Caddo Sheriff’s detectives have arrested two men for a 26-year-old homicide that occurred in south Caddo Parish, said Sheriff Steve Prator.

Claudell Staten’s body was discovered by a passing motorist on Ellerbe Road north of Robson Road on March 20, 1988. He had been shot several times. Sheriff’s detectives said the 44-year-old man was shot during a struggle inside his moving car. He was left outside on the ground after the vehicle crashed.

Years later while investigating the cold-case homicide of Harold Bruce Cotton, Sheriff’s Detective Terry Richardson received information about the Staten murder and the possibility that the two killings were related. Richardson began reviewing all available 1988 files and reports, and over the following years located and re-interviewed old witnesses from 1988 and identified and interviewed several new witnesses in the Caddo Parish area and across the country.

Detective Richardson said information pointed to the involvement of Staten’s brother-in-law, Will “Roy” Rogers Robinson, and Robinson’s cousin, Jake Robinson. These findings were brought to the Caddo District Attorney’s Office and through conferencing and continued investigation over three years,  a warrant was obtained this past week charging both men as principals to second-degree murder. 

Will Robinson, 56, of Shreveport, was arrested Saturday, December 13, as he visited his brother, Christopher Martin Robinson, at the Caddo Correctional Center. Christopher Robinson is in jail on unrelated charges.

On Tuesday, December 16, the charge of principal to murder was added to Jake Robinson, 60, of Shreveport, who was already in custody at CCC for the 2004 murder of Harold Bruce Cotton.

Caddo District Judge John Mosley set a $1 million cash bond for each of the men.

Detective Richardson said according to the 1988 Staten homicide report, after the murder, a male / female couple took a taxi ride in Shreveport and shared information about the murder with the taxi driver. This couple and anyone else with information is urged to contact Detective Richardson at 675-2170 or Crime Stoppers at 673-7373.