A 93-year-old former Catholic priest, Lawrence Hecker, who was recently sentenced to life in prison for raping a teenage boy, has died, Louisiana authorities confirmed Friday. Hecker passed away at 3 a.m. Thursday at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center due to natural causes, according to Ken Pastorick, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
Hecker pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping. His guilty plea came shortly before jury selection for his long-delayed trial, where additional victims were prepared to testify.
The survivor of Hecker’s assault said the abuse occurred in the mid-1970s when Hecker offered to teach him wrestling moves ahead of school tryouts.
“The only prayer I can come up with is I hope he spends eternity in hell after God’s judgment of him,” the survivor said in a written statement provided by his attorney, Richard Trahant. “Now after his death, I feel vindicated and free.”
Hecker’s trial faced multiple delays, partly due to questions about his mental competency. According to his lawyer, Bobby Hjortsberg, Hecker had been suffering from dementia.
Ordained in 1958, Hecker served as an archdiocesan priest until 2002, even after facing a credible child molestation complaint in the late 1980s.
Hecker’s conviction comes amid a broader reckoning over allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in New Orleans, many involving incidents from decades past. The scandal has left the Archdiocese of New Orleans entangled in bankruptcy proceedings.
