0:00 [SPEAKER_02]: Listener, obscure I supported by listeners like yourself. 0:04 [SPEAKER_02]: My Patreon is only $3. 0:07 [SPEAKER_02]: That's less than the cup of coffee, and if 10% of listeners join the Patreon, that would be a life-changing amount of money, I'm an indie creator, and I rely on listeners like you. 0:17 [SPEAKER_02]: But sometimes I'm not so good at creating calls to action. 0:21 [SPEAKER_02]: I can feel a little self-conscious about it. 0:24 [SPEAKER_02]: Now, while you get on the Patreon is hundreds of hours worth of bonus content. 0:29 [SPEAKER_02]: From black label episodes, obscure episodes, and fireside chats, you can't find on the main feed. 0:36 [SPEAKER_02]: If you want to access to that, head to patreon.com slash obscure a crime podcast. 0:42 [SPEAKER_02]: That's patreon.com slash obscure a crime podcast. 0:46 [SPEAKER_02]: And hey, if you can't afford it, I understand. 0:48 [SPEAKER_02]: Don't put yourself in jeopardy. 0:50 [SPEAKER_02]: Listening is enough. 0:54 [SPEAKER_01]: At the time, all of our members and my brother come up missing, we haven't seen him this in that and last time I talked to him, I stopped, he would come to some edges on the tree for some one, you know, and I stopped and I asked him, I said you are right. 1:16 [SPEAKER_01]: You need anything, you need a money, anything. 1:18 [SPEAKER_01]: You told me, no, we said, man, it's out my right. 1:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I said, well, if you need anything, maybe just come by my arms, man. 1:24 [SPEAKER_01]: And that was the last time I talked to my little brother when I told him that. 1:31 [SPEAKER_01]: And any of that easy they just said, well, I'm just going through all this on the back burner, my little brother going, it's not that easy. 1:46 [SPEAKER_01]: play it with, you know, he's just, he's missing. 1:52 [SPEAKER_01]: If he was here now, man, he just don't know, man. 1:58 [SPEAKER_01]: I miss my little brother, I wish he was here. 2:00 [SPEAKER_02]: I really don't. 2:04 [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome, Wesener. 2:06 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad you're here. 2:08 [SPEAKER_02]: Take a seat. 2:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Next to the fire. 2:16 [SPEAKER_00]: where we shine a light on the dark. 2:42 [SPEAKER_02]: The knowledge that a serial killer is operating in our community, walking and driving the streets, perhaps sitting next to us at a bar, or delivering our pizza, is enough to send a chilled on the spine of even the most fearless amongst us. 2:55 [SPEAKER_02]: When media headlines scream that a serial offender has been apprehended, especially after many years, we feel safe. 3:02 [SPEAKER_02]: relieved. 3:03 [SPEAKER_02]: We excel as we feel we no longer have to worry about our safety, but that ever loved ones in the same way. 3:09 [SPEAKER_02]: We no longer have to look over our shoulder for someone suspicious. 3:13 [SPEAKER_02]: We're alter our daily routines on the advice of law enforcement, and we no longer need to worry about not hearing from a friend, colleague or relative for days or weeks. 3:22 [SPEAKER_02]: As we once did when a killer was on the loose, everything just goes back to normal, that is, unless despite the high profile rest of a serial fender, whose crimes were well known before they were apprehended, the murders in our community continue. 3:38 [SPEAKER_02]: This was the reality for the residents of Southern Louisiana. 3:41 [SPEAKER_02]: From the early 1990s to the mid-2000s, during this period at least three serial killers were active throughout the state, stretching the resources of both parish police departments and Louisiana State Police to their limits. 3:54 [SPEAKER_02]: Two of these perpetrators both operated in the East Bad Rouge and Lafayette parishes. 4:00 [SPEAKER_02]: In the story of their heinous crimes made breaking news across the state, a string of women, both white and black, from various backgrounds, 4:10 [SPEAKER_02]: We're often attacked in or abducted from their own homes, understandably, people were terrified and took all the usual precautions, but strangely enough, the other killer who was active during the same time managed to dodge any real scrutiny of until the time he was arrested. 4:26 [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, as you'll see, some people close to the case, 4:35 [SPEAKER_02]: in the wider parish communities that were affected either ignored or apathetic when it came to the rising toll of victims at the hand of this third killer. 4:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Listener, you may well wonder why this would be. 4:47 [SPEAKER_02]: Although we'd all like to think that victims of crime and their families are given an equal amount of public sympathy and media airtime. 4:54 [SPEAKER_02]: Most of us are not so naive as to believe this is the reality of true crime investigation, and media reporting today. 5:01 [SPEAKER_02]: Statistics worldwide reflect that victims who are living on horrible of the poverty line are a person of color, are drug-dependent, have a criminal history, or identify his LGBTQI, and who engage in jobs like sex work, simply do not elicit the amount of community outrage as those who are white, heterosexual, successful, and attractive, 5:22 [SPEAKER_02]: In the study of victimology and the social construction of victims, this is known as the concept of legitimate victimization. 5:29 [SPEAKER_02]: The term was coined by academic researchers in the early 1970s and is also referred to as the concept of deserving versus undeserving victims. 5:38 [SPEAKER_02]: As you'll hear, part of the difficulty and length of time it took to apprehend the offender in today's story relates directly to this concept. 5:46 [SPEAKER_02]: The offender you'll hear about was able to fly under the radar, so to speak, for so long, because no one, far from the victims loved ones, in a handful of dedicated investigators. 5:57 [SPEAKER_02]: seemed to notice or care that they were gone. 5:59 [SPEAKER_02]: This third serial offender operated across six parishes and Southern Louisiana and suburban New Orleans. 6:06 [SPEAKER_02]: It didn't target women. 6:07 [SPEAKER_02]: Those who were wealthy and successful or anyone who's disappeared and solicited statewide outrage or galvanized response from law enforcement from the outset. 6:16 [SPEAKER_02]: But as victims, the ones in today's story were just as vulnerable, just as missed. 6:21 [SPEAKER_02]: And just as worthy of public mourning and justice, as anyone else who has ever fallen victim to a statistic predator, their killer just didn't see it that way. 6:31 [SPEAKER_02]: Now, let's get on with it. 6:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Our one, the Pelican State. 6:48 [SPEAKER_02]: The southern state of Louisiana has the dubious honor of consistently having a notoriously high murder rate, and is reported to be the only state where the annual average murder rate is at least twice as high as the annual average in the U.S. 7:03 [SPEAKER_02]: In contrast to other jurisdictions across America, Louisiana is the only one where administrative and political subdivisions are geographically referred to as parishes instead of counties, as they're known across the rest of the country. 7:26 [SPEAKER_02]: intense summer thunderstorms during the steamy summer days, bring some relief from the thick humidity that hangs heavy in the air. 7:33 [SPEAKER_02]: As a result of temperatures which average 90 degrees Fahrenheit, of the 64 parishes across Louisiana, several will feature in our story today. 7:43 [SPEAKER_02]: Jefferson Parish in the southeast of the state, named an honor of Thomas Jefferson and his role in the Louisiana purchase of 1803, is home to 433,000 people. 7:55 [SPEAKER_02]: 56% of the parish's water is divided into the east and west bank areas by the Mississippi River. 8:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Directly west of Jefferson Parish with the population of 53,000 by St. Charles Parish. 8:08 [SPEAKER_02]: One of the state's original 19 parishes established following the Louisiana Purchase. 8:13 [SPEAKER_02]: Southwest of St. Charles Parish and covering 1500 square miles is LaFouche Parish. 8:20 [SPEAKER_02]: The LaFouche Parish scene of Tibado with the population of 15,000 residents is an hours drive from New Orleans. 8:29 [SPEAKER_02]: Tibido is a town with a high crime rate where many households live below the poverty line. 8:34 [SPEAKER_02]: But nevertheless, there's a strong sense of community among residents. 