FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Chapman
Phone: (904) 255-3004
Cell: (904) 524-6626
ChapmanD@coj.net
March 14, 2024
JURY FINDS PINARD GUILTY OF MURDER, TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE
State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Pierre Pinard guilty of Second-Degree Murder with a Weapon and Tampering with Evidence for the death of Rosemene Decius. With the verdict, Pinard faces up to life in Florida State Prison. The Honorable London Kite will sentence Pinard at a later date.
On July 7, 2023, Decius’ children called police to report their mother missing — they had not heard from her all day and Decius’ employer said she did not show up for work. Officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to their home on Hampton Landing Drive where they met with Pinard, Decius’ boyfriend. Pinard allowed police to search the home, and officers found a pool of blood on the bed. Video from the home security camera showed Pinard coming and going from the house in the early morning hours. Officers detained Pinard for an interview, where he eventually admitted to an altercation between himself and Decius. Pinard claims she was coming at him with a knife and when he grabbed her wrists, he pushed her hands upward, and the knife went into her throat killing her. Pinard attempted to clean the scene and put Decius’ body in the trunk of the car. Officers found the car abandoned in a parking lot on Baymeadows Road and, after a search warrant was obtained, they found Decius’ body in the trunk.
The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Trey Atkinson and Lauren Anderson.