Trial date set for alleged murder accomplice of Kent native Leila Mulla

A state district judge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has set a trial date of July 13, 2015, for Ronald Dunnagan, the ex-boyfriend and alleged accomplice of Kent native Leila Mulla, in the 1984 murder of a south Louisiana businessman.

Dunnagan, 66, has pleaded innocent to the charge of second-degree murder.

In May, Mulla, 48, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Gary Kergan and began serving a 30-year prison sentence. She also implicated Dunnagan and offered to cooperate with investigators.

Mulla, who worked as an exotic dancer at the time of Kergan’s disappearance, admitted in court that she lured Kergan to her apartment and served him wine poisoned by Dunnagan. Prosecutors say Mulla and Dunnagan conspired to kill Kergan and rob him of cash and jewelry.

Prosecutors say that after Kergan was poisoned, Dunnagan dragged him into another room, killed him then placed the body in the trunk of Kergan’s car to dispose of it.

Mulla and Dunnagan were first arrested in December 1984. They were released a few months later after the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney declined to prosecute them because of a lack of evidence.

Kergan’s body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in 1986. In 2012, DNA testing, which was not available 30 years ago, showed that blood found in the trunk of his abandoned car belonged to Kergan.

Dunnagan, of Bossier City in northwest Louisiana, and Mulla were both arrested again in December 2012. At the time, Mulla was working as a nurse in Astoria, New York.

Dunnagan, who has been described as a drifter, was released in 2013 while prosecutors pursued their case against Mulla. He was arrested a third time in September.

“Thanks to the diligence of the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s office and several Louisiana law enforcement agencies, the wheels of justice continue turning for Gary, who was the victim of a brutal murder plot,” said Ted Kergan, the victim’s brother. “We never gave up on Gary, and neither did the justice system.”