8:39 [SPEAKER_02]: Traveling southwest of the LaFouche parish again brings us to the coastal parish of Terabone. 8:45 [SPEAKER_02]: There is home to 120,000 people, and it's surrounded by five separate bayou communities. 8:52 [SPEAKER_02]: I use our slow-moving creeks, or sometimes swampy sections of rivers or lakes. 8:57 [SPEAKER_02]: And are a common part of the topography of the southern state localized to the Gulf region. 9:03 [SPEAKER_02]: The LaFouche-Parage-Stead of Huma, which is a 20-minute drive from Tibido, as a network of Bayou, and is surrounded by 2,500 square miles of wetlands, swamps, and sugarcane fields. 9:15 [SPEAKER_02]: With many of its residents working in commercial fishing and seafood trowing, or on offshore oil rigs. 9:22 [SPEAKER_02]: The main road heading into Huma's Highway 182. 9:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Also known as New Orleans Boulevard. 9:28 [SPEAKER_02]: We're a cluster of nearby motels to track sex workers, drug dealing, and people living on the fringe. 9:43 [SPEAKER_02]: R2, Lone Star. 9:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald Dominique was born on January 9th, 1964, in the LaFouche Parish town of Tibido, and was one of six children. 9:56 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald spent his childhood growing up in nearby Huma, and enjoyed spending time with his mother and female relatives. 10:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald didn't have a close relationship with his father, and shined away from spending time with his male relatives, who he felt bullied him. 10:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Not much else is known about Ronald's early years, but yet a difficult time fitting in at school, being short, overweight, and with a socially awkward and effeminate manner, Ronald was considered by his peers to be both a loner and a target of bullies. 10:26 [SPEAKER_02]: which caused him to end up skipping school to avoid the bullying. 10:30 [SPEAKER_02]: The child who'd double whammy of self-esteem issues, if he will. 10:34 [SPEAKER_02]: In addition to spending time with the female members of his family, Ronald loved performing and found solace as a member of the chorus in his high school Glee Club. 10:43 [SPEAKER_02]: In 1978, Ronald started attending Tidbedo High School, or during his high school years, many of his peers and acquaintances assumed he was gay. 10:52 [SPEAKER_02]: While they were called him being bullied relentlessly about his sexuality, 10:56 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 10:57 [SPEAKER_02]: and ever publicly came out. 10:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Despite Ronald's struggle at school, he was generally known by his family and those around him as a kind person who liked to offer a helping hand. 11:07 [SPEAKER_02]: But one day, when Ronald was a teenager, something happened that was said to have significantly changed his outlook on his family relationships. 11:14 [SPEAKER_02]: In the book, the Bayou Killer, author Jack Smith recounts the one day, climbing up to retrieve a ball off the roof of his house, Ronald had been to glance through a bedroom window 11:27 [SPEAKER_02]: It's not known whether Ronald might erase this with his mother, but at the very least, this must have been a traumatic hand confusing shock for any young person. 11:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald graduated high school in 1983. 11:38 [SPEAKER_02]: He soon moved out of the family home into a trailer in the backyard, but then moved in with his sister and her trailer. 11:45 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald struggled financially after leaving school and bounced around a combination, living with various relatives, enrolled in a computer study's course at Tibbado Votec, and at one stage also worked as a convenience store manager. 12:00 [SPEAKER_02]: By the time Ronald was in his early 20s, he'd come out as identifying his gay. 12:05 [SPEAKER_02]: During 1985, he shared an apartment in Tibodo with a man he'd met through his friends. 12:11 [SPEAKER_02]: This presented a good opportunity for Ronald to expand his social circle, but his roommate didn't recall him being very social or outgoing. 12:20 [SPEAKER_02]: Despite his shyness, Ronald that started frequenting gay bars in whom I around that time, but even then, he failed to make meaningful social connections with a local gay community. 12:31 [SPEAKER_02]: Or on the time Ronald was getting involved in the whom a gay scene, he wanted Mopad and a McDonald's competition. 12:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Given he didn't have any other means of transportation like many others in poor rural communities, he took to getting around town on the scooter, which soon earned him the nickname Miss Mopad. 12:50 [SPEAKER_02]: On June 12, 1985, 21-year-old Ronald was arrested and charged with telephone harassment. 12:57 [SPEAKER_02]: He pleaded guilty and paid a $74 fine plus core costs. 13:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Things took a further turn for the worst for Ronald to otherwise. 13:06 [SPEAKER_02]: When in his 20s, he started experiencing chess pains and breathing problems. 13:11 [SPEAKER_02]: This resulted in Ronald being diagnosed with a hard condition, then often required additional care. 13:16 [SPEAKER_02]: And a sister stepped into help care for him when his brother's health was poor. 13:21 [SPEAKER_02]: It appeared that the context in which people knew Ronald dictate how he was perceived by those around him. 13:26 [SPEAKER_02]: There was the Ronald who was helpful to his neighbors in the trailer parks where he lived. 13:32 [SPEAKER_02]: With regard to his closeted sexuality, there was also the Ronald who crossed stress and did bad impersonations of Paddy LeBelle, at one of the two local gay clubs in Huma. 13:42 [SPEAKER_02]: At 5 feet 7 in overweight, Ronald didn't fit in with the desired physique of the men who frequented gay bars in the area. 13:50 [SPEAKER_02]: it didn't help that he's still carried with him in odd manner and social awkwardness that people found difficult to warm to. 13:56 [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately for Ronald, this meant that neither his trailer park neighbors and or the local gay community appeared to accept him. 14:04 [SPEAKER_02]: Through most of his adulthood, Ronald struggled financially. 14:07 [SPEAKER_02]: He moved between his mother's house and a trailer on his sister's property. 14:13 [SPEAKER_02]: When he lived on his own, Ronald was said to even keep Christmas decorations of, year-round in his trailer. 14:19 [SPEAKER_02]: In 1993, 29-year-old Ronald moved into his own trailer on Josephine's street in Tibodo. 14:27 [SPEAKER_02]: He found work as a truck driver for a vending company traveling across Louisiana, and was remembered by his neighbors as someone who was quiet and kept to himself. 14:36 [SPEAKER_02]: It was also 1993 that Ronald had his first serious run in with all enforcement. 14:42 [SPEAKER_02]: The man had reported to the police that he met Ronald while hitchhiking along the side of the road, Hennies, Tuma. 14:48 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald had offered the man a ride and they chatted until the man reached his destination. 14:53 [SPEAKER_02]: Before they parted, Ronald and the man arranged to meet in the same place a few days later. 14:57 [SPEAKER_02]: and Ronald would bring along some weed to sell the man, when they mad they agreed to spawn. 15:03 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald drove the man to his trailer by now parked on Locust Street in Tibodo to get the drugs. 15:10 [SPEAKER_02]: This was unusual, and the man wondered why Ronald didn't just bring the weed with him in the first place. 15:16 [SPEAKER_02]: Once inside Ronald's trailer, Ronald insisted that the man be shunned the bathroom, as Ronald didn't want him to see where he kept his stash of weed. 15:26 [SPEAKER_02]: The man did as he was instructed, when he came out, he was confronted with a barrel of a gun, stuck in his face. 15:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald then proceeded to handcuff, stref, and raped the man. 15:38 [SPEAKER_02]: According to an interview with the career newspaper, following the assault, Ronald allegedly told the man to get dressed and leave. 