0:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Listener, obscure I supported by listeners like yourself. 0:04 [SPEAKER_01]: My Patreon is only $3. 0:07 [SPEAKER_01]: 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_01]: But sometimes I'm not so good at creating calls to action. 0:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I can feel a little self-conscious about it. 0:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, while you get on the Patreon is hundreds of hours worth of bonus content. 0:29 [SPEAKER_01]: From black label episodes, obscure episodes, and fireside chats, you can't find on the main feed. 0:36 [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to access to that, head to patreon.com slash obscure a crime podcast. 0:42 [SPEAKER_01]: That's patreon.com slash obscure a crime podcast. 0:46 [SPEAKER_01]: And hey, if you can't afford it, I understand. 0:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't put yourself in jeopardy. 0:50 [SPEAKER_01]: Listening is enough. 0:54 [SPEAKER_02]: 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 all right? 1:16 [SPEAKER_02]: You need anything, you need money, anything. 1:18 [SPEAKER_02]: You told me, no, we said, man, it's out my right. 1:21 [SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, if you need anything, maybe just come by my arms, man. 1:24 [SPEAKER_02]: And that was the last time I talked to my little brother when I told him that. 1:31 [SPEAKER_02]: And any of that easy, they just said, well, oh, I'm just going through all this on the back burner, my little brother going, it's not that easy. 1:46 [SPEAKER_02]: play it with, you know, he's just, he's missing. 1:52 [SPEAKER_02]: If he was here now, man, he just don't know, man. 1:58 [SPEAKER_02]: I miss my little brother, I wish he was here. 2:00 [SPEAKER_01]: I really don't. 2:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome, Wesener. 2:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you're here. 2:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Take a seat. 2:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Next to the fire. 2:16 [SPEAKER_00]: where we shine a light on the dark. 2:26 [SPEAKER_01]: R5. 2:41 [SPEAKER_01]: The Bayou bodies. 2:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Something that affected public perception and perhaps both public and media interest in the ongoing case was a police decision to actively make inquiries with the local gay communities where victims had last been seen and where their bodies had been found. 3:01 [SPEAKER_01]: This resulted in word spreading around that most if not all of the victims were gay. 3:05 [SPEAKER_01]: And if they weren't, that they were all somehow engaged in sex work in the gay community. 3:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Police of course were obligated to pursue all leads, regardless of whether the last reported sighting of a victim was in a gay bar at 3 a.m., or in a convenient store in broad daylight. 3:22 [SPEAKER_01]: In any investigation, a victim's sexuality in and of itself should be relevant on the surface of it. 3:29 [SPEAKER_01]: But in this case, it posed two problems. 3:32 [SPEAKER_01]: The first was that the friends and families of heterosexual victims were angry, simply at the circulation of incorrect information. 3:38 [SPEAKER_01]: This was about their loved ones, and no one seemed to want to bother correcting it. 3:43 [SPEAKER_01]: The second, a more systematically troubling issue, was that despite the thriving gacy in NLR to city-like New Orleans, conservative attitudes about sexuality in small town Louisiana, were, and still are, difficult to confront. 3:59 [SPEAKER_01]: The shame and embarrassment that some families were dealing with was only heightened by an anxiety. 4:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Brone on by the thought of the neighborhood grapevine running hot with the speculation that the victims met a brutal end because they were being paid for sex. 4:12 [SPEAKER_01]: At any rate, no information of any substance of value at this stage was clean from police inquiries within the local gay communities. 4:21 [SPEAKER_01]: And this avoiding lay, it was reported that the gay community didn't appear overly invested in assisting the police in any way. 4:28 [SPEAKER_01]: The victims were straight men, were engaging in sex work with male clients. 4:33 [SPEAKER_01]: They weren't really considered part of the gay community. 4:36 [SPEAKER_01]: We're glad and more as friends dwellers in the social scene, only hung out at bars and clubs to meet clients. 4:42 [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't help when in the middle of the investigation, it was reported that whoever was responsible for the murders was simply doing society a favor, by quote. 4:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Taking off the trash. 4:56 [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of motive, the task force had to explore every possibility, given that most victims had a criminal record involving at least one drug offense. 5:05 [SPEAKER_01]: the right at which young men's bodies were turning off blood investigators to consider whether the murders were hits put out by local drug dealers. 5:12 [SPEAKER_01]: The task force also couldn't discount the possibility that the killer personally knew his victims. 5:17 [SPEAKER_01]: It was selecting them based on social connections. 5:20 [SPEAKER_01]: The Huma Curry, a newspaper, noted that Anoka Jones, Leon Lorette, and Michael Barnett all lived in the same neighborhood. 5:27 [SPEAKER_01]: We know that Anoka and Leon were friends. 5:30 [SPEAKER_01]: The family connection between day-trial woods and August Watkins couldn't be ignored either. 5:35 [SPEAKER_01]: The investigators just had to find the common thread to lead them to a solid suspect. 5:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever the connection was, the task force could see that the victim pool was meant from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 5:48 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll often rely on rides from strangers to get around due to a lack of transportation. 5:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Killer knew that by targeting men who didn't have a stable home-life or job, and were after a quick buck due to unemployment or to fund a drug habit, he would avoid becoming the subject of an investigation for far longer than someone who targeted more high profile victims from the perspective of media attention. 6:11 [SPEAKER_01]: In other words, he was praying on men who many people thought wouldn't be missed. 6:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Twenty-eight-year-old Alonzo Hogan grew up in a family of two sisters and two brothers in Raysland. 6:23 [SPEAKER_01]: He was a proud father to a daughter and self. 6:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Alonzo didn't have a fixed address and was understood to have a mild developmental disability. 6:32 [SPEAKER_01]: He was close to his family and in the summer of 2005. 6:35 [SPEAKER_01]: He was looking forward to soon becoming a father for the second time. 6:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Lanzo loved nothing better than getting outdoors on his BMX bicycle and going fishing. 6:45 [SPEAKER_01]: He took great pride in his bicycle, which he was wallishing on July 1, 2005 at his sister's house in preparation for a day trip to go fishing with his sister's ex husband. 6:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Wanting to kill some time before his brother-in-law arrived to pick him up for their trip, Lanzo headed off on his bike toward Huma. 7:04 [SPEAKER_01]: But didn't tell his sister specifically where he was going, 7:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Alonso didn't return home to meet his brother-in-law, but was last sighted at the K-Martin-Monarch Drive and Huma around 9pm that evening. 7:17 [SPEAKER_01]: The following day, the fully-coded body of the father-to-be was found in a ditch off the side of the road. 7:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Near River Lane, and by you gosh road, insane Charles Parrish. 7:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Marks on Alonso's wrist, syndicated he'd been restrained, along with being sexually assaulted and straggled. 7:34 [SPEAKER_01]: There was no DNA to be found. 7:37 [SPEAKER_01]: 17-year-old Wayne Smith was the oldest son and third eldest of seven children. 7:41 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a devoted older brother, and in a senior year in high school, Wayne lived at home with his family