VIDALIA — A Concordia Parish jury has indicted three of four men arrested in connection with a Monterey-area man’s death last fall.

The grand jury did not return an indictment against the fourth man.

John Perritt, 63, of Monterey, was found dead under a blanket outside his residence in September. Someone working in the area had smelled something and found the blanket with a human foot protruding.

Law enforcement officials have withheld most details of the case, but four men were arrested in connection with the case in June.

George E. Byrd, 26, 422 Dumas Drive, Apt. B, was arrested June 3 on a charge of first-degree murder, but the indictment returned against him charged him with second-degree murder. Byrd is set to be arraigned in Seventh Judicial District Court today.

Typically, a first-degree murder is a killing done with the specific intent to kill with an aggravating circumstance, usually the commission of certain other crimes. Second degree murder is defined simply as the killing of a person done with the intent to kill.

James H. Anderson Jr., 23, 342 Old Washington Road, was indicted on a charge of accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, and Desmond D. Washington, 28, 422 Watts Ave., was indicted on a charge of intimidating a witness.

The fourth man charged in the matter, Elijah K. Hoggatt, 42, 2B Saragossa Road, was arrested on a charge of accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, but the grand jury did not return an indictment against him.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that enough evidence exists to warrant the continued investigation of a suspect on given charges.