The plea removes the death penalty from a case that shook St. Tammany Parish.
COVINGTON, LA — Antonio Tyson pleaded guilty this week to killing retired priest Father Otis Young and Ruth Prats, a longtime church worker and parishioner, in a 2022 double homicide that prosecutors had planned to take to trial next month.
The plea ends the guilt phase of one of St. Tammany Parish’s most closely watched murder cases, but sentencing remains ahead. Tyson admitted to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said he will receive two consecutive life sentences at hard labor without parole, plus 40 years at hard labor for obstruction.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 8 at 9 a.m. in Covington, after relatives of Young and Prats are expected to give victim impact statements. St. Tammany Parish District Attorney J. Collin Sims said the victims’ families agreed to the plea after prosecutors reviewed medical evidence presented by the defense. “The family has guided every decision we’ve made,” Sims said after court. He said the families were united in supporting the guilty plea, even though the agreement took the death penalty off the table.
Young and Prats were killed during Thanksgiving weekend in 2022. Authorities said the case began as a missing-person investigation after Covington police responded Nov. 27, 2022, to a report of a hit-and-run near the St. Tammany Trace and Bogue Falaya Towers. Witness information led officers to Prats’ vehicle, but police could not reach her. Her family also had not heard from her. Investigators later found her phone in a dumpster and entered her as missing while reporting her vehicle stolen.
Police found Prats’ vehicle the next day in a Walgreens parking lot and took Tyson into custody with a woman who was not Prats. Officers then learned Young had been with Prats on Sunday. When they checked Young’s apartment, he was not there. Two bodies were later found burned behind a business in the 600 block of East Gibson Street in downtown Covington. Authorities later identified them as Young and Prats, whose deaths stunned the St. Peter Catholic Church community and the wider North Shore.
Investigators said surveillance video placed Tyson near Prats’ home before the killings. Police have said video showed him riding a bicycle near the home at about 3:53 p.m. Nov. 27 and speaking briefly with Prats and Young. Officers said Tyson then left, parked the bicycle nearby and returned to the front door with what appeared to be a knife behind his back. Prosecutors said Young and Prats were watching television inside Prats’ home when Tyson entered, killed them and later burned their bodies while trying to hide evidence.
The original indictment included two counts of first-degree murder. Tyson also had faced allegations tied to kidnapping, stolen property and giving officers a false name. The plea accepted this week covers the murder counts and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said the evidence against Tyson was strong, including surveillance video and other investigative records. Sims said the new issue was not whether Tyson committed the crimes, but whether a death sentence could survive years of appeals under constitutional limits on executing people with intellectual disabilities.
The district attorney’s office said defense lawyers provided medical evidence over recent weeks showing concerns about Tyson’s intellectual functioning, childhood IQ testing, adaptive functioning and past traumatic brain injury. Sims said that evidence raised questions under Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. He said the evidence did not create doubt about Tyson’s guilt, competency to stand trial or sanity at the time of the killings.
Tyson’s trial had been set to begin June 1, and prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty. Under the plea agreement, Tyson agreed to give up present and future efforts to seek a sentence reduction or any release mechanism. Prosecutors said he also will be housed under conditions equivalent to death row, rather than in the general prison population, after sentencing. Sims said the agreement reflected the severity of the crimes while avoiding prolonged capital appeals that could have delayed a final punishment for years.
Defense attorney Kerry Cuccia said Tyson was satisfied with the result and appreciative of the consideration shown by the victims’ families and prosecutors. Relatives of Young and Prats were in court as Tyson entered the plea, and local reporters described an emotional scene as he answered guilty to each count. The families did not give extended public statements after the hearing, but prosecutors said they had been briefed on the legal risks and supported the negotiated resolution.
Young had served for years at St. Peter Catholic Church in Covington and was widely known in the parish community. Prats also had deep ties to the church and was remembered as a longtime church worker and friend of Young. Police have said Tyson had no known affiliation with the church or school. At the time of the killings, Tyson had been released from prison months earlier after serving decades for earlier violent crimes, including a 1993 case involving forcible rape, armed robbery and burglary.
The case now moves to formal sentencing on June 8 in St. Tammany Parish. Tyson remains in custody and is expected to receive two life sentences without parole and an added 40-year obstruction sentence, all to be served consecutively.
Author note: Last updated May 7, 2026.