Candlelight vigil celebrates life of teenager slain by escapee

CLAIBORNE PARISH, LA (KSLA) - The community came together in a major way Thursday night to honor and remember 18-year-old Amanda Carney, exactly one week after her tragic and brutal slaying in Claiborne Parish.

Several hundred people gathered at Summerfield High School in northeast Claiborne Parish for a candlelight vigil. That's the very school she just graduated from this past spring.

Carney was the step-daughter of an assistant warden at the David Wade Correctional Center near Homer. Investigators say she was held hostage and then killed by escaped inmate 39-year-old Deltra Henderson back on Thursday, July 27.

Henderson died just hours later in a shootout with prison guards after barricading himself in a home on the grounds of the David Wade Correctional Center.

But at the Thursday night vigil, the focus was squarely on celebrating the life of Amanda Carney, described as a dedicated, hardworking and kind-hearted person.

Friends, classmates, teachers, staff and many others all came together at the Summerfield High School Lady Rebels softball field.

Carney was laid to rest three days earlier, on Monday, July 31.

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