The body of a Plaquemine woman reported missing Saturday was found near here early Monday, authorities said.Janaver Distefano, 65, prepared to leave the Paragon Casino and Resort where she and her husband had been on vacation Saturday morning and told him she was going shopping, said Chief Deputy Harry Normand of the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
When Janaver Distefano did not return and did not answer several calls to her cell phone, her husband, Joseph “T-Joe” Distefano, called police, Normand said.
Distefano’s body was discovered in her car near Bunkie, according to WBRZ-TV.
An autopsy will be performed to determine Distefano’s cause of death, Normand said.
The Sheriff’s Office received reports that Distefano’s bank card had been used to buy items at the Marksville Wal-Mart on Saturday night and to buy gasoline at a service station.
Normand said Donald Ray Johnson, 23, of Bunkie, has been arrested for making purchases with Distefano’s credit card.
He said Johnson was booked on counts of unauthorized use of a bank access card, and is being held in jail under $100,000 bail.
While only Johnson has been arrested, surveillance tapes show Distefano’s bank card being used by two men, Normand said.
A joint investigation is continuing by the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, Normand said.
The couple was popular in Plaquemine where T-Joe Distefano served as supervisor of maintenance for the Iberville Parish School Board, Superintendent Ed Cancienne said.
He will reach 40 years of employment with the system in May, Cancienne said.
“This is so sad,” Cancienne said Monday night. “They were soulmates.”
Paragon issued a one-paragraph statement Monday, and said they did not want to say any more in an effort to not interfere with the investigation.
“On behalf of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and Paragon Casino and Resort’s management team and associates, we want to express our condolences and sympathy to the family of Mrs. Janaver Distefano of Plaquemine, La.,” the statement read.
“We are deeply saddened that a crime has allegedly been committed. This is a very serious and tragic incident. Paragon Casino Resort is cooperating fully with law enforcement officials.”
Paragon spokeswoman Linda Bordelon said the casino has had to deal with a fire and domestic violence in the past, but she called news of Distefano’s death “the saddest and most tragic event” involving the casino since it opened in 1994.

Source: The Advocate