Lara Vergenal has tried to get her life back on track ever since her husband, Willard “Bill” Daspit, 58, disappeared from their home in September 2023 in the small unincorporated town of Coteau Holmes in St. Martin Parish.
But the lack of closure has made that difficult.
During the past two years, she’s handed out flyers, put up billboards, posted on social media, been interviewed on a podcast and spoken to anybody who would listen about Daspit’s disappearance.
“I continue to talk about it whenever given the opportunity,” Vergenal said.
She has come to terms with the idea that her husband is likely dead. She thought there might be answers when a body was found around Christmas, not 500 yards from the road where video footage captured Daspit in a dazed state following a motorcycle crash, she said.
That body has been sent to Louisiana State University’s FACES Lab in Baton Rouge for identification with the Louisiana State Police holding onto the body’s DNA sample, she said.
Vergenal provided a DNA sample for the state police to cross-reference, but said she was told that Daspit’s DNA did not match any samples in their database. She provided additional DNA in the form of a hair brush, but said she hasn’t heard back from the agency.
Vergenal contacted the FACES lab, which referred her back to the state police. She’s gone as far as reaching out to Gov. Jeff Landry’s Office to expedite the case.
Daspit went missing Sept. 10, 2023, when he took his motorcycle to check on a property along Bayou Alexander Highway in Coteau Holmes, about 10 miles north of Loreauville, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Vergenal worked together a timeline and an understanding of events as best as she based on reported sightings around the community. She said she gets very little information from law enforcement.
“I call like once a month, but either the messages don’t get through or they just don’t do anything,” she said.
The SMPSO said Daspit’s case remains active. The Acadiana Advocate has requested an interview with Sheriff Beckett Breaux.
In previous interviews, Vergenal suggested Daspit may have lost control of his motorcycle and crashed. The motorcycle was found wrecked and lying in a ditch the following morning, about 100 yards away from their home.
His thick-lens glasses were found on the ground alongside his helmet. Daspit, who suffers from glaucoma, poor vision and diabetes, was likely disoriented and confused following the crash with no phone to call for help, Vergenal said.
The sheriff’s office, local residents, hunters and other volunteer groups worked together for weeks after the incident to comb the fields and woods of the tiny town.
They were equipped with drones, four-wheelers and dogs, but multiple searches turned up nothing.
Speculation on social media over Daspit’s disappearance followed shortly after when a video surfaced of Daspit and Vergenal on an episode of Dr. Phil discussing marriage issues. Users suggested either that Daspit ran away or that Vergenal played a role in the disappearance.
“If you watch the whole video, he clearly states he loves me,” Vergenal has said. “I emailed Dr. Phil three years before that episode.”
In regard to the body found near Banker Road, little information is known, she said. She’s not even sure if it was a man or a woman.
It was upsetting to think her husband could have been there the whole time, she said.
“I was angry, angry over the idea that my husband suffered when I was doing everything to get him help,” Vergenal said. “He was last seen there and the body is found just a little ways down the road from where he was seen sitting.”
She said she’s contemplating hiring an attorney to help her get answers.
“To be honest, I want it to be him, so I’ve got some closure. So I can have a memorial service. Do I keep searching,” she wondered.
“I want answers. I deserve answers. He was a human being. He was a damn human being.”