15:46 [SPEAKER_02]: As the man ran through the neighborhood, he reported that someone fired a shot at him. 15:52 [SPEAKER_02]: With fully surviving soon after, the man told police won't have been in his claim initially appeared to be supported by the literature mark, Sonne's wrist. 16:00 [SPEAKER_02]: However, when the man was taken into the hospital, 16:08 [SPEAKER_02]: Local law enforcement drew the conclusion that there was no evidence to support the man's claims. 16:14 [SPEAKER_02]: And there was no further investigation into his complaint. 16:18 [SPEAKER_02]: This incident had proved a narrow escape for Ronald, but the following year on May 15, 1994, he was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and speeding. 16:30 [SPEAKER_02]: That same year, Ronald moved to Huma where he started frequenting the only gay bar in an attempt to get to know people. 16:37 [SPEAKER_02]: It was unsuccessful in establishing new social connections and often found himself rebuffed. 16:44 [SPEAKER_02]: On the night of August 25th, 1996, residents of Brian Street and Huma heard smashing glass and screamed shattering the peace and quiet. 16:53 [SPEAKER_02]: According to the courier, when neighbors looked out their windows, they saw a man aged in his 20s, wearing jeans but no shirt, running up the road repeatedly screaming, he's trying to kill me, a four-clapsing and terrified heave in a neighbor's yard. 17:09 [SPEAKER_02]: The man had an extension cord tied around his arm. 17:12 [SPEAKER_02]: The man told police that he had met Ronald a few days earlier while walking along the side of the road. 17:18 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald had given the man a ride and during the exchange, they agreed to meet up later, so the man could buy some drugs for Ronald. 17:26 [SPEAKER_02]: When they next met on the agreed day, Ronald drove the man to his trailer and they both went inside. 17:32 [SPEAKER_02]: but things soon turned ugly. 17:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald stuck a gun in the man's face. 17:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Bound his hands and legs with a wire, and viciously raped him while holding a bowie knife to his throat, before kicking him out of the trailer. 17:45 [SPEAKER_02]: The smashing glass that night was resolved of the man breaking through a trailer window to escape. 17:51 [SPEAKER_02]: As a half in the police officer who took this report was the same officer who took the report in 1993. 17:58 [SPEAKER_02]: From the man who had made a similar complaint, 18:01 [SPEAKER_02]: These similarities didn't go unnoticed, and police interviewed Ronald about the consistency in both survivors account. 18:09 [SPEAKER_02]: When questioned by police, Ronald openly told them that he had picked up both men and taken them home. 18:14 [SPEAKER_02]: He explained that they had agreed to sex, but then in order to alleviate Ronald's nerves prior to the encounters, both men offered to be tied up to make Ronald feel more at ease. 18:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald then told police that following sex, both men demand money, and becoming frightened, he threatened them with this gun, so they would leave. 18:36 [SPEAKER_02]: The police didn't buy it. 18:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Neither of the survivors knew each other, and 32-year-old Ronald was charged with aggravated rape, booked on $100,000 spawn, and held in a LaFouche Ferris detention center. 18:50 [SPEAKER_02]: During his three months in jail while waiting trial, Ronald was said to have been severely and repeatedly beaten and raped so badly. 18:57 [SPEAKER_02]: The hand-to-receive medical attention for a torn rectum. 19:01 [SPEAKER_02]: However, when the case was eventually brought to court, the survivor could not be found to testify. 19:07 [SPEAKER_02]: So, on November 7, 1996, the charges were dropped. 19:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald had no doubt had a traumatic experience in jail, but he was free to go. 19:17 [SPEAKER_02]: However, the survivor later told the courier newspaper that he didn't receive any notification at any stage to attend court. 19:25 [SPEAKER_02]: Given the man had a fix to dress and a stable job, he couldn't understand how police or court officials had failed to track him down, and was angry that he was denied his opportunity to testify. 19:36 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald meanwhile swore he would never return to jail, no matter what, and he now had new boundaries in terms of sexual encounters. 19:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald was still desperate for acceptance within the gay community, but the trauma of being raped and prison by him off being penetrated for a wife. 19:55 [SPEAKER_02]: He thereafter decided he wouldn't engage in anal sex unless he was the dominant partner in the encounter, known in the gay community as the top. 20:04 [SPEAKER_02]: This wouldn't sure Ronald would have full control to early act, and control was what he felt he needed at all costs. 20:11 [SPEAKER_02]: Our three, how and the open. 20:14 [SPEAKER_02]: 19-year-old David Mitchell Jr. Also known by those close to him as Tweety, worked at St. Charles Fairish Hospital after graduating from Hanville High School as an honorable student and where he also worked as a reporter on the school newspaper. 20:30 [SPEAKER_02]: David hoped that his experience at the hospital would set him on the path to one day become a mortician or corner. 20:36 [SPEAKER_02]: David had a strong work ethic, and was very close to his family, he lived with his sister and looling, insane Charles Parrish. 20:44 [SPEAKER_02]: But would always let his mother know where he was going to be if he was staying out overnight with a friend. 20:49 [SPEAKER_02]: As he knew she was worried, on July 13th, 1997, David attended a birthday party with his mother, aunt, and grandmother in Huma, where he'd been visiting for a couple days. 21:03 [SPEAKER_02]: Immediately following the party, David's aunt dropped him off at his grandmother's house in Kalona, about a 45-minute drive from Huma. 21:12 [SPEAKER_02]: I even wanted to get back to Luling before the weekend finished, so he told his mother he'd arranged to catch a ride back home with his uncle. 21:20 [SPEAKER_02]: Having only just graduated from high school, David didn't have a car, and if a family member or friend wasn't able to give him a ride, he often got around by hitchhiking. 21:29 [SPEAKER_02]: Unbeknownst to David, his uncle had been delayed and coming to pick him up as a ranged. 21:35 [SPEAKER_02]: So instead of waiting, David decided to hitchhike home to Luling. 21:40 [SPEAKER_02]: The next day, David's mother received a call from his supervisor at the hospital. 21:45 [SPEAKER_02]: David never missed a day of work, but he had failed to show up and hadn't contacted the hospital either. 21:52 [SPEAKER_02]: David's mother was immediately concerned, as this was extremely out of character for her conscientious son. 21:58 [SPEAKER_02]: She contacted David's sister, who checked her brother's room and found his work uniform and ID badge. 22:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Untouched, and the process of trying to track David down by contacting family members, a new story caught David's sister's attention on the TV that had been running in the background, the image of a body of an African-American male flashed across the screen. 22:21 [SPEAKER_02]: In a matter of seconds, David's family went from being confused and slightly worried. 22:27 [SPEAKER_02]: To his deracle, it was David's lifeless body there for all to see. 22:32 [SPEAKER_02]: even have been found face down in a shallow canal. 22:36 [SPEAKER_02]: Located on River Road in Hanville, which led to a water treatment plant in an industrial area. 22:43 [SPEAKER_02]: He was fully clothed, but he was missing his shoes and had his pants pulled down around his ankles. 22:48 [SPEAKER_02]: At David's autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be asphyxxi and drowning, but this didn't make any sense to his shattered family. 22:56 [SPEAKER_02]: There were no drugs in David's system, so it would have been impossible for him to drown, unless he was unconscious. 23:03 [SPEAKER_02]: In the presence of a faintly-gature mark around David's neck had been noted, the police didn't believe David had fallen victim to foul play. 23:11 [SPEAKER_02]: But the lack of water in his lungs contradicted the theory that he'd fallen in drowned in the shallow water. 