By Monique Roth

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Recent revelations in the mysterious disappearance of Reserve couple Kenneth and LaKeitha Joseph point toward a calculated and planned killing of the couple versus the idea the couple fell victim to a random act of violence.

The bodies of Kenneth and LaKeitha Joseph, found separately last month in a New Orleans waterway, had been tied up with blue nylon rope and attached to kettlebells, according to police reports released this week. The cause of death for both Kenneth and LaKeitha was classified as drowning.

The warrant said Kenneth Joseph’s body was tied to the handle of a 30-pound kettlebell when he was found March 22. Lakeitha Joseph was found March 10, and the report said police suspected she had also been tied to a kettlebell. 

The released search warrant seeks information on an American Express credit card that was used at a Walmart store in Kenner on Feb. 19, the day the couple disappeared, to purchased two 30-pound kettlebells, blue utility rope, two hooded sweatshirts, three pairs of gloves, fishing line, two pairs of shoes and a bottle of degreaser.

The store’s surveillance cameras show a man and a woman making the $177 purchase, but their identities are not revealed in the warrant.

Family members of Kenneth Joseph, 34, and Lakeitha Joseph, 29, reported the couple missing on Feb. 19 after they had not heard from them since Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

Kenneth’s sister told investigators that Kenneth often borrowed her vehicle and would return it before morning the next day. She said that he borrowed her vehicle Feb. 18 at approximately 6:30 p.m. and had not returned the vehicle.

On Feb. 27, St. John Parish the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives received information from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia that the van the Josephs were known to be driving was located in good condition at an apartment complex parking lot in College Park, Ga.