Brandon Scott Lavergne is a Louisiana man serving two consecutive life sentences without parole at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola after pleading guilty in August 2012 to the first-degree murders of University of Louisiana at Lafayette student Michaela “Mickey” Shunick and Lafayette mother Lisa Ann Pate. A registered sex offender with a long criminal record, Lavergne killed Pate in 1999 and Shunick in 2012, and his plea deal spared him a death penalty trial in exchange for leading investigators to Shunick’s remains.
Who Brandon Lavergne Was Before the Murders
Lavergne is originally from Church Point, Louisiana. He later admitted to a pattern of criminal behavior going back to age twelve, including what he claimed were more than 200 house burglaries over an eight-year period, physical assaults, and drug dealing.1The Independent. Brandon Scott Lavergne Criminal Background
On April 12, 1999, the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Department arrested him for forced oral copulation of an 18-year-old woman. He was sentenced to ten years, served eight, and completed the Louisiana Adult Sex Offender Program at the C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in DeQuincy before his release around 2008.2Acadia Parish Today. Prior Arrest, Prison Records Show Lavergne’s Violent Nature He was required to register as a sex offender, a status he still held when he was arrested for murder.
The 1999 Murder of Lisa Pate
Lisa Ann Pate, a 34-year-old mother of three from Lafayette, was last seen in June 1999. A later grand jury indictment placed her death on or around July 3, 1999. In September of that year, a rice farmer found her skeletal remains in a field near Church Point in Acadia Parish, concealed under three large boards. She was identified through dental records.3KPLC. Lavergne’s Indictment for Pate Murder
Lavergne’s name came up during the original 1999 investigation. The case went before a grand jury in 2008 but produced no indictment because evidence was insufficient.4WAFB. Shunick Case Leads to Charges in Unsolved Murder Pate’s murder remained unsolved for thirteen years. Lavergne was in prison on the sexual battery conviction from roughly 2000 to 2008, and prosecutors continued building the case during that time. It was only after his 2012 arrest in the Shunick case that a Lafayette grand jury indicted him for Pate’s first-degree murder, on July 18, 2012.5CBS News. Brandon Lavergne Pleads Guilty to Murdering Michaela Mickey Shunick and Lisa Pate
The Abduction and Murder of Mickey Shunick
On May 19, 2012, Mickey Shunick, a 22-year-old student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, disappeared while riding her bicycle home from a friend’s house around 1:47 a.m.6ABC News. Mickey Shunick Disappearance Video Shows Mysterious White Truck Community search efforts spread from Lafayette to New Orleans. On May 28, her bicycle turned up near a highway bridge at Whiskey Bay in Iberville Parish, about 25 miles from where she was last seen.7WDSU. Mickey Shunick Investigation Timeline
Court filings in the 15th Judicial District Court later laid out what happened that night. Lavergne followed Shunick in his truck and intentionally struck her bicycle, forcing her into the vehicle. He kept a knife and a semi-automatic handgun inside. When Shunick tried to call for help on her cellphone, he threatened her with the knife.8ABC News. Mickey Shunick Killer Pleads Guilty, Court Document Reveals
She fought back hard. She sprayed him with Mace, then wrestled the knife away and stabbed him repeatedly, severing tendons in his hands and inflicting life-threatening wounds. Lavergne regained the knife and stabbed her at least four times, and she went motionless. He drove about 40 minutes to a secluded area in Evangeline Parish. Shunick was still alive. According to court records, she “jumped up” and stabbed him in the chest. Lavergne then shot her in the head with his handgun, killing her instantly.8ABC News. Mickey Shunick Killer Pleads Guilty, Court Document Reveals
Too injured to bury the body, he left her remains in a tree line and covered them with branches and debris. He dumped her bicycle in a river beneath a bridge, where investigators later recovered it.