23:17 [SPEAKER_02]: For David's hard-broken family, there were no clear-cutting answers in what the police felt was simply a tragic accident. 23:24 [SPEAKER_02]: 20-year-old Gary Pierre was known around the area of Boote and St. Charles Parish. 23:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Now much is known about Gary, but he didn't have a fix to dress, and was known to frequently hitchhike to get around. 23:37 [SPEAKER_02]: Gary also had a history of drug use, and early 1997 was reported to have been arrested on drug dealing charges. 23:46 [SPEAKER_02]: December 14, 1997, a motor is driving through a wooded area of months, in St. Charles' parish. 23:54 [SPEAKER_02]: Found the body of a young adult African American male. 23:57 [SPEAKER_02]: It was Gary, who had been bound, raped and strangled. 24:02 [SPEAKER_02]: By 1998, 34-year-old Ronald Dominique was moving between working low-paid delivery and construction jobs, finally securing a position with St. Charles' 24:14 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald had never had much money. 24:16 [SPEAKER_02]: He had saved enough to move into a new trailer. 24:19 [SPEAKER_02]: In Boote, a 30-minute drive west of New Orleans in St. Charles' parish and close by the airport. 24:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald continued to hang out at Gavars in the surrounding areas after work, including the French Quarter of New Orleans, where he became a skilled pool player. 24:36 [SPEAKER_02]: 38-year-old Larry Ranson was last seen on July 30th, 1998. 24:41 [SPEAKER_02]: The following day is fully clothed by lifeless body was found in St. Charles' parish. 24:47 [SPEAKER_02]: A mere 100 feet from the sight worth a body of David Mitchell had been discovered only a year earlier. 24:53 [SPEAKER_02]: Now much more is known about Larry, but as on time to reveal that before he died, he had been savagely beaten and strangled. 25:02 [SPEAKER_02]: 27-year-old Oliver LeBanks had his shares of ups and downs, known as Ollie to his friends and family, in a steady job, working in food preparation, at the renowned old-dog new trick cafe in the French Quarter of New Orleans. 25:18 [SPEAKER_02]: Oliver took pride in his work and loved his job. 25:21 [SPEAKER_02]: He had a close relationship with his boss, who was proud of the progress Oliver had made to overcome his previous struggles with drug dependency, and seemed to be on the path that made him happy. 25:31 [SPEAKER_02]: Oliver lived with his girlfriend in a housing project bordering the French quarter, and after work he often hung around in the popular tourist area to wind down and socialize. 25:43 [SPEAKER_02]: But Oliver's highest priority outside work was being a devoted father to his five children, but in live with him, but only saw his often as possible. 25:53 [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately, by mid-1998, Oliver had fallen in with a bad crowd. 25:59 [SPEAKER_02]: And as a result, it began using drugs again, and was struggling to meet his work obligations. 26:06 [SPEAKER_02]: As well as found herself in the heartbreaking position of having to fire Oliver. 26:11 [SPEAKER_02]: but told him that he was always welcome back when he got clean. 26:15 [SPEAKER_02]: Unemployed out of money with no qualifications. 26:19 [SPEAKER_02]: Oliver was desperate, so he turned to something he tried in the past. 26:24 [SPEAKER_02]: When he was an immediate need of cash, Oliver had been known over the years to occasionally engage in sex work to make ends meet. 26:31 [SPEAKER_02]: When he lost his job at the cafe, his brother tried to discourage him from sex work, but Oliver needed the money. 26:39 [SPEAKER_02]: on the evening of October 3rd, 1998. 26:41 [SPEAKER_02]: I'll ever call it up with his brother before heading out to meet friends at a New Orleans gay bar, called Rollhide. 26:48 [SPEAKER_02]: On October 5th, road construction workers arriving at work at stable drive in the Jefferson Parish town of Metaerie, bound the body of an African-American man, laying face down near a gravel road under an overpass. 27:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Police arrived and identified the body of that of all over the banks. 27:07 [SPEAKER_02]: However, had been bulging on one side of his hand, repeatedly, with the tire iron. 27:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Prusing to his neck indicated that he had been tied and choked by something resembling a belt. 27:18 [SPEAKER_02]: There were also signs his wrists had been bound together. 27:21 [SPEAKER_02]: His fans were bow-o as knees, and he was missing a shirt and shoes. 27:26 [SPEAKER_02]: But police managed to recover hair from the scene that would later be identified as chest hair, belonging to a Caucasian man. 27:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Police dragged down pageants to have been at the raw hide bar on the night's leading up to Oliver's disappearance. 27:40 [SPEAKER_02]: But no one had seen anything. 27:43 [SPEAKER_02]: 16-year-old Joseph Brown was a freshman at Hanville High School. 27:48 [SPEAKER_02]: He grew up at St. Charles Paris, Shennu Gary P. Ear, whose Bonnie had been discovered back in December 1997, despite having gone involved in drug dealing in the past. 27:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Joseph had managed to pull himself away from the scene, and his family was proud of his efforts. 28:04 [SPEAKER_02]: They were still understandably concerned, however. 28:07 [SPEAKER_02]: Joseph's family knew he'd do nearly anything for money, and even though he didn't identify his being gay, the appeal of a quick buck at his young age made him vulnerable to older men who wanted to pay for sex. 28:20 [SPEAKER_02]: Joseph was last seen a wife on October 19, 1998, in the Boote area around midnight. 28:27 [SPEAKER_02]: The following day, his body was discovered close to the tender police to 28:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Mike Oliver LeBanks, who've been found two weeks prior, Joseph and his pants pooled down, was missing his shirt and shoes. 28:42 [SPEAKER_02]: It was clear that Joseph had met a brutal end, even bludgeon on the back of his head and suffocated, and police also found a body plastic bag near his body. 28:54 [SPEAKER_02]: Like several victims before him, not much information is available about Bruce Williams. 28:59 [SPEAKER_02]: 18-year-old Bruce was well-known around the French Quarter and was last seen in New Orleans. 29:05 [SPEAKER_02]: In the early hours of November 27, 1998, his body was found later that day in Jefferson, Paris, alongside a highway outside New Orleans. 29:15 [SPEAKER_02]: He was fully clothed and had been choked and sexually assaulted. 29:20 [SPEAKER_02]: Four bodies had now turned off in the space of five months. 29:23 [SPEAKER_02]: And police decided it was time to reach out to the FBI. 29:27 [SPEAKER_02]: Author Fred Rose and explains in his book, the Bayou Strangler, how based on the sites where the bodies had been found so far, profiler surmise that the killer live near the airport, local human newspaper reporter Robert Morris, started to query a connection between the deaths. 29:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Even accounting for misadventure and overdoses amongst the community where many lived in poverty, and were depended on unless it drugs. 29:52 [SPEAKER_02]: Surely all these incidents couldn't have been accidental, and even if they weren't, they couldn't all be the work of different people. 30:00 [SPEAKER_02]: local law enforcement didn't appear to be making any headway and apprehending the person or responsible. 30:04 [SPEAKER_02]: And perhaps exposure at a nationwide publication might prompt some answers in action. 30:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Robert contacted the New York Times newspaper, both a number of bodies of healthy and fit young men, turning off on the side of the roads in southern Louisiana. 30:21 [SPEAKER_02]: But the Times wasn't especially interested. 30:24 [SPEAKER_02]: And there I was, it was original, and not national issue of interest. 30:29 [SPEAKER_02]: Like all over LaBanks, 21-year-old Manuel Reed, live close to the French Quarter of New Orleans. 30:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Was a familiar face around the area? 30:38 [SPEAKER_02]: On May 30th, 1999, Manuel's body had been found in a commercial dumpster, in Bane Bridge Street and Kenner, Jefferson Parish. 