A young beautician was gunned down by her ex-husband in an apparent murder-suicide amid a bitter custody battle over their young children, according to police.
Meridian Thomas Woodson, a 28-year-old mom who also had 23 siblings, was found dead inside her apartment in Elmwood, Louisiana, on Thursday by police who were “called to a disturbance,” according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Officers then found the “suspect vehicle” in a nearby parking lot — where the slain mom’s musclebound ex-husband, Kody Woodson, 30, was “suffering from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the sheriff said.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
The pair had been fighting over custody of their kids — Paisley, 4, and Lileigh, 7 — and were scheduled to attend a hearing on June 18, according to court records obtained by WDSU.
The former husband and wife had been engaged in a years-long legal battle, and Meridian had previously accused Kody of abusing her and threatening her with a gun, records show.
Meridian claimed that Kody had physically attacked her after she told him she wanted a divorce in January 2024, court records show.
A few weeks later, he reportedly “grabbed her phone from her hand [and] grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the ground,” after flying into a “jealous rage,” Meridian wrote in her divorce petition.
In a separate incident, Meridian claimed she heard “the distinctive sound of a gun being cocked,” before finding Kody with a gun inside the apartment, records show.
Kody reportedly told Meridian, “You’re making me hurt you, you always make me hurt you,” during a separate argument, according to the filing.
The former husband denied many of the allegations and accused Meridian of violent behavior in his own court filing.
He said Meridian had a history of “choking, slapping, scratching, [and] biting” him in his answer and counterclaim.
Kody referenced an incident on Feb. 27, 2024, when Meridian was arrested over a violent argument in front of their two children.
Meridian claimed she was acting in self-defense and said Kody’s evidence to the police was taken out of context, her court filing shows.
“Meridian was a light in everyone’s life,” an online fundraiser reads, adding that she was “a second mom to many of her 23 siblings.”
The investigation remains ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.
