High Court imprisons Jared Ranguy for triple murder for at least quarter-century – closure at last, say bereaved family

Published by BBNTEAM at July 16, 2024

Posted: Tuesday, July 16, 2024. 11:18 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Jared Avery Ranguy, 36, will likely be into his sixties before he can convince a parole board that he is sufficiently rehabilitated to avoid spending the remainder of his natural life behind prison bars.

In March, the Ladyville resident pleaded guilty to the triple killing of his mother Abbidale Karen Skeen, 51; his step-father, Robert Earl Vellos, 72; and his sister, Teena Beth Skeen, 33, inside their Marage Road home in the Ladyville area on November 25, 2012.

Around 3:15 that morning, Ranguy armed himself with a nine-millimeter pistol and first shot Teena twice in her own room, then entered his parents’ room and shot Robert twice in the face before shooting and stabbing Karen 23 times, mostly in the neck.

Ranguy has been neither a model prisoner nor client during the 12-year saga as recounted by High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim, who found many disturbing aggravating factors counted against him, but none to mitigate his crime and the tragic consequences it created.

Indeed, the judge noted in court that between 2012 and 2022 he had committed eight infractions while imprisoned, including threatening to kill any inmate placed in his cell.

On the other hand, Ranguy had previously committed no crimes and showed good character, and while behind bars showed aptitude as a “genius” engineer, pointing to potential rehabilitation. Always critical to a lower sentence is an expression of remorse and Ranguy made note of that in his social inquiry report though in court he had claimed it was accidental and not intentional.

The court started its calculation at 46 years before parole eligibility, reducing that to 37 for the various mitigating factors including an early guilty plea – though not early enough in the judge’s view, as Ranguy waited nine years after first being called up for trial in 2015, during which time he changed multiple attorneys. The sentence begins from the original day of remand on November 27, 2012, crediting 11 months and nine years to his time already served and ensuring he can go before a parole board in another quarter-century, when he will be 61.

Defense counsel Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith told reporters afterward that the court should have given more weight to its theory that sleepwalking may have been a factor: “The main, or one of the main things we were relying on was the forensic psychiatric report of the United Kingdom Forensic Psychiatrist and a sleep specialist. Unfortunately, those reports could not be conclusive without having hooked up mister Ranguy to sleep machines, sleep study machines in the prison. The cost was too prohibitive. We couldn’t go that far and as a result, the experts could only go so far as to say non-REM parasomnia, in common parlance sleepwalking, could not be ruled out.”

Speaking for the family, Krystal Holder, Karen’s niece, expressed relief: “I would say that we’re feeling emotional relieved and grateful that this long journey is finally over And that justice has to be served. The loss of our loved ones, it was immense. It was profound because we’re such a poor state. And, so it was shocking, and it was truly a tragedy. And we have been coming here to these court sessions for twelve years. Some of the family behind me have been, they’ve been at every court session. So, we are relieved. However, the sentence, it does not take away the deep pain that we feel and that we will continue to feel probably for the rest of our lives because the absence of Aunt Karen, Teena, and Robert, it’s felt every single day and they are dearly missed, but we are grateful for this closure.”

She added that Ranguy’s apology would have counted for more with them had he said it in open court: “I think it would have been better if he had spoken to us and apologized. I think that would have meant much more. We are grateful that he pled guilty and that today is the last day that we have to be here and this is over. I think that now, individually, all of us have our own journeys that we want to get to forgiveness. We want to be at peace, and we hope that today, our family members are able to finally sleep in peace.”

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