Published 6:30 pm Thursday, April 16, 2026
By Crystal Stevenson
The double murder trial of Antonio Hadnot shifted focus to text messages and video surveillance evidence on Thursday — and ended in heated exchanges between the lead detective on the 2021 case and the defense attorney.
Hadnot is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of brothers Rudiy and Marcio Pinto-Arita on Oct. 9, 2021. One of the men had a black dreadlock clenched in his hand.
As the second day of testimony began, the prosecution called Gregory Allen, a firearms expert from the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab, to the stand. Allen presented a ballistics report detailing a 9mm pistol — found in an RV where Hadnot was staying at the time of his arrest — and four shell casings recovered from the crime scene on General Patton Street.
Allen told jurors the 9mm seized from Hadnot’s location did not match the casings found at the scene — though all four casings had been fired from the same, still-unidentified weapon.
“All came from the same firearm, we just don’t have that firearm,” Allen testified.
A pawn shop receipt found after Hadnot’s arrest that was presented to jurors Wednesday showed a 9mm had been sold after the homicides but that gun was never recovered.
The testimony of Sgt. Benjamin Randolph with the Lake Charles Police Violent Crimes Division followed Allen, providing a deep dive into surveillance footage that prosecutor Lea Hall told jurors on Wednesday would be “pretty damning.”
Randolph said when he arrived at the crime scene the morning after the homicides, he followed up on a witness report that a white car had been seen in the area the night before.
“We tracked a white Honda Accord headed northbound on General Patton, westbound to General Wainwright and to Luke Powers, all the way to the RV park,” Randolph testified, showing jurors still images from seven surveillance cameras along the route the vehicle took. “No other white cars were doing what that car did at that time.”
“But you have no idea who is in that car, can we agree?” defense attorney Christopher Washington asked on cross.
“I cannot,” Randolph responded.
He went on to explain that SWAT members later found Hadnot, girlfriend Tekira Byers and a male friend inside the RV, which was was parked behind a white Honda Accord.
Wendy Pinto-Torres, the niece of Rudiy and Marcio, testified on behalf of the family through a translator. She told jurors Ruidy “left behind two babies” and Marcio “left a little baby.”
Sgt. Kevin Hoover, a forensic investigator with LCPD, was not part of the original case but testified he was asked on Tuesday to retrieve data from the hard drive of a cell phone linked to the case because the file it had been saved on was corrupt.
Hoover read to jurors text messages from Byers that were sent to a contact in her phone labeled “Rafiah Klutcha” around the time of the homicide.
“Tony still with you??,” she texts Klutcha.
“Ayes,” he responds. “We came across a little bit of trouble.”
“Shooter? Tony?” she asks. “Man wya (where you at?)”
“My fault. I was tryna make sho bro was in his right but he hood tho,” Klutcha responds
“Bet I’m bouta dip out … they got my blood in em,” Klutcha later texts.
“I’m packing my stuff now,” Byers responds and later adds “put y’all news on ASAP.”
Hoover testified that 33 user accounts were found on the phone — including a gmail account and a TextFree Ultra account linked to Hadnot, though the texts were not from those accounts.
“You cannot tell jurors that the messages to and from that phone on that day were from Antonio? You cannot put the phone in his hands?” Washington asked Hoover.
“I cannot,” Hoover answered.
Det. Willie Fontenot, who was the lead detective on the case, said while evidence officers processed the scene, he knocked on doors.
“A lot of vacancies, a lot of people not home,” he said. “One had surveillance footage she was able to show me on her phone. She also said she heard multiple gunshots that night.”
Two men parked in a silver Dodge Charger in a driveway catty corner to the victims’ home said a portable storage unit blocked their view of the house but they told Fontenot they saw a white car parked in the street and a shorter Black man with dreadlocks exited it.
Fontenot also testified that one of the victims’ cell phones was open on a message to “David Flacco” — who police believe was the name of the drug dealer the victims sent their location in order to purchase cocaine. Flacco has sent the location to two phone numbers. Fontenot said investigators identified the owners of the numbers and ruled out they were there that night.
On redirect, Washington asked if those two numbers could belong to the “actual killer.”
“Just because a pin was sent to Tom, Dick or Harry doesn’t mean Tom, Dick or Harry showed up at that scene,” Fontenot responded. “But I could tell you who was there. The actual killer’s dreadlock was in my deceased’s hands.”
“That’s your opinion,” Washington countered.
“No, that’s not my opinion. We got witnesses across the street,” Fontenot responded. “I got his DNA at the scene. No other cars passed down General Patton.”
On redirect, Hall asked about the DNA at the scene and the car being tracked back to the RV park.
“It corroborates in a way that otherwise would be unexplainable?” Hall asked Fontenot.
“That is correct,” Fontenot replied.
“Did you ever find anything to exonerate him?” Hall asked Fontenot.
“I did not,” Fontenot responded.

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