Self-confessed child killer to be released from prison this week

Phillip DeSelle has served 24 years of a 50-year sentence for the murder of 11-year-old Averie Grace Evans and will be released on January 22, by the Louisiana State Department of Corrections, at which point he is expected to move to Evangeline Parish, specifically Turkey Creek, and report to the Ville Platte Office of Probation and Parole.
DeSelle was convicted in 10th Judicial District Court in 1991 for kidnapping and killing Averie Evans in Natchitoches. Averie was an 11-year-old student at Weaver Elementary who was selling fundraiser candy in her neighborhood on November 5, 1990. DeSelle, a neighbor, lived in a house on Henry Avenue and lured the child into his home where he killed her. Authorities searched for her body for 12 weeks with FBI agents assisting in the search. Pressure began to build on DeSelle as a suspect and in January DeSelle was discovered in a parked car in the City of Natchitoches following an alleged suicide attempt.
DeSelle told officers he put Averie’s body in a dumpster, but a search of the Mundy Landfill in Mansfield yielded no remains.
Police found Averie’s bicycle in Sibley Lake but never found her body.
As part of a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office, DeSelle offered a full confession and was charged with manslaughter and kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to 40 years and 10 years, respectively. Prosecutors were not able to secure a charge of murder since Averie’s body was never found.
He was to serve at least 17 years before being eligible for parole. He served 17 years, was denied parole in 2007 and served an additional six-and-a-half years.
DeSelle’s original release date was January of 2016 but he received 375 days credit for obtaining a GED while imprisoned at David Wade Correctional in Homer. DeSelle is approximately 64.
DeSelle is being released due to what is known as “diminution of sentence” or good time statutes. This is when a prisoner’s sentence can be reduced due to earning good time credits for good behavior or participating in self-improvement programs. This law has since been changed, and those convicted of violent crimes must serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentences. However, DeSelle was sentenced prior to this law’s creation.
Averie’s family, via a Facebook page created in her honor, stated “It was our sincere hope that DeSelle would never gain his freedom. The anxiety and terror that this news has touched off has shaken us as a family and has worsened the pain that we already endure daily. We feel, as Averie would feel, that we must spread the alarm that a child killer is about to be in our midst. We feel DeSelle will kill again given the opportunity. He watched from his kitchen window for 12 agonizing weeks as we searched for Averie. His concealment of evidence and the refusal to reveal the true location of Averie’s body shows that this was not a murder of passion, but a murder of calculation and premeditation. The most dangerous type of murder; the type that is repeated. He is an evil predator and we owe a debt of protection to the children and families of Ville Platte.”