Louisiana Gives Jessie Hoffman Execution Date of March 18, 2025

Jessie Hoffman, Louisiana

February 20, 2024

Jessie Hoffman is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm local time on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, inside the execution chamber at the Louisiana State Penitentiary near  Angola, Louisiana.  Forty-six-year-old Jessie is convicted of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliot, on November 27, 1996, in New Orleans, Louisiana.  For the last 16 years, Jessie has resided on Louisiana’s death row.

Jessie is one of five children.  He graduated from high school, where he was the starting quarterback on the football team.  He was a good student, maintaining straight A’s, until his final year when he met his girlfriend.  Jessie held numerous jobs after graduating, including working at Taco Bell, Panchos’ Restaurant, Key West Inn, and Sav-A-Center.  At the time of his arrest, Jessie’s girlfriend had recently told him she was pregnant and he had worked as a parking valet for about two weeks.  Jessie did not have a criminal record.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1996, a nude body was found on a dock by the Middle Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish.  The woman had a single gunshot to the head.  Police quickly identified her as Mary Elliot, who was reported missing by her husband the day before when she failed to show up for dinner.  The same day her body was found, her husband was able to identify her body.  

An investigation revealed that Mary, who worked as an account executive with Peter Mayer Advertising, was last seen leaving her office in downtown New Orleans on November 27, 1996.  Later that evening, Mary’s clothes and other items belonging to her were found in a vacant lot.  The couple who found the items immediately reported it to the police.  Among the items were three ATM receipts.  Police viewed footage from the ATM area during the times recorded on the receipts.  They discovered Mary making withdrawals, accompanied by an African American male wearing a jacket with the word “VALET” on it.  The employees of the parking garages where Mary often parked for work wore identical jackets.

Police were able to narrow down the suspects to one of the parking garage employees, Jessie Hoffman.  Hoffman gave several versions of events before eventually making a videotaped confession.  Hoffman admitted to kidnapping Mary as she left work and forcing her at gunpoint to withdraw money from the ATM.  He then raped her and forced her to drive to a remote area where he killed her with a single gunshot to the head.  An autopsy determined that she did not die immediately.  After the murder, Hoffman returned to work.  Hoffman was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to death.

Please pray for peace for the family of Mary Elliot.  Pray for strength for the family of Jessie Hoffman.  Pray that if Jessie is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be provided before his execution.  Please pray that Jessie finds peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.