A year ago on Friday, Rita Jordan murdered in Abbeville; still no arrest made

Rita “Theresa” Jordan died tragically a year ago today. Her killer has yet to be caught.

Jordan, in her 70s, is said to have been stabbed multiple times while baby sitting her one-year-old grand child in her home on Martin Luther King Drive.

There is still a $5,000 reward, established by her church, St. Mary Magdelen Catholic Church, still available for someone who helps solves the murder.

Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy said this about the one year anniversary of the death of Jordan.

“The Abbeville Police Department is fully aware of the anniversary of the death of Ms. Rita Jordan,” Hardy said. “Our deepest sympathy goes out to Ms. Jordan’s family and friends as they remember the loss of their loved one.

“Although the Abbeville Police Department had been busier with major investigations than in years past, we continue to work on all open cases. The investigation involving Ms. Jordan was a horrendous event for our entire community; one which the police department will continue to investigate until the person responsible is brought to justice.”

A year ago today, Kelly Allen, who was 17 at the time, just got off the school bus, walked to her grandmother’s home but could not get in because the doors were locked but her grandmother’s van was still parked at home.

Allen figured something was not right. Then she heard her one-year-old nephew crying as she went around the house, pounding on the doors and windows, at the same time, shouting for her grandmother to open the door. Nothing.

“I heard Weston (grandchild) crying. I knocked and got no answer,” said Allen. I did not think nothing was wrong. I called my mother (Waldean Jordan) who told me to call Damian (Landry).”

Landry was a member of the Abbeville fire department and the father of the one-year-old in the house. He and the fire department arrived on scene and he had to break a window to get into the house.

It was then he discovered Jordan on the floor. His son was safe.

“I realized something was wrong when I saw her legs,” Allen said. “He told me not to go inside.”

She did not. In the meantime, Waldean, a school bus driver in Lafayette Parish, was on her way back home. She said she thought her mother fell or had a heart attack. No one told her Jordan was murdered until she arrived at the house.

Waldean, one of two daughters, does not like to think about that day Landry found her mother murdered. The last 365 days have been rough because the killer still walks the streets.

“It does not feel like it was a year,” said Waldean, who took off of work today in honor of the death her mom. “I am going through the motions, because it is what I have to do. I feel like it happened yesterday.”

The family has cleaned Jordan’s home after the police released the home to the family.

What baffles Waldean is why would someone would murder a lady who stays in her home, has no money and who does not bother anyone.

“I don’t understand why,” she added. “There was no forced entry, which means whoever came into the house, she knew who they were. She does not let strangers into the house.”

Waldean has stayed on top of the investigations by bugging the Abbeville Police Department. She said she’d call the detectives at the end of the month for a progress report.

The Abbeville Police have even gotten the FBI involved in solving the murder.

Waldean and her family still have faith the police are going to catch the killer, but she has also put solving the murder in the hands of God, she added.

“It will take God to solve this. I’ll admit, this murder has tested my faith. I was mad at God for a long time. I prayed to him to help find the killer. I pray for justice every night.”

If anyone has any information involving this investigation, please call the Abbeville Police Department at 337-893-2511.