The Cop Who Returned to Her Own Crime Scene: The Shocking Antoinette Frank Case That Rocked New Orleans

#KRITICIZM - In the early morning hours of March 4, 1995, a horrifying triple murder inside a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant in New Orleans East became one of the most notorious crimes in the city’s history. What made the case almost unimaginable was the person at its center: Antoinette Frank, a New Orleans police officer sworn to protect the community.

The killings occurred at the Kim Anh Vietnamese Restaurant on Bullard Road. Frank knew the Vu family and had previously worked paid security details at their restaurant. That familiarity would become an important part of the case against her.

A Night That Changed Three Families Forever

According to court records, Frank and her co-defendant, Rogers LaCaze, went to the Kim Anh restaurant on the night of March 3 and into the early hours of March 4. Inside were members of the Vu family, employees, and NOPD Officer Ronald Williams, who was working an off-duty security detail.

By the time the violence ended, three people were dead: Officer Ronald Williams, Ha Vu and Cuong Vu. Ha and Cuong were siblings and members of the family that operated the restaurant. Court records state that the murders occurred during an armed robbery.

Other members of the Vu family survived. Chau Vu and Quoc Vu hid inside a darkened cooler during the attack, and their eyewitness accounts became critical evidence in the investigation. Chau testified that she saw Frank and her companion moving through the restaurant during the crime.

The Police Officer Became a Suspect

One of the most startling aspects of the case was what happened afterward.

Frank returned to the restaurant after the shootings and was questioned at the scene. But investigators quickly began focusing on the very officer who was supposed to be part of the law-enforcement response. Court records say Frank was taken into custody and subsequently gave statements implicating LaCaze. He was arrested several hours later.

The case shocked New Orleans not simply because three people had been murdered, but because prosecutors accused an active police officer who knew the victims of participating in the crime.

Antoinette Frank Goes on Trial

An Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Frank and LaCaze on three counts of first-degree murder in April 1995. Their cases were tried separately.

Frank’s trial began in September 1995. On September 12, the jury found her guilty on all three counts of first-degree murder and recommended the death penalty for each count. She was formally sentenced to death on October 20, 1995.

Her case continued through the appellate courts for years. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed her murder convictions, and after additional proceedings concerning issues surrounding the penalty phase, the court ultimately affirmed her death sentence.

The case of her co-defendant took another significant turn decades later: a July 2026 federal court decision describes Rogers LaCaze as currently serving a life sentence for the three murders, rather than the death sentence originally imposed after his 1995 conviction.

A Crime New Orleans Has Never Forgotten

More than three decades later, the Kim Anh murders remain an extraordinary chapter in New Orleans criminal history.

Three people went to work that night and never returned home. Ronald Williams was a police officer working security. Ha and Cuong Vu were helping operate their family’s business. Their deaths devastated their families and turned a neighborhood restaurant into the scene of a case that would receive attention for decades.

The story also carried another disturbing dimension: Frank had been entrusted with police authority. The trial judge emphasized that point in the court record, noting that as a New Orleans police officer she had a duty to protect the community.

The Antoinette Frank case therefore remains more than the story of a robbery and triple murder. It is also a story about betrayal of trust, surviving eyewitnesses, and a criminal investigation that ultimately turned toward one of law enforcement’s own.