Killer of South MS woman in 2011 DUI got out of prison, right back into trouble
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- Darrell Blappert faces probation revocation in Mississippi for a 2011 DUI death.
- New drug and DUI charges in Florida and Louisiana led to failed probation terms.
- Victim’s father notified Mississippi officials of offender's arrests
When Darrell Edward Blappert Jr. was sentenced in a drunken driving crash that killed DeAnna Tucker, daughter of a former Gulfport police chief and his wife , he wept and told a judge he didn’t usually drive drunk.
He apologized to the family when he pleaded guilty in the 2011 DUI death case the following year, and the judge suspended seven years of a 25-year prison sentence, leaving 18 years for him to serve for the 29-year-oldTucker’s death.
Tucker died just three weeks before her wedding day when Blapper’s vehicle fatally struck her on March 29, 2011, outside a bridal shop on Pass Road. She had stopped there to look at her wedding dress. She had her 5-year-old son with her at the time.
Blappert vowed to get his act together before he was carted off to prison, but that didn’t happen after serving a little more than seven years. He has since been arrested in two felony cases in Escambia County, Florida, and on misdemeanor charges in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
The charges in Florida include marijuana and cocaine possession and destruction of physical evidence, all of which he’s already been convicted of, along with additional charges for driving infractions in both states, including another charge for driving intoxicated.
Now, Blappert, 41, is scheduled for a probation revocation hearing Monday before Circuit Judge Larry Bourgeois, which will likely mean more time in prison in Mississippi for the drunk driving offense that killed Tucker.
But it wasn’t the Mississippi Department of Corrections that first realized Blappert had been in and out of jail for other offenses in Louisiana and Florida after his release from the Mississippi prison.
Instead, Alan Weatherford, now a constable in South Mississippi, began investigating on his own after receiving a crime victim alert that Blappert had failed to report to probation officers, with his whereabouts unknown in Mississippi in July 2024. MDOC first issued a warrant for absconding in June 2024, according to the records.
“I’m like, ‘What the hell, what did he do wrong?” Weatherford said, and then he began his own investigation.
What he found out next was startling.
Blappert was locked up in Florida for his new crimes.
“I’m the one who told the (Mississippi) Department of Corrections that he (Blappert) is down in Florida and is locked up there,” Weatherford told the Sun Herald. “They didn’t know. The Mississippi Department of Corrections has some serious problems keeping up with its offenders.”
Weatherford said it’s hard, for so many reasons, for any crime victim’s family to find out an offender is offending again.
“It’s just reopening an old wound and having to relive it all again,” he said.
Drug offenses, traffic stops, and more charges
In Florida, authorities first encountered Blappert in April 2022 when he was cited for driving with an expired tag during a traffic stop. He was found guilty and paid a fine.
Less than a month later, on May 22, 2022, authorities in Escambia County arrested him for marijuana possession, possession of drug equipment, failure to drive within a lane, and failure to stop at a red light, during which he almost hit a deputy, a report says. He paid a fine for the misdemeanor offense.
By January 2023, Blappert was in trouble again in Escambia County, this time for felony possession of cocaine and destruction of physical evidence.
By June 2023, a Florida judge had sentenced him to 30 months of probation on the cocaine and property destruction charges.
Less than two months later, on Aug. 21, 2023, authorities in Escambia County had arrested him again, the records show, this time for cocaine possession, tampering with evidence, resisting an officer, and possession of drug equipment, but he got out on bond and didn’t return to court.
A warrant was issued for his arrest in Florida.
Blappert’s run-ins with law enforcement continued, and by Sept. 14, 2023, deputies in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, arrested Blappert in a traffic stop, this time for driving while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with an expired tag, and no proof of insurance.
Blappert, the records show, was later extradited from Louisiana back to Florida, where a judge there revoked his probation on the earlier convictions.
Back on the streets
However, Blappert ended up back on the streets, and on July 1, 2024, Weatherford received notification that Blappert’s whereabouts were unknown.
Blappart is now back in Mississippi custody to stand before a judge. For Weatheford and his family, what happens to Blappert next is about “justice for DeAnna.”
“We believe in offender reentry,” Weatherford said. “We were hoping he would do well when he got out. Unfortunately, he is not and the community is unsafe. He needs to serve the rest of his time to the maximum extent allowed by law. Hopefully, while incarcerated this time, he’ll attend some of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs that are available to inmates there.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
