West Monroe Man Arrested For Beating Victim to Death

Sheriff’s deputies arrested a West Monroe man who’s suspected of violently beating another man, who later died after suffering in the hospital for nearly three days.

Deputies arrested 27-year-old Brandon Nickens this morning on Blazier Lane in West Monroe. He’s charged with second-degree murder and is being held on no bond.

On October 23, Nickens is accused of attacking the victim, 51-year-old Stuart Gordon Dunaway, after a verbal altercation outside a home on Hudson Lane.

Detectives say Friday, Nickens and Dunaway were playing dominoes and drinking alcohol at a camp site near the Ouachita River.

“They’d been playing dominoes and an argument started there, they got into a vehicle and ended up at the home in Hudson, where another argument broke out,” said Lt. Jeff Harris with Monroe Police.

The two decided to drive over to a home on Hudson Lane, where police say Nickens sometimes lives in a tent outside the home in the backyard.

At that point, Lt. Harris says the two men got into a heated argument that erupted into a fight.

“The victim was walking toward the house when he was struck behind and he was knocked to the ground, and the suspect started beating him,” he said.

Initially, police responded to a fight call on Hudson. A sheriff’s deputy who was working an off-duty job spotted Dunaway unconscious on the ground from massive head trauma.

“AMR responded to the scene, they took him to the hospital. The suspect was gone,” said Harris.

Police say that the two men were acquaintances. Nickens has a history of past arrests for aggravated battery and domestic violence.