Groton City Police Capture Westerly Murder Suspect

GROTON CITY, CT — Louis Seignious, 31, of Norwich, who has been on the run since Jan. 25 after police say he shot and killed his cousin in Westerly, RI, taken into custody by Groton City Police.

Minutes after police had Seignious, Westerly Chief Shawn Lacey said he was on his way to Groton City where Seignious was being held on an extraditable murder warrant in the slaying of his relative, Vincent A. Sebastain III, 28, of Ledyard.

At around 5 p.m. Saturday, armed Groton City Police were seen in the Mather Avenue-area neighborhood of the city, according to a report, and emergency dispatch. He was found in the Branford Manor apartment complex; he tried to hide in an attic but was captured.

Seignious had been on the run for a week.

According to details provided by Lacey, Groton City Police got a tip; someone spotted him at the community center in the apartment complex. He was at a birthday party and went to a woman asking for a cigarette outside the building. She recognized him. She told him she was on the phne and then she called police. But someone there saw she'd called authorities and warned Seignious and he took off. But when Groton City Police got there, an officer saw someone fitting the description go into an apartment. When checking the apartment, police found he'd had gone into the attic over four separate apartments in the complex. Police evacuated the apartments and "could hear him in the attic." When they got to the last apartment, Lacey said Seignious "came crashing through the ceiling; he fell through the rafters and through the sheetrock into a bedroom as the police were checking the apartment."

Groton City Police charged him with being a fugitive from justice on the Westerly murder warrant, two counts of criminal mischief, and one count of interfering with an officer. He was held on $1 million bail and will be presented in New London Superior Court Monday.

Lacey said, "Hats off to Groton City Police for a great job and also to the female that reported it to them. This brings some sort of closure to not only the family, but the entire community."

Now, Lacey said he hopes that Seignious will waive extradition in court Monday and Westerly Police will travel to Connecticut to bring him back to Rhode Island where he'll be processed, and booked and then presented in Washington County (RI) Superior Court on the WPD's first-degree murder warrant.

The Fatal Shooting In Westerly

Sebastian died from a single gunshot wound to his chest in a Westerly apartment on the night of Jan. 25, fired by Seignious, police said. After the shooting, Seignious fled and was chased by Tribal police after crossing Rhode Island into Connecticut headed toward the reservation. He bailed out of the car and fled on foot. Westerly, Ledyard, Groton, Stonington, and Mashantucket Tribal Police were that night, and since, involved in the hunt for Seignious.

Lacey has said since the shooting that police had lots of leads, some saying that he'd left the area, but he and other law enforcement believed he was "in the area, maybe on the reservation." Police had been "monitoring all social networking sites of any activity between family members to confirm" accounts and his possible whereabouts, Lacey said.

Read the full story on the fatal shooting and the hunt for Seignious here.

This week, Seignious' mother claimed in a GoFundMe campaign to raise $10,000 for a lawyer for her son that he was "set up."

She wrote, "I know this GoFundMe account is going to anger a lot of people but I don’t care. I know they’re saying how dare she; how could she? My answer to that how could I not? How could I not do everything I possibly can to help my son. Wouldn’t you do all you can for yours?"