Lacombe man killed in Florida identified; victim’s brother 1 of 3 suspects arrested

MILTON, Fl. (WVUE) - Three people in St. Tammany Parish have been arrested following the discovery of a body of a Lacombe man in Florida, according to the sheriff’s office.

In a press conference live-streamed on social media on Friday (June 17), Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson identified the victim as Joshua James, 32.

Two men and a 17-year-old male, who all reside in Lacombe also, were arrested on Tues. (June 14) after the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office was contacted by detectives in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The two agencies collaborated on the investigation, resulting in the arrests of the three accused shortly after the body was discovered in Milton, Florida.

Patrick McCarty, 36, and Jason James, 37, were arrested and booked for second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. The 17-year-old male is accused of participating in the incident and he was booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center on the same two charges.

Sheriff Johnson said that Jason James, one of the suspects now in custody with St. Tammany authorities, is the brother of the victim.

Investigators say that the accused beat the victim at a residence on Williams Drive in Lacombe where McCarty and James live. They say that the accused drove the body all the way to a remote area in Santa Rosa County where it was dumped in a waterway known as Jake’s Bayou.

James’ body was located by a fisherman in the 2700-block of Robinson Point Rd. around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Detectives say that the accused also tried to destroy evidence of the crime.

The mugshots of the suspects have not yet been made available by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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