Bethany Arceneaux, 29, is home from the hospital. She is reunited with her 2-year-old son after being rescued following her kidnapping on Wednesday.
When the family gathers for Sunday dinner, they’ll say a prayer of thanks, but they’ll also know that the ordeal may not be completely over.
The father of Arceneaux’s child, Scott Thomas, is dead. He was killed when family members stormed a vacant house to rescue Arceneaux, whom they said they feared was in mortal danger.
No family members have been charged in the fatal shooting but a report on the case has been sent to the district attorney.
Even with the unresolved issues, the large family of sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins are celebrating their determination to find Arceneaux that culminated with having her home safely.
They’re applauding Arceneaux’s survivor spirit.
They also have a stranger to thank for stepping up to help keep Arceneaux’s son safe during the violent confrontation.
A pattern of violence
The most recent incident played out on Wednesday evening, but based on police documents and family members, it was one in a string of incidences of domestic violence by Thomas against Arceneaux.
Arceneaux filed a complaint with police on June 15, saying Thomas locked her in a house and threatened to kill both her and her son.
“He grabbed our son from me and shoved him into the car,” Arceneaux wrote in the report. “Since then, Scott has been riding around my mom’s house and my work looking for me. I am afraid for me and my son’s life.”
Arceneaux also said in the report Thomas had in the past choked her, dragged her by her hair and held her and her son hostage. “He keeps threatening to kill us. He put a knife to my neck countless times,” she said in the report.
A protective order against Thomas was issued June 17, court records show. Thomas was arrested Aug. 8 for violating the order. He also was charged with aggravated assault and aggravated flight from an officer.
Dawnetta Roy, Arceneaux’s cousin, said Arceneaux didn’t feel safe around Thomas.
“She was very afraid of him,” Roy said.
That fear led to a car chase Wednesday evening that could have ended much worse except for one Madeline Avenue woman.
Kindness of a stranger
Derrimetria Robinson said she was at her front door around 5:20 p.m. on Wednesday when she heard a car driving by her Madeline Avenue home.
The driver of a blue car was blowing her horn as she drove by. Robinson said she came out of the house to see what was going on.
She saw the driver, Bethany Arceneaux, pull into the parking lot between a daycare center and beauty salon across the street from Robinson’s house, get out of car and go to the back passenger door of the car.
That’s when Robinson noticed there was a baby in the back of the car.
“She (Arceneaux) went to the passenger side to get her baby out and when she was doing that a white Buick pulled up behind her. She started running and he (the driver of the car) ran behind her and he attacked her, you know, while she was holding her baby,” Robinson said.
By that time, Robinson, who was wearing her house slippers, had gone to the parking lot.
Robinson said the attacker, who was later identified as Scott Thomas, continued to pursue Arceneaux and put her into his car.
Robinson, who has no children of her own, said she was worried about the baby and stepped in to help.
“She (Arceneaux) was hollering and screaming for help,” Robinson said. “When I seen she had a baby and I knew they were in trouble, it was like I knew I had to save that little baby.”
Robinson said she somehow managed to get the baby as the two continued to struggle. Then, Robinson said, Thomas pulled away with Arceneaux in his car.
Robinson took the 2-year-old child who had been left behind and cared for him until family members came later that evening.
As Robinson shared her story Saturday afternoon, she said she was happy to hear that Arceneaux was recovering after being rescued from a vacant house by family members.
She said she hopes to meet Arceneaux after she gets out of the hospital.
She added that if something like what happened Wednesday ever happens again, her response would be the same.
“I’m just glad I was able to help and that God chose me to do such a wonderful mission ... if I had to do it again, I would do it again.”
The child was safe with Robinson, but no one knew where Thomas had taken Arceneaux.
Lafayette police later issued an arrest warrant for Thomas, 29, charging him with kidnapping.
Then around 7:30 p.m., Thomas’ white Buick was found near a field at South Fieldspan and Anderson roads.
Searching with hope
By Thursday morning, the Lafayette Police Department had little new information about the kidnapping.
“Based off the information officers received at the day care about the way the victim was confronted by Thomas, we believe she may be in a situation where she could be harmed,” spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton said at that time.
Lafayette police deployed bloodhounds from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Dozens of family members and friends began the search for Arceneaux. They were determined to find the young mother.
Family members, some clutching cellphones, huddled close to one another as they searched a field at South Fieldspan and Anderson roads, where the abandoned car had been found.
Arceneaux’s aunt, Monica Arceneaux-Henry, was among those who held out hope Thursday that she’d be returned safely.
Arceneaux-Henry pleaded with Thomas not to harm Arceneaux.
“Bring her home safe, so she can be with her baby, please, Scott,” she said.
Arceneaux was not found by the end of a long day Thursday. The search was called off at dark.
A vacant house, gunshots, the rescue
On Friday, the search for Arceneaux started again.
Some resumed the search near Anderson Road where Thomas’ car had been found.
Others headed to Leonville, Thomas’ hometown. Police and residents helped with the search.
The break came when the family got a tip about a vacant house in a nearby field, according to Daily Advertiser photographer Leslie Westbrook, who spent much of the day with the family as they searched.
Westbrook said a neighborhood resident and another man said they were going to search the home and asked Arceneaux’s family members if they'd like to come along. He said everyone took off on four-wheelers toward the house.
Westbrook said he walked up to the house and heard someone shouting, “They’re in there!”
A half dozen people converged on the house, kicked down the door and found Arceneaux inside. She was bloody and had been stabbed repeatedly.
They also found Thomas in the abandoned house.
A confrontation ensued between Thomas and Arceneaux’s family. Gunfire erupted, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Capt. Kip Judice said. Thomas died from injuries he sustained during the confrontation, Judice said.
One uncle scooped up Arceneaux and carried her to safety. She was taken to Lafayette General Medical Center.
“She’s shook up, she’s sliced up, but she’s all right,” said Ryan Arceneaux, her brother. He and another brother, Kaylyn Alfred, were among the family members who entered the house. “We found her. We went and got her in that house. We kicked doors down. “
Ryan Arceneaux said he is just grateful that his sister is alive and he is proud of his family’s actions.
“If we would have waited, she would have been dead.”
Alfred said when the family entered the house, they heard cries for help.
“Just screaming … ‘help, help,’ ” he said.
Help had arrived.
Spirit of survival
Arceneaux told investigators the abandoned house was the only place Thomas took her, according to Judice. She said she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since Wednesday.
When Thomas heard family members enter the house, she said, he began stabbing her.
That information will be key, Judice said, when prosecutors consider whether the family member was justified in shooting Thomas.
Judice said only one person fired a weapon inside the house, and Thomas had at least three gunshot wounds.
“The man began harming her. He (Arceneaux’s family member) did what he needed to do to stop that aggressive behavior from Mr. Thomas,” Judice said. “We have to put all the information together before we can comment further on the extent of that confrontation.”
Law enforcement officials have questioned the family members who stormed the house. However, legal experts said the “defense of others” law could apply in this case.
“Private individuals as well as law enforcement officers can rely on the concept of ‘defense of others’ when the other is facing a threat of death or great bodily harm,” Cheney Joseph Jr., law professor and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at LSU Law Center, wrote Friday in an email response to The Daily Advertiser’s questions.
Joseph referred to two state statutes, La. R.S. 14:20 and 22.
La. R.S. 14:22, the defense of others, states, “It is justifiable to use force or violence or to kill in the defense of another person when it is reasonably apparent that the person attacked could have justifiably used such means himself, and when it is reasonably believed that such intervention is necessary to protect the other person.”
The district attorney will review the case.
While Arcenaeux recovers, the family must deal with what comes next regarding the fatal shooting of Thomas.
Arceneaux’s brother Harold Carter said she was up Saturday “talking, laughing and joking” when he visited her in the hospital.
“My girl should be getting discharged today. She’s going home. It’s amazing,” he told The Daily Advertiser.
Carter also talked of his sister’s spirit of survival. He said it could be an inspiration to other women in similar abusive situations.
He said that women, especially younger women, need to know that “getting back together” with abusive men will lead to serious detriment.
Over the next few months, both families will deal with the the fallout from domestic violence and the death of a family member.
Right now, Arceneaux’s family seems content to focus on the positive elements of the situation.
Carter said he felt “relieved, good, (and) happy that people came out and helped us.
“If it wasn’t for them and positive thinking, it could’ve turned out different.”
Click on the link to see the photo gallery of how the Arceneaux was able to rescue Bethany.
Daily Advertiser reporters Amanda McElfresh, Jessica Goff and Claire Taylor contributed to this report.