30:47 [SPEAKER_02]: Manuel had sustained significant bruising and was missing his shirt. 30:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Police noticed that his belt was on the opposite way, and in a case that he may have been redressed by the killer after death, before being dumped elsewhere. 31:00 [SPEAKER_02]: Importantly, the crime scene where Manuel was found was the first to provide police with a breakthrough. 31:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Seaman and Harris samples were recovered from the scene. 31:09 [SPEAKER_02]: The hopes of identifying the offender were sure-lived. 31:13 [SPEAKER_02]: When the DNA profile failed to match any held-on existing law enforcement databases. 31:18 [SPEAKER_02]: Angel Mahia was also 21 years old. 31:22 [SPEAKER_02]: Originally from Bouté and St. Charles Parrish, he didn't have a fixed address, 31:31 [SPEAKER_02]: According to the Daily Review newspaper, Angel knew both Gary Pierre and Joseph Brown. 31:37 [SPEAKER_02]: His body said previously been found in 1997 and 1998 respectively. 31:42 [SPEAKER_02]: The paper reported that at one stage, Angel lived a walk away from Gary. 31:47 [SPEAKER_02]: The pair being arrested on drug dealing charges in early 1997. 31:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Angel was last seen in Kenner and Jefferson Parish on June 30th, 1999. 31:57 [SPEAKER_02]: Walking with friends at 3am, most likely following the night out. 32:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Later that day, his body was found next to a dumpster in Delaware Avenue, only a mile from where he was last seen alive. 32:11 [SPEAKER_02]: Like the previous victims, Angel had been strangled and was missing his shoes, DNA from a seam and sample was recovered from the scene. 32:20 [SPEAKER_02]: At this stage, police had not spoken publicly about any connection between the murders that occurred in the space of less than two years, because they were yet to make that 32:31 [SPEAKER_02]: The fact that the bodies of young men were turning up across various parishes didn't help matters. 32:36 [SPEAKER_02]: Given the clear need for a coordinated multi-jure-stictional approach, to finding who is responsible, 34-year-old Mitchell Johnson, was dedicated to his family. 32:47 [SPEAKER_02]: On August 27, 1999, he was walking his two young nieces to a convenient store in Canter, his nieces later told police that a Wyoming approached their uncle, and the two men talked. 32:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Mitchell walks his niece's back to their mother's house. 33:03 [SPEAKER_02]: That was the last time anyone saw him alive. 33:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Mitchell's body was found not long after. 33:09 [SPEAKER_02]: By road workers next to a gravel road, under an overpass, this was in Metaerie in Jefferson, Paris. 33:16 [SPEAKER_02]: There were a strange marks on his wrists and signs of strangulation on his neck. 33:21 [SPEAKER_02]: There was a lack of DNA evidence at the scene, but what struck police was that this was virtually the exact same location where the body of Oliver LeBancs had been recovered. 33:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Less than a year earlier, Oliver and Mitchell had been killed by the same person. 33:34 [SPEAKER_02]: There was every indication that this was the case. 33:37 [SPEAKER_02]: What's the dumb sight on this occasion at Tantamon forsemen? 33:41 [SPEAKER_02]: coincidence or just stupidity. 33:44 [SPEAKER_02]: A police catch artist took a description from people. 33:47 [SPEAKER_02]: It would have been in the area on the day Mitchell was last seen. 33:50 [SPEAKER_02]: When this is described seeing an overweight man in his mid-30s, was partially bald. 33:56 [SPEAKER_02]: By November 1999, the sketch was in white circulation in the local media. 34:02 [SPEAKER_02]: It was also in November 1999, at 35-year-old Ronald Dominique, quit his maintenance job, drove his trailer to Huma, where he parked it in a sister's yard, howm by you blue road. 34:13 [SPEAKER_02]: She didn't mind, and was happy to help out as she had done so many times in the past. 34:18 [SPEAKER_02]: She knew her brother's poor health affected his ability to work full-time, so she even offered for Ronald to connect his trailer to her household water and electricity supply. 34:27 [SPEAKER_02]: Given he had the space, Ronald bought another trailer and acquired a bike pick-up truck to get around in. 34:33 [SPEAKER_02]: He soon found a mini-home job at Coro Produce in Huma, where his coworker's found him quiet, 34:40 [SPEAKER_02]: New Year's Eve 1999 was a time of celebration, reflection, and anticipation for many. 34:46 [SPEAKER_02]: For 23-year-old Michael Vincent, the dawn of the new millennium presented an opportunity for a fresh start. 34:54 [SPEAKER_02]: Michael was originally from Lafayette Parish, but since relocated to Omaha. 34:59 [SPEAKER_02]: The end of criminal record for aggravated battery and drug offenses was reported by those who knew him to occasionally engage in sex work to get by, but his fireworks exploded across the nation at night, and revelers burst into happy renditions of all-length sign. 35:15 [SPEAKER_02]: Michael wasn't spending the night the way he thought he would. 35:18 [SPEAKER_02]: A New Year's Day, a passing motorist found his fully clothed body, hanging over a barbed wire 35:28 [SPEAKER_02]: Michael had abrasions on his chest and torso, and literature marks on his wrist, but there was no DNA at the scene, and no clue as to who was responsible. 35:38 [SPEAKER_02]: The person killing young man hadn't taken a break over the holidays. 35:43 [SPEAKER_02]: Instead using an as an opportunity to snuff out the lives of those who were vulnerable. 35:48 [SPEAKER_02]: Police didn't know yet, but there wanted man what's about to go underground. 36:09 [SPEAKER_02]: Part IV, a new millennium. 36:16 [SPEAKER_02]: By the year 2000, Ronald Dominique had moved back to the Trailer Park on Brian Street. 36:22 [SPEAKER_02]: He had managed to stay out of trouble with the law since 1996, but on May 19th he received a summons to appear in court on charges of disturbing the peace, following allowed in 36:38 [SPEAKER_02]: But since it was a misdemeanor charge, Ronald Pudgilti paid a fine to avoid appearing in court. 36:44 [SPEAKER_02]: In 2001, 37-year-old Ronald started working as a pizza delivery driver, and in a spare time, joined the local chapter of the Lions Club, which is an international service club whose members engage in volunteer and community work. 36:59 [SPEAKER_02]: In his capacity as a lion's volunteer, Ronald was the color at the local bingo hall, where both he and the older people in the community enjoyed the social interaction at their local games. 37:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald's brother-in-law worked at the Dixie's shipyard in Huma. 37:14 [SPEAKER_02]: It was around this time that he gave Ronald permission to park his trailer at the work site. 37:19 [SPEAKER_02]: Brunner wouldn't go on to move back and forth between this location and his sister's property. 37:24 [SPEAKER_02]: Like many locals and tourists, Brunner took himself along to the Huma Marti Grand Parade, on February 10th, 2002, but similar to two years previously, he soon found himself engaged in a public clash with a stranger. 37:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Brunner confronted a woman near West Park Avenue, who accidentally bumped a baby stroller in a parking lot with her car. 37:46 [SPEAKER_02]: The woman apologized, but Ronald kept screaming at the woman, and eventually slapped her across the face. 37:53 [SPEAKER_02]: Ronald was arrested, but instead of standing trial on an assault charge, he entered a parish of Fender's work release program. 38:01 [SPEAKER_02]: After complying with the conditions of the program, Ronald was released in October 2002. 38:08 [SPEAKER_02]: Not much is known about 19-year-old Kenneth Randolph-Junior. 38:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Born into her bone parish, he lived in Charter's core in Huma. 38:16 [SPEAKER_02]: Kenneth's criminal history included multiple charges of Carnal knowledge of a juvenile, as well as property damage offenses. 38:24 [SPEAKER_02]: Kenneth was last seen on October 6th, 2002. 38:27 [SPEAKER_02]: The same day his body was discovered in an isolated area of LaFouche parish. 38:32 [SPEAKER_02]: On the side of a dirt road, near Louisiana Highway 307, in Raysland. 38:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Kenneth was lying face down in a sugarcane field. 38:41 [SPEAKER_02]: He was naked apart from his white socks, had abrasions and ligature marks on his wrists, had been raped, and his neck showed indications that he had been choked to death. 38:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Police ended determine whether this most recent murder was the work of the same person, who appeared responsible for several deaths that seem to have culminated with the murder of Michael Vincent on New Year's Eve in 1999. 39:04 [SPEAKER_02]: If so, the killer had been inactive for over 18 months, and they need to find out why. 39:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Given the amount of time they had passed, if it wasn't the same person, while he scrambled with the possibility that they were now looking for two killers. 39:19 [SPEAKER_02]: And only a week later, there was another body. 39:22 [SPEAKER_02]: 26-year-old Anoka Jones was exceptionally close to his large family of three brothers, two sisters, two daughters, and two step sons. 39:32 [SPEAKER_02]: An Okolived with his girlfriend, hand or children, and an apartment free-monstery in Huma. 39:37 [SPEAKER_02]: Like others in his local community, he had a criminal record for misdemeanors, drug dealing, battery, and petty theft charges. 39:46 [SPEAKER_02]: An Okol was at home on October 11, 2003, when his girlfriend arrived home with some groceries. 39:52 [SPEAKER_02]: He told her he loved her and said goodbye, saying he was going out to buy cigarettes and left on his bicycle. 39:58 [SPEAKER_02]: That evening, Noka called the House of his friend Leon Lorett, lived in a trailer for our close to Anoka's apartment building. 40:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Anoka outly on Movelarge speaker, and then asked to use Leon's phone, as he had done so in the past. 40:13 [SPEAKER_02]: Or Fort say that Anoka headed out to get beer around 9pm, getting into a white car that pulled up at Leon's house and around that time. 40:21 [SPEAKER_02]: The next day came, and Anoka hadn't come home. 40:25 [SPEAKER_02]: His girlfriend wasn't too worried when he didn't return home that evening before, as Anoka often stayed out, and she was used to it. 40:35 [SPEAKER_02]: But on October 13th, a highway patrolman came across the body of an African-American man. 40:42 [SPEAKER_02]: Under the highway 90 overpass, in the town of Bute. 40:46 [SPEAKER_02]: The body was laying face down in the dirt, and tracks on the ground nearby, indicated the body had been dragged to where it lay. 40:52 [SPEAKER_02]: The man was dressed in a tea shirt, but his shorts had been pulled down. 40:57 [SPEAKER_02]: In addition to bought around his mouth and abrasions on his back and neck, the man had been raped and strangled. 41:04 [SPEAKER_02]: Police initially had difficulty identifying the man, but when one of an Ocas brothers came forward on October 14 to report a missing, the grimeralization set in for his family. 41:15 [SPEAKER_02]: At least began tracing Anoka's last steps, and pursued the possibility that he could have been targeted by someone over an unpaid drug debt. 41:23 [SPEAKER_02]: Anoka previously sold drugs for two local dealers and owed them money. 41:27 [SPEAKER_02]: These men were eventually eliminated, but the theory that Anoka was killed over a drug related matter persisted. 41:34 [SPEAKER_02]: One of Noga's friends told police that on the night of October 11th, two days before Noga disappeared, he and Noga were standing at an intersection in Huma, when a truck containing two men stopped near them. 41:46 [SPEAKER_02]: The men got out of the truck and started yelling at Noga, ran in the opposite direction. 41:52 [SPEAKER_02]: One of the men was soon identified as a local drug dealer, known as Big Julius. 41:57 [SPEAKER_02]: Police impounded and searched to truck. 41:59 [SPEAKER_02]: There was no evidence that either big Julius Orr's accomplice had committed or had any knowledge of Anoka's murder. 42:05 [SPEAKER_02]: The fact that Anoka had been raped also minimized the possibility for police that his death was drug-related. 42:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Police questioned Anoka as good-friendly on the red at length. 42:16 [SPEAKER_02]: Given he was one of the last people to see Anoka alive, the 90-wet missing. 42:21 [SPEAKER_02]: Leon was arrested for a no-cus murder, but the charges were soon dropped, and police were back to square one. 42:28 [SPEAKER_02]: To make matters more complicated for law enforcement, it was during this investigation that there were two other active serial killers in Louisiana. 42:35 [SPEAKER_02]: This presented a range of issues in terms of limited police resources, but also meant that the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab had a backlog of forensic evidence to be analyzed. 42:47 [SPEAKER_02]: And the event that any DNA could be recovered from crime scenes. 42:51 [SPEAKER_02]: In some cases, it could take up to 10 months to get back the results. 42:55 [SPEAKER_02]: And outsourcing the testing for samples became the only way to hasten the process. 43:00 [SPEAKER_02]: One of the three serial killers active in Louisiana was finally apprehended by the state police on May 27, 2003. 43:07 [SPEAKER_02]: 34-year-old Derek Todd Lee was charged with murdering seven women in the Bayon Rouge in Lafayette areas between 1992 and 2003. 43:18 [SPEAKER_02]: While this was a relief to the public, it was a cold comfort to the police in Terabone, Lafouche, and Jefferson Parishes. 43:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Their killer was praying on fit, African American men, of a slender build. 43:32 [SPEAKER_02]: Several of the victims had a criminal record, and some also had a history of heavy drug use. 43:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Deatro Woods was only 18 years old, but he hadn't had it easy. 43:43 [SPEAKER_02]: growing up in Uma, he was said to struggle with mental health issues, and at times had been estranged from some members of his family. 43:51 [SPEAKER_02]: In addition to having a criminal record for petty theft, he also done time in juvenile correctional facilities. 43:57 [SPEAKER_02]: The Uma Curry or Newspaper reported that day trial was last seen by his mother, a May 24, 2003, when he left their house on Buron Street in Uma, in a friend's car to go visit his girlfriend, 44:11 [SPEAKER_02]: When he failed to return home, his family reported him missing to police, but he hoped and trusted Igor Taren as soon as he usually did, but it wasn't to be. 44:21 [SPEAKER_02]: Two days later, on May 26, two men riding dirt bikes on the edge of a sugar cane field behind a church off woodland ranch road, came upon the body of a young African-American man. 44:33 [SPEAKER_02]: When police arrived to court and off the scene, they saw that a bicycle lay on the ground next to the man, who was wearing shorts and socks, but was missing his shirt and shoes. 44:43 [SPEAKER_02]: Due to the advanced state of decomposition, the body couldn't be immediately identified. 44:48 [SPEAKER_02]: When the body was confirmed of that of daytrow woods, it shocked and confused relatives couldn't understand how he could have met such a violent end. 44:57 [SPEAKER_02]: It's family told the Uma Currier newspaper that daytrow didn't have his bicycle with him when he left for his own house. 45:04 [SPEAKER_02]: And then even if he had, he wouldn't have read into that particular church, which was almost six miles away. 45:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Daterals on top to Feldo reveal anything specific. 45:14 [SPEAKER_02]: Given there was no signs of trauma to his heavily decomposed remains, the cause of death was recorded and unknown. 45:21 [SPEAKER_02]: Meanwhile, 40-year-old Ronald Dominique had been moving from job to job. 45:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Throughout 2003, he continued to work for car-oproduce and delivered pizza at night. 45:32 [SPEAKER_02]: After losing his day job the following January, he had a short stem with a human maintenance company, a force securing a position as a meter reader. 