UPDATED 02 april 2008
Her body was discovered around 7 a.m. Monday in her car in front of an abandoned Bunkie home. The discovery came about three and a half hours after the arrest of Donald Ray Johnson, 23, of Bunkie, who was charged with unauthorized use of a credit card in connection with using Distefano’s card, Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Maj. Harry Normand said.
Johnson is also being investigated in connection with Distefano’s death, he said.
He said detectives were led to the body “through their investigation” and led to Johnson after his use of Distefano’s credit card.
Distefano was last seen Saturday morning at the Paragon Casino Resort and reportedly left around 11:20 a.m. to go to Wal-Mart, half a mile away, but hadn’t been seen since.
Several calls to Distefano’s cell phone over that day went unanswered, Normand said.
Her credit cards had been used twice by Johnson, according to Normand, at Wal-Mart and its gasoline pumps. ~ source
