BATON ROUGE - Six years after three people were killed at a home on Palmer Lane, the victims' family is speaking out for the first time about their frustration with how long it has taken to bring the case to trial.

Michael Wade is accused of killing 35-year-old Crista Sudduth, 32-year-old Ivy Frank, and 72-year-old Ruby White at a home in East Baton Rouge Parish back in June 2019. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office confirmed Wade remains held on a bond of more than one billion dollars.

Despite that, the family says the length of time it has taken to reach trial has been a source of ongoing frustration.

The case has stretched almost seven years. Wade was charged with the triple killing in 2019, and prosecutors filed a motion seeking the death penalty.

A change in judges came in 2023, when Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts took over the case. In 2024, a trial date was set, but Wade's attorney attempted to remove Foxworth-Roberts from the case, leading to months of hearings and delays before the Louisiana Supreme Court allowed her to stay.

In December 2025, the state Supreme Court removed Foxworth-Roberts from the bench, though her previous rulings stood, delaying the trial again. This past February, the state filed a motion to set a March 5 trial date with Judge Collete Greggs.

In March, Greggs asked to be recused from the case due to the complexity of the death penalty proceedings. Judge Carson Marcantel has since taken over, setting a motion hearing for June 29.

Family members say the delays have also taken a toll on the two boys who were inside the home the nights of the killings. A 14-year-old called 911 just before midnight, saying his mother's ex-boyfriend was shooting at their home, and he was later found hiding behind the house with his 12-year-old brother, whom he had pulled out during the shooting. 

"Somebody came in and took their lives brutally in front of our cousins or, you know, their nephews, my little cousins. And came with a vengeance, and we're pissed," Tina Varner, a cousin of Crisa and granddaughter of Ruby White, said.

The family says one of the boys joined the military and became a combat medic, and that both boys, now grown men, struggle with what they witnessed.

"Get that day over with so that these kids can grow, can move, can learn to deal and cope with everything, especially after they have to relive it moment by moment," Sudduth's sister Rene said.