45:40 [SPEAKER_02]: The job he still held in April 2004 when the Louisiana Law Enforcement had another breakthrough in a state of serial murder that had been weighing on the minds of police and community 45:51 [SPEAKER_02]: In April 29, police arrested 41-year-old Sean Vincent Killis for the kidnapped rape and murder of a women in the Bad and Rouge area. 46:01 [SPEAKER_02]: Again, this provided a degree of relief to both police and the community, knowing that a predator of women was off the streets. 46:09 [SPEAKER_02]: But deep down, police knew that the person stalking young men from poor communities, throughout several parishes in the south of the state, was still on the loose. 46:23 [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately, like many others in this story, now much is known about Larry Matthews. 46:29 [SPEAKER_02]: 46-year-old Larry lived around the Tibido area, and was said to be a drifter. 46:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Larry was known to law enforcement as a drug user and dealer. 46:39 [SPEAKER_02]: Was last seen by his brother on St. Charles Street. 46:42 [SPEAKER_02]: A few days before tropical store Matthew struck South Central Louisiana, on October 10th, 46:48 [SPEAKER_02]: After 15 inches of heavy rain had hit parts of the state, with some homes in Teribone and the Fush Parishes experiencing flooding from the storm search. 46:58 [SPEAKER_02]: Lared in making home after the storm, and his body was found in the day's following, near a pond by a man passing through Delimon. 47:07 [SPEAKER_02]: There his body was dressed in a shirt and sweatpants, a light previous victim's he was missing his shoes. 47:14 [SPEAKER_02]: Larry Zontopsi found he sustained blunt force trauma to his right shoulder, and his back in buttocks showed evidence of soft tissue, and intramuscular hemorrhaging. 47:24 [SPEAKER_02]: It was initially thought that Larry had met with misadventure during the storm, and the autopsy originally concluded that he had died in accident on death resulting from drug overdose. 47:34 [SPEAKER_02]: But this was despite physical evidence in the form of abrasions to his throat embutants. 47:39 [SPEAKER_02]: It evidence that he had been raped, as far as police can ascertain, all of the victims so far had been African-American, indicating that the killer may have been as well. 47:49 [SPEAKER_02]: This came from the behavioral profile and concept that serial predators rarely offend outside their own race. 47:56 [SPEAKER_02]: But as police were about to discover, their killer didn't discriminate along racial lines. 48:02 [SPEAKER_02]: 21 year old Michael Barnett was born in Mississippi, later adopted. 48:06 [SPEAKER_02]: He also spent some of his childhood in the Baptist Children's Village in Jackson, as explained by author Fred Rosen in his book The Buy You Strangler. 48:16 [SPEAKER_02]: He was last seen at 1045pm, one night in early October 2004, writing his bike down Ruth Street in Huma, where he lived. 48:25 [SPEAKER_02]: He told a friend he was going to meet a girl at the fire station, which reported by the whom a courier newspaper to be wearing a black, buttoned down long sleeve shirt, black pants, and still capped boots. 48:37 [SPEAKER_02]: But when Michael hadn't been seen for several days after words, his concerned friends who reported him is missing to local police. 48:44 [SPEAKER_02]: No one could say what happened to Michael following his rendezvous at the fire station. 48:49 [SPEAKER_02]: Nor could they identify the girl in question he said he was going to meet. 48:53 [SPEAKER_02]: And grizzly discovery, three weeks following Michael's disappearance, would partially answer the question. 48:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Have what happened to in the last night he was seen alive? 49:03 [SPEAKER_02]: On October 25th, the part owner of a mini-storage facility near a terabone parish airbase was investigating reports of a bad smell when they came upon the body of what was assumed to be an African-American man. 49:16 [SPEAKER_02]: Buying on his back inside an unlocked and vacant storage unit. 49:20 [SPEAKER_02]: When police intended it, they soon realized the unrecognizable remains were not those of an African-American male, but an ached Caucasian man who was so bloated from the southern heat and humidity, the skin had darkened significantly. 49:33 [SPEAKER_02]: Police could see the man had been tied with some type of ligature, and also noticed the man had a tattoo of a dragon. 49:41 [SPEAKER_02]: The tattoo and dental records were used to identify the body of that of Michael Barnett. 49:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Something else that Felicia noticed was that from their position at the mini storage. 49:50 [SPEAKER_02]: The site where the body of day trial woods was recovered 18 months previously in May 2003 was only less than a mile away. 49:57 [SPEAKER_02]: Inquiries with the staff at the fire station, and everyone who rented a storage unit in the facility, unfortunately failed to yield anything of value. 50:07 [SPEAKER_02]: While enforcement still had no solid leads following Michael's murder, police went back to review their files for as many clues as possible to link their victims. 50:17 [SPEAKER_02]: All the victims had been bound, but there was no sign of trauma or defensive wounds. 50:23 [SPEAKER_02]: but it's led police to theorize that the victims were either drug prior to their deaths, or that two people were responsible. 50:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Given the victims had otherwise all been fit in healthy, no murder weapons had been found with any of the bodies, which had clearly been dumped away from the site where the victims were killed. 50:40 [SPEAKER_02]: There were no fingerprints, shoes, or tire impressions at any of the scenes. 50:45 [SPEAKER_02]: All the victims had been strangled, some with literature and some by manual means, 50:53 [SPEAKER_02]: Police noted that the killer had used Louisiana climate to his advantage. 50:57 [SPEAKER_02]: The remote locations where some of the bodies were left, exposed to the elements, often in the warm by you waters. 51:04 [SPEAKER_02]: Menta the rate of decomposition was accelerated. 51:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Even in the fall, temperatures could still get as high as 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. 51:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Now, to the victim's own cars, prying to get around on foot or bicycles. 51:17 [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately, even though all of the victims had been raped, rape kids had not been taken for any of the victims up to and including all of the debates. 51:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Please send their work cut-out for them to catch someone who had killed 14 men, and didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon. 51:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Listener, your car earlier in this episode that soon after the body of a no-coach Jones was found in October of 2002, his good friend Leon Lorette was charged with his murder. 51:45 [SPEAKER_02]: Only for these charges to later be dropped and Leon cleared of any allegations of wrongdoing. 51:51 [SPEAKER_02]: 22-year-old Leon, also known to his friends and family as T-Paul, was born in Huma in a two-step sisters and one-step brother. 52:00 [SPEAKER_02]: Leon lived with his mother, and her three-bedroom trailer on state street in Huma, and was known by those around him as an easy-going, nice guy. 52:09 [SPEAKER_02]: We hadn't had a share of trouble in his younger years. 52:12 [SPEAKER_02]: He was in an out of work, had done some time in Teribone Paris, jail. 52:17 [SPEAKER_02]: Insmoved product occasionally. 52:18 [SPEAKER_02]: He was close to his cousins, and they enjoyed spending time with him hanging out and socializing in downtown Huma. 52:25 [SPEAKER_02]: The Huma Courier reported that it wasn't particularly unusual for Leon to disappear for several days at a time. 52:32 [SPEAKER_02]: Just to do his own thing, and he always made his way home eventually. 52:35 [SPEAKER_02]: On February 15, 2005, Leon's mother loaned him $5 to buy cigarettes in beer on the way to Laverne's bar. 52:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Leon's mother said that Leon had plans that night to travel to Codo, a 90-minute drive away, but didn't arrive. 52:52 [SPEAKER_02]: The last Leon's family heard from him was a phone call on the evening of February 16th. 52:57 [SPEAKER_02]: When he told them he didn't know where he was and he was full of beer and drugs. 53:02 [SPEAKER_02]: No one heard from Leon again. 