What started years ago as a marriage filled with family photos, vacations, and plans for the future ended in a tragedy that has shaken Jefferson Parish and left two young girls at the center of an unimaginable loss.
Authorities say 28-year-old Meridian Woodson was found dead inside her apartment on Citrus Boulevard in Elmwood on the morning of May 28 after deputies responded to reports of a disturbance. Investigators said she had suffered gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her former husband, 30-year-old Kody Woodson, was later found inside a vehicle in a nearby shopping center parking lot with what authorities described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He died at a hospital the following day.
The case is being investigated as a domestic murder-suicide. But court records show the violence did not begin that morning. For years, the former couple had been locked in a bitter custody dispute involving their two daughters, with both sides accusing the other of abuse and aggressive behavior.
In divorce filings, Meridian claimed the relationship became increasingly dangerous after she told Kody she wanted a divorce in early 2024. She alleged he grabbed her phone during an argument, pulled her by the arm, and threw her to the ground. In another filing, she said she heard what sounded like a gun being cocked inside the home before discovering him with a firearm.
Kody strongly denied those allegations and filed his own accusations against Meridian. Court documents show he claimed she had physically attacked him during arguments and described incidents involving choking, scratching, slapping, biting, and other confrontations. One dispute in February 2024 led to Meridian’s arrest, though she later argued she was acting in self-defense and said evidence presented against her lacked important context.
As the legal fight intensified, both parents sought sole custody of their daughters. Each asked the court to require the other to complete domestic violence intervention programs. The filings painted a picture of a relationship that had become consumed by distrust, fear, and constant conflict.
The heartbreaking part is how different things once appeared. Years earlier, Meridian shared joyful moments online, celebrating her engagement and expressing excitement about building a future together. Family photographs showed beach vacations, smiling children, and what looked like a happy household. Friends looking back now are left trying to understand how a family that once appeared so close ended in such devastation.
Records show the couple’s divorce was finalized in May 2025. No additional civil or criminal cases between the two appear in public court filings after that point. On the same day the deadly shooting happened, separate court records indicate Kody’s parents filed for sole custody of the couple’s children.
Now, a community is left mourning a young mother, grappling with the death of her former husband, and worrying about the future of two little girls who suddenly lost both parents. What remains is a painful reminder of how long-running family conflict can escalate behind closed doors long before tragedy becomes visible to everyone else.
