Sylviane Finck-Lozada

• Missing Since 07/05/2011
• Missing From East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 05/08/1960 (64)
• Age 51 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4, 120 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) Yellow 2001 Nissan Xterra (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Sylviane was born in Belgium.

Details of Disappearance

Sylviane was last seen in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana on July 5, 2011. She spoke to her family in Belgium that day; they talked to each other on a daily basis. She has never been heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, she lived on Springlake Drive off Bluebonnet Boulevard with her husband, Oscar A. Lozada, and their four-year-old daughter. A photo of Oscar is posted with this case summary.

Their relationship was troubled. In December 2010, Sylviane called the police and said Oscar had thrown things at her during an argument, and later that month she went to the hospital for treatment and told the medical staff her husband had pushed her down. She didn't press charges in either instance because, she said, she was afraid Oscar would take their daughter out of the country.

On July 9, four days after Sylviane's disappearance, Oscar and their child flew from Baton Rouge to Dallas, Texas and then to Oscar's native Venezuela. They were supposed to fly back on July 14, but never did. Oscar told police he'd gone there for medical reasons, but he also asked a family friend to sell his yellow 2001 Nissan Xterra and give him the money because he and the child didn't intend to return to the U.S.

Oscar told investigators he thought Sylviane had left him for another man who lived in Colombia, but her passport and bank card weren't used after her disappearance. Authorities determined he'd purchased nine five-gallon buckets and fifteen bags of concrete mix the day Sylviane's disappearance, and these items couldn't be accounted for.

By 2016, the nation of Venezuela was in crisis and many people were fleeing, among them Oscar, who moved to Mexico. Two years later, his and Sylviane's daughter also left Venezuela and moved to Mexico to live with her father. Venezuela has no extradition agreement with the United States, but it was possible for the U.S. to extradite a fugitive from Mexico. In September 2018, Oscar was arrested in Mexico and deported to the U.S. to face charges of Sylviane's murder. Their daughter was sent to Belgium to live with Sylvia's relatives.

Police stated they'd found her blood in nine different areas in the garage after her disappearance. At first, after his arrest, Oscar maintained his innocence, but after he was told that his daughter was having nightmares about her father killing her mother, he admitted Sylviane was in fact dead.

He said they got into an argument because Sylviane's ex-boyfriend had been in touch with her, and during the argument Sylviane threatened to leave him and go back to Belgium with their daughter. Oscar said she told him she didn't want the child "to grow up to be like you," which enraged him, so he put her in a chokehold and strangled her to death in their bedroom.

He stated he had dismembered her remains in the family's garage using circular and reciprocating saws. Oscar said he put the body parts and the saws inside industrial plastic bags, and put the bags inside five-gallon buckets which he filled with cement. He then dumped these buckets in various ponds and rivers along Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Oscar said of the incident, "It's hard to imagine because I did something that I never thought I'd do." He said that when he went to Venezuela his initial plan had been to leave his daughter there, return to the U.S. and turn himself in to the police. But then he consulted a Venezuelan lawyer and found out it would be impossible to extradite him from that country to the U.S., so he changed his plan.

Oscar turned down two opportunities for a plea deal prior to trial; he could have pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for 40 to 50 years in prison. At his trial, his attorney argued he should be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in February 2023, after a week-long trial, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sylviane had worked as a French and Spanish teacher at Brusly High School in Brusly, Louisiana for thirteen years prior to her disappearance. She is a nationally board-certified teacher and got a doctorate in 2009. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.