ST. GABRIEL - St. Gabriel Police Chief Kevin Ambeau disputed claims made by the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office about the circumstances which led to Captain Devin Boutte's murder.

"I saw an officer who was butchered up beyond recognition. I didn't even recognize him. That's how bad this guy beat him, to the point that we may not even be able to open his casket, and you're going to take the word of a cop killer?" said Ambeau. 

The Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office and the state Attorney General's office are investigating Boutte for corruption involving drugs. Sheriff Brett Stassi said he provided weed and meth to his live-in boyfriend and admitted killer, Warren Mitchell, which may have been part of his motive.

"He thought that Boutte was developing into where maybe his life would be put in danger and whether he thought it or dreamed it, it was part of his mental status at the time of the attack," said Stassi. 

Ambeau said it's simply not true.

"You take your camera and talk to anyone in St. Gabriel and the word 'drugs' and Devin Boutte name would never come up in the same sentence. The thing that amazes me is the only person who can tie Devin Boutte to drugs is a cop killer," said Ambeau.

At around 8 a.m. Sunday, Ambeau said a store clerk he knows called him saying someone at the store wanted to speak to him. It was Mitchell, confessing to what he had done.

"I asked him why, he wouldn't give me a reason. He wouldn't give me a reason. There's stuff that we talked about that I had to release to the investigators that I don't want to talk about. All I know, I have to testify to what I saw in that room, was Devin Boutte beaten beyond recognition, no clothes on, with a big ole knife in his back."

Ambeau said a critical flaw in Mitchell's accusations that Boutte had drugs at his house is the fact that he lived with his K9 drug dog.

"Devin was a K9 officer. Make it make sense. You have drugs at his house? You got to train the dog?"

Another issue, he said, is how long it took Mitchell to report his crime.

"I know what rigor mortis look like. Blood was dried up. He had to have killed Devin about [1 a.m.] that morning. Do the investigation. I got people that saw him walking on the levee around 2 that morning. When you [Mitchell] came down off that high, then you want to think of a way to get out what you've done. You called the police chief like you killed a dog and said 'I killed your officer'? Who does that?"

Boutte's funeral will be this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the St. Gabriel Community Center. It's open to the public.