53:03 [SPEAKER_02]: His body was found four days later on February 20th, 100 feet from a daycare center. 53:10 [SPEAKER_02]: Under a bush at the edge of a former World War II airport off Mothir Road in Teribone Parish, by three men riding dirt bikes. 53:19 [SPEAKER_02]: Leon was wearing jeans and socks, but no shirt or shoes. 53:23 [SPEAKER_02]: Leon had been heavily intoxicated when he died, and operations around his neck and wrists, and had been asphyxated. 53:29 [SPEAKER_02]: Mavern's bar, which is where Leon was headed on February 15th, is located near the Sugar Bowl Motel, an establishment known by local law enforcement to be commonly frequented by sex workers, drug dealers and users. 53:45 [SPEAKER_02]: The witness told police that about a week prior, they saw a man fitting Leon's description in the motel car park. 53:51 [SPEAKER_02]: They also saw him talking to a white man driving a white Chevrolet suburban pickup. 53:57 [SPEAKER_02]: At one stage, the man got out of the truck and the witness could see he had a mustache and walked with a limp. 54:03 [SPEAKER_02]: No more information was forthcoming, but it was a start. 54:06 [SPEAKER_02]: 31-year-old August walk-ins, known by his family by his middle name of Tyrell, had been 54:16 [SPEAKER_02]: family knew him as a conversationalist, and someone who enjoyed helping others. 54:21 [SPEAKER_02]: He often asked his own neighbors if he could cut their grass and edges to supplement the income he drew from his veteran's benefits and social security. 54:29 [SPEAKER_02]: But August hadn't been without a share of run-ins with the law. 54:32 [SPEAKER_02]: With the times newspaper reported that he avoided serving time for previous charges of aggravated battery, with a dangerous weapon. 54:39 [SPEAKER_02]: August's family had their share of heartbreak when the body of his cousin Daitro Woods was found in May 2003. 54:45 [SPEAKER_02]: The person responsible was still believed to be at large, and the police didn't seem to have any leads. 54:52 [SPEAKER_02]: by April 2005, August had been living with his girlfriend and her children, but his patients with the kids was running thin, rather than staying in risk of confrontation, August decided to find temporary accommodation to give himself some space, but when his friends and family tried to track him down at his new place of residence, no one seemed to be able to locate him. 55:14 [SPEAKER_02]: his girlfriend stole police that when August left her house, he'd been picked up by an overweight white man, an aback woman driving a white truck. 55:22 [SPEAKER_02]: Police managed to track the couple down, they were eliminated as suspects in August disappearance. 55:28 [SPEAKER_02]: A cousin of August later told police that on April 8th, he saw August walking through the pedestrianized Tuma tunnel from one side of town to the other, carrying tough and trash bags containing his belongings over a shoulder, 55:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately, by the time August was found on April 9, 2005, he had been murdered. 55:51 [SPEAKER_02]: His body was found by a passing motorist, dumped in a ditch next to a canal off Highway 90 in Raysland. 55:58 [SPEAKER_02]: He was faced down and fully clothed, despite indications that August had been bound and strangled, because of death couldn't be determined at the autopsy. 56:08 [SPEAKER_02]: Listener, the audio you heard at the start of this episode was the voice of August Older Brother Landry. 56:14 [SPEAKER_02]: This audio was an excerpt from the 2014 documentary by U Blue by Director's Alex Lambert and David McMahon who spoke at length with investigators and relatives of other victims in the case who reflected online without their loved ones. 56:29 [SPEAKER_02]: finally. 56:30 [SPEAKER_02]: In April 2005, a multi-jurist fictional task force the VD officer's was established to investigate the rising body count. 56:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Task Force consisted of South Louisiana Sheriff's offices from Jefferson, St. Charles, LaFouche, and Teribone Parishes, Louisiana State Police, and the FBI. 56:50 [SPEAKER_02]: Even at this stage, not everyone in law enforcement was on board with the idea that another serial killer was in the area. 56:58 [SPEAKER_02]: Task Force detectives who were convinced that young men were being murdered by the same person pointed to the similarities between each case. 57:06 [SPEAKER_02]: Initially, any male murder victims who turned up in the area do not show evidence of gunshot or stab wounds or other trauma were included in the task force investigation until they could be excluded. 57:17 [SPEAKER_02]: Looking closely at each file, investigators identified that with some exceptions, the majority of the victims led what law enforcement came to refer to in the media as a high risk lifestyle, including a history of drug use and a criminal record. 57:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Many of the victims were unemployed, or frequently moved from low-paying job to low-paying job. 57:39 [SPEAKER_02]: And had no qualifications. 57:41 [SPEAKER_02]: Both of the victims had been raped, but all been asphyxated or strangled, and many of them had been found without their shoes. 57:48 [SPEAKER_02]: No murder weapons had been found near any of the bodies. 57:51 [SPEAKER_02]: For the officers on the task force who believed a serial killer was at work, their theory was gaining strength. 57:57 [SPEAKER_02]: Then on the day the first task force meeting was wrapping up in Baton Rouge in late April. 58:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Officers got word of another body that had been found in a similar circumstance. 58:07 [SPEAKER_02]: Like Michael Barnet, who was found six months earlier, this victim was Caucasian. 58:12 [SPEAKER_02]: 23-year-old Kirk Conningham was born in Huma, two large family of three brothers, one step-brother and four sisters. 58:19 [SPEAKER_02]: Kirk lived in Tibido, with the innocent siblings having been in and out of foster care throughout their lives around the Huma, recently in the Antibido areas. 58:27 [SPEAKER_02]: And as far east as the state of Mississippi, as a teenager, Kirk was said to have lived through some rough times, sleeping outside wherever he could find shelter, but he was known by his friends as a free-spirited gentle person. 58:39 [SPEAKER_02]: Love to live in the moment, make others laugh with his reverence sense of humor, and who made friends easily. 58:46 [SPEAKER_02]: He was also a talented artist and enjoyed getting outside to indulge in his passion for skateboarding. 58:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Like other teensy new, Kurt Struggled to Manages Heavy Marijuana Use. 58:55 [SPEAKER_02]: And this proved an ongoing challenge. 58:57 [SPEAKER_02]: The breakup of his first serious relationship when he was around 21 years old devastated Kurt and to his friends, his heartbreak was obvious. 59:05 [SPEAKER_02]: As a teen, Kared brushes with the law for a range of minor public order offenses, such as public drunkness, disturbing the peace, and contempt of court, as an adult. 59:15 [SPEAKER_02]: Kared at one stage worked as a welder's helper. 59:18 [SPEAKER_02]: But most of this time, he didn't have a steady job. 59:21 [SPEAKER_02]: The last time anyone saw Kurt was on April 8, 2005, and when no one had seen him for a few days, nobody necessarily panicked. 59:29 [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't out of character for Kurt to go off the grid for a while, and be uncontactable. 59:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Only to resurface several days later. 59:36 [SPEAKER_02]: But on April 28, his body was found laying face down in a drainage canal, behind a field, 50 feet from Highway 307 near Kramer. 59:45 [SPEAKER_02]: Kerr was wearing only his denim shorts, and had been sexually assaulted, bound and strangled. 59:52 [SPEAKER_02]: Regretably, there was no DNA at the scene. 59:55 [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone who knew Kurt was in shock. 59:58 [SPEAKER_02]: Like the family and friends of the previous victims, they couldn't fathom that somebody so gentle in armless, could have fallen victim to a person capable of doing something so vicious. 60:10 [SPEAKER_02]: As a final fitting tribute at Kurt's funeral service, his loved one sat his ashes atop his skateboard. 60:17 [SPEAKER_02]: As they said goodbye to their friend, son, and brother,
Show full transcript (512 segments)
