Kaegan Jude Solet faced an attempted murder trial in 2023 after a separate 2019 motel stabbing but was found not guilty.
HOUMA, La. — The man identified as a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four adults in Houma was acquitted three years ago in an unrelated attempted murder case involving a woman who was seriously injured at a motel.
Kaegan Jude Solet, 47, was taken into custody Sunday as Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s detectives investigated the deaths of four adults and the critical wounding of a young boy in the Ashland Drive area. The sheriff’s office initially called Solet a person of interest before later describing him as the suspect. Authorities had not announced charges in the new case as of Sunday afternoon.
The earlier case dated to Christmas Eve 2019, when Houma police responded to the Red Carpet Inn on Bayou Black Drive and found a 59-year-old woman seriously injured inside a room. Police said at the time that Solet had been a guest in the room and that an argument preceded the violence. He was arrested later that day and booked on a count of attempted second-degree murder.
The allegation eventually went before a jury in November 2023. After a trial, jurors deliberated for about two hours before finding Solet not guilty of attempted second-degree murder. The acquittal ended that prosecution and is separate from the investigation now underway into the killings on Ashland Drive.
Records and local reporting also show that Solet had been accused in connection with another violent death in 2019. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant involving the January killing of 41-year-old Kemple Paul Scott Lovell, according to reporting reviewed Sunday. Local accounts said Solet was booked on a second-degree murder allegation, but the publicly available reporting reviewed for this story does not clearly establish that he was indicted or prosecuted in that case.
Those previous allegations do not establish responsibility for the latest deaths. In the motel case, Solet was found not guilty, and the disposition of the separate 2019 homicide allegation was not fully documented in the reliable material available Sunday. The sheriff’s office has not said what role, if any, Solet’s past contacts with law enforcement played in the current investigation.
The latest case began Saturday night when deputies responded to the 200 block of Ashland Drive and found a boy younger than 10 suffering from apparent stab wounds. The child had reached a neighbor’s home and was later flown to an out-of-area hospital, where authorities said he remained in critical condition Sunday.
Investigators subsequently found four adults dead in two nearby homes. Their identities had not been released, and authorities had not disclosed a motive or explained any relationship among the victims, the injured child and Solet. Officials also had not detailed the evidence that led them to identify Solet first as a person of interest and later as the suspect.
The distinction is important as the case moves forward. Being identified by investigators as a suspect is not the same as being formally charged or convicted. Any criminal allegations arising from the current investigation would have to proceed through the court system, and authorities had not announced such charges by Sunday afternoon.
Detectives continued gathering evidence Sunday while the injured child remained hospitalized. The sheriff’s office said additional information would be released as investigators developed and verified facts surrounding the attacks.
Author note: Last updated September 13, 2026.