Ernest Luttrell murder case on Who Hired the Hitman- A detailed case overview

Who Hired the Hitman spotlights the Ernest Luttrell murder case, tracing a 2010 shooting in Keithville, Louisiana, and the allegations that followed. The episode lays out a home scene with no forced entry, missing firearms and a truck, and a veteran farmer found shot in his kitchen. From there, the story moves through family ties, money issues, and a search for the person who pulled the trigger.

The episode, titled Home on the Rage, leans on interviews, records, and courtroom outcomes to explain what investigators say happened. Each step is tied to people close to Ernest Luttrell and to choices that reportedly set the crime in motion. The focus stays on facts and the central question the series keeps asking: who planned it, who carried it out, and why.

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Detailed Case Overview on Who Hired the Hitman

Ernest Luttrell was born in 1936, served as a paratrooper, worked steady jobs, and retired in Caddo Parish. He lived on Greenwood-Springridge Road with Bobbie Loretta Moore Luttrell and maintained ties with daughter Linda Kate Passaniti, known as Katey.

Investigators log boot prints and note no shell casings at the scene (Image via Unsplash)

On a Sunday in July 2010, Loretta told authorities she returned from church to find Ernest dead in the kitchen. Reports describe no struggle, no shell casings, and boot prints logged at the scene, with firearms and a truck reportedly missing.

Detectives spoke with friends and a farmhand, then with housekeeper Tina Vanmoerkerque, who also dated the farmhand. Threads soon reached an out-of-work mechanic, Erick Crain. Questioned by police, Crain said Tina hired him to kill Ernest. That claim set up a chain of arrests and more interviews.

Tina later told investigators she spent the night before with Erick and, the next morning, dropped him near the Luttrell home. Loretta was then booked on a first-degree murder count, while she denied planning the crime. Money and property moved into focus, and the idea of a staged burglary allegedly took shape during these talks and later testimony.

Financial records come under review during the investigation (Image via Pexels)

Investigators also looked at Katey. Financial papers tied to Ernest drew attention, and authorities alleged manipulation around his affairs before and after the shooting. A grand jury handed up a secret indictment. Katey was arrested in San Antonio on March 22, 2012, refused to waive extradition, and returned to Louisiana on a governor’s warrant after eight weeks, per KLTV.

Crain and Vanmoerkerque entered plea deals. Each admitted a role and agreed to testify. In court, Crain said a payment of 1,000 dollars was promised and that he was asked to make it look like a robbery. KSLA reported that a Caddo Parish jury later found Katey guilty on all counts tied to Ernest’s death, including principal to second-degree murder, conspiracy, and forgery.

Sentencing followed. Katey received life for the murder count, plus consecutive terms totaling 60 years for conspiracy and three forgery counts. Crain pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received life. Vanmoerkerque pleaded guilty to murder and also received life. KSLA reported that all of Katey’s sentences were ordered to run consecutively.

Loretta did not face a jury. She was later deemed incompetent for trial and then died in 2014 in hospice care, with the charges against her dismissed after her death, reportedly based on standard procedure when a defendant passes.

Also read: “disappointed and disturbed”- Alex Murdaugh points out flaws in the portrayals of Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family

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About Who Hired the Hitman

Investigation Discovery’s Who Hired the Hitman is a six-episode series about contract killings, with cases built from phone trails, alibis, and shifting motives. New episodes air Tuesdays at 10/9c, with next-day streaming.

According to a Warner Bros. Discovery press release, the Who Hired the Hitman moves from small-town shootings to a long-running New York case, always circling the same core issue: who planned the hit, and who paid for it.

Home on the Rage fits that format. The Ernest Luttrell case is presented through interviews with loved ones and officials, records, and testimony. Viewers see how a clean kitchen, a missing truck, and a set of boot prints reportedly led detectives from one name to another, then into a courtroom where pleas, testimony, and verdicts closed the loop.

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Watch Who Hired the Hitman on Investigation Discovery at Tuesdays at 10/9c.

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Edited by Preethika Vijayakumar