http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/12/elma_kolman_donnie_london_kill.html
Elma Kolman this week received justice 33 years after she was found dead in a vacant Old Jefferson lot.
Donnie London, 62, pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday (Dec. 11) and admitted killing the 73-year-old former teacher, according to his defense attorney, Paul Fleming. London was arrested in January 2016 after DNA linked him to the homicide during a cold case review by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.
Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced London to 21 years in prison in an unusual hearing held inside the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. London has never made an appearance in the courthouse since his arrest because he has paraplegia.
The jail does not have the proper wheelchair to transport him to the courthouse, Fleming said.
Kolman's niece, Diane Kolman, 84, was at the jail for London's guilty plea. He spoke only to the judge, answering questions with a yes or no, and did not apologize for the killing, she said.
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Elma Kolman was reported missing on April 6, 1984, by friends after she missed a lunch date, a relative said. No one had spoken to the retired New Orleans Public School System teacher for two days.
A passerby found Kolman's body in a vacant lot in the 300 block of Monticello Avenue on April 7, 1984. A cord from the hood of her jacket was wrapped around her neck, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.
An autopsy determined she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. She'd also suffered "traumatic injuries", authorities said.
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Investigators developed a DNA profile from evidence in the case which was a match for Donnie London. His profile was on file with the FBI's national criminal database.
Homicide investigators tracked London down in a Plaquemine, Louisiana, nursing home where he was bedridden. London admitted killing Kolman to detectives when they paid him a visit last year, the Sheriff's Office said.
London told investigators he intended to rob Kolman when he saw her walking near the lot on Monticello. He raped and killed her when she resisted, the Sheriff's Office said.
The Jefferson Parish district attorney's office charged London with second-degree murder, but London entered a plea under the down-graded charge of manslaughter. The district attorney's office declined to comment about the change in charge on Tuesday.
