Cold case: Morgan City man arrested in kidnapping, rape

A 39-year-old Morgan City man was arrested Monday on Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office warrants for an aggravated kidnapping and rape that happened nearly 20 years ago, according to law enforcement officials.
Bernie Metrejean, 39, of the 500 block of Duke Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 2:43 p.m. Monday on a warrant from the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office for aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping. A St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s deputy received information from the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office that Metrejean was wanted on the active warrant, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Mark Hebert said in a news release. The deputy located Metrejean at a business on La. 182 in Amelia and Metrejean was jailed.
The rape and kidnapping occurred in Plaquemine in November 1994 where Metrejean took a woman to a secluded area and raped her, Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stephen Engolio said. Officials submitted DNA evidence 20 years ago when the incident happened and matched it with Metrejean’s DNA, he said.
His DNA taken from a drug arrest about a month ago was matched to the DNA from the 1994 rape, Engolio said.
Metrejean was taken to the Iberville Parish Jail with no bail set yet, and he was scheduled to have a bail hearing this morning, Engolio said.
“The same detective who caught the case 20 years ago was still here, and he handled it,” Engolio said.
Engolio said the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office is not releasing any further information regarding the details of the case at this time.