LaPlace man, wanted for shooting and killing his girlfriend in January, has finally been caught after almost two months on the run. Danny Eugene Winston, 38, of LaPlace, was apprehended Saturday evening in Birmingham, Ala., after being stopped for a traffic violation. Birmingham police learned that he was wanted in St. John Parish for the January murder of Sydonna Morris, 26. Winston, who fled their Sunnyside Drive home in LaPlace in the victim’s 1994 champagne Toyota Corolla, was still driving the vehicle when he was pulled over Saturday, said authorities. He is being held in Birmingham as a fugitive for St. John Parish. Winston disappeared shortly after allegedly shooting Morris in their bedroom at the beginning of the year. According to the children Morris was watching in her home at the time, Winston closed the bedroom door, locked it and told the children that Morris was resting and not to bother her. After the children heard moaning, they called the victim’s sister, Shannon Florent, to the home. She found Morris still alive and called the sheriff’s office. Morris later died from a gunshot wound to the head. Morris left behind three children, five brothers, two sisters and her mother and father. Though St. John Sheriff’s Office received a few calls about spottings of Winston in the area, nothing turned up when they arrived to the locations. According to Capt. Michael Tregre of the sheriff’s office, St. John was in the process of putting Winston on the TV show, “America’s Most Wanted,” when the suspect turned up in Alabama. Tregre said that the only problem they could face now is Winston fighting extradition, meaning that he might not volunteer to return to Louisiana. St. John Sheriff’s Office may have to get a court order to force Winston to return. “If he fights extradition, we’re ready for it. We are prepared,” said Tregre.