A jury has convicted a Gonzales man of two counts of first-degree murder in the January 2024 shooting deaths of his girlfriend and their 13-month-old daughter, a case that investigators described as a domestic violence killing carried out inside a residence at the mobile home park. Kalvin Forcell now faces two mandatory life sentences, with formal sentencing set for December 7.
A Chase From the Yard Into the Home
The verdict, delivered Thursday, found Forcell guilty in the deaths of 41-year-old Christina Lynn Artus and her 1-year-old daughter, Kaylee Forcell, according to WAFB. Inside, he shot both Artus and Kaylee in the head while the infant was seated in a baby walker, the outlet reported.
The bodies were found January 14, 2024, at the Oak Village mobile home park near Highway 30 in Gonzales, per WAFB. Ascension Parish dispatch had received an initial 911 call from an unidentified female saying someone had shot her baby, followed by a second call from a neighbor who reported hearing gunshots and seeing a man flee the area in a gray sedan, according to the same account from Unfiltered with Kiran.
Capture at Gunpoint in Sorrento
After fleeing to Sorrento, Forcell was at a local Dollar General parking lot and attempted multiple vehicle break-ins before entering a home without authorization, the outlet reported. A resident of that home held him at gunpoint until Ascension Parish deputies arrived and took him into custody, according to the same report.
Beyond the two murder counts, the jury also convicted Forcell of possession of a firearm by a felon, attempted simple burglary of a vehicle, attempted theft of a motor vehicle, and unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, per WAFB. The case was tried in the 23rd Judicial District Court. The 23rd Judicial District Attorney's Office, headed by District Attorney Ricky L. Babin, serves Ascension, Assumption, and St. James Parishes and prosecutes roughly 3,500 felony cases per year.
A Decades-Old Murder Charge
His history of violent crime allegations stretches back two decades and across state lines. In January 2006, the Houston Police Department identified Forcell as a suspect charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting on November 20, 2005, in Houston.
No Discretion at Sentencing
Under Louisiana statute La. R.S. 14:30, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, or the death penalty, according to the district attorney's office. Forcell is scheduled to return to court on December 7 for formal sentencing on the two murder counts.
Investigators have described the killings as a domestic violence shooting, per WAFB. The case lands amid troubling statewide data on intimate partner violence: a 2026 Louisiana Department of Health report compiled with the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that Louisiana consistently ranks among the top states nationally for domestic abuse homicides. Louisiana's female homicide rate ranked fifth highest in the nation in 2012, according to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
