Bloody trail at senior living center leads to dead woman’s neighbor, Louisiana cops say

Police responding to a call at a Louisiana senior living facility Sunday afternoon found a woman dead in her apartment, covered in blood, and a red trail leading out.

The “heavy” trail continued in the hallway, according toa Baton Rouge police arrest warrant affidavit. Officers followed it to a neighbor’s front door, knocked, and 69-year-old Larry King Woodward answered — bloody knife in hand.

Officers detained Woodward and investigators were called to Calais House on Bishop Ott Drive.

While EMS workers checked Woodward for any injuries, he “made several unsolicited statements advising officers that he had stabbed the victim,” the affidavit shows. But during later interviews with detectives, Woodward “refused to make any statements.”

Based on evidence at the scene, including surveillance video from the senior housing complex, investigators say Woodward killed Frances Marinelli, 67, by stabbing her “numerous times.”

The six-foot, 312-pound man can be seen on surveillance video leaving his apartment, knocking on Marinelli’s door, then hitting her the moment she opens. He goes inside and leaves several minutes later.

Investigators found more blood in different places around Woodward’s apartment, documents show, along with cleaning and first-aid supplies, “which were obviously being used by the defendant to clean a wound and clean the apartment.”

Woodward was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for second degree murder on Sunday.

The investigation is still ongoing and police have not shared any possible motive.