How Investigators Identified Him
On May 30, investigators announced that surveillance footage from St. John Street and St. Landry Street in Lafayette had captured a cyclist believed to be Shunick followed by a newer-model four-door white Chevrolet Z-71 pickup. Police asked the public to help identify the truck.6ABC News. Mickey Shunick Disappearance Video Shows Mysterious White Truck
Lavergne’s own white 2011 Chevrolet Silverado Z71 had been found burned in San Jacinto County, Texas, on May 21, two days after Shunick vanished. The truck had been reported stolen in Montgomery County, Texas.9The Independent. Lavergne Truck Found Burned in Texas On June 14, a tipster connected the surveillance video to Lavergne, and detectives matched the truck to records from the sex offender registry.10Fox 8 Live. Lafayette Investigation Into Mickey Shunick They also placed him and his truck near Whiskey Bay, where the bicycle was found, and determined damage to the bike’s rear tire was consistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Louisiana State Police arrested Lavergne, then 33, during a traffic stop on an unrelated warrant on July 4, 2012. Lafayette Police booked him the next day on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.10Fox 8 Live. Lafayette Investigation Into Mickey Shunick
The Guilty Plea and Life Sentences
Prosecutors initially indicated they would seek the death penalty after the July 2012 indictments in both murders.11KSLA. Brandon Scott Lavergne Pleads Guilty to Murders, Given Life Lavergne’s cooperation in leading authorities to Shunick’s remains in Evangeline Parish became central to the plea negotiations.12The Independent. Lavergne Plea Bargain Details
On August 24, 2012, Lavergne appeared before 15th Judicial District Judge Herman Clause and pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.13The Independent. Lavergne Pleads Guilty He received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and avoided a death penalty trial.
Repeated Failed Appeals
Lavergne has challenged his conviction from prison several times without success. In January 2015, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his request to overturn his guilty pleas. He argued he had been pressured into the deal to avoid the death penalty. The court gave no explanation, denying his petition along with 56 others.14The Advertiser. Supreme Court Rejects Brandon Lavergne’s Appeal
The Louisiana Supreme Court denied additional supervisory writ applications in September 2020 and again in October 2023. In the 2023 order, the court noted that Lavergne had “previously exhausted his right to state collateral review” and had not shown any exception permitting a successive filing.15FindLaw. State of Louisiana v. Brandon Lavergne In May 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a motion he filed under docket number 25M73, styled Lavergne v. Lavespere.16U.S. Supreme Court. Supreme Court Order List
Contraband, an Escape Attempt, and Solitary Confinement
Lavergne has racked up a lengthy disciplinary record at Angola. In December 2012, months after arriving, guards found him with a makeshift key built from a battery, and he was sent to Camp J, a solitary confinement facility. In August 2018, he was moved to a different camp after a guard discovered a cell phone hidden inside a hollowed-out book.17KATC. Convicted Murderer Brandon Scott Lavergne Disciplined Often in Jail He was also accused of repeatedly trying to contact victims’ families despite being barred from doing so, sometimes using fake names on envelopes or routing letters through his own relatives.
On October 15, 2018, at about 4:30 a.m., Lavergne tried to escape from his prison camp. An alarm went off when he exited his building, and corrections staff stopped him before he reached the perimeter fence.18The Advocate. Brandon Scott Lavergne Tries to Escape Angola He was placed in administrative segregation and isolated from other inmates.
After the escape attempt, Lavergne was held in restrictive custody, confined to a cell 23 hours a day with two contact visits per month, one hour daily for phone calls or exercise, and three hours of outdoor recreation per week. He remained under those conditions for more than five years. In a federal civil rights suit, LaVergne v. Stutes, he argued the solitary confinement violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana dismissed the suit, and on September 25, 2023, the Fifth Circuit affirmed, ruling the conditions did not impose an “atypical and significant hardship” under Sandin v. Conner. A rehearing request was denied in November 2023.19Prison Legal News. Fifth Circuit Finds Louisiana Prisoner’s Solitary Confinement Not Sufficiently Atypical to Violate Constitution