A Louisiana man who confessed to killing an 11-year-old girl in 1990 was released from prison last Thursday, bringing sadness and fear to the victim's still-grieving family, KSLA reported,
Phillip DeSelle, 65, was released from the Wade Correctional Center after serving 24 years, less than half of the 50 years he was sentenced to serve after pleading guilty to manslaughter and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Averie Evans of Natchitoches, Louisiana.
"Knowing he is out there, it's a very fearful day," Erin Keyser, Averie's aunt, told KSLA.
"We do feel like given the opportunity, he will hurt another child," the aunt added.
Averie was just shy of her 12th birthday when she vanished Nov. 5, 1990 while going door-to-door selling candy for a school fundraiser. She knocked on DeSelle's door that day and was never seen again, the station reported.
Because the victim's body was never found, prosecutors could only charge DeSelle with manslaughter and kidnapping.
He became eligible for good time parole supervision "as a result of diminution of sentence, (applicable good time statutes at the time the crime was committed)," Pam LaBorde, Louisiana Department of Corrections communications director, told KSLA.
On the Facebook page Justice for Averie, the girl's family expressed heartbreak over the convict's release and pleaded with the public to share his photograph.
"Another day has dawned and our Averie is still gone, and now her killer walks free," the family said. "Hold your children a little tighter. The world just got a little colder."
DeSelle is to report to probation in Ville Platte, southern Louisiana, where he is believed to have family.
The Louisiana Department of Corrections said he is not to travel out of Evangeline Parish, where he now resides and is in the Ville Platte parole office jurisdiction, the station reported.
He also has a strict 6 a.m.-6 p.m. curfew and is to wear a GPS tracker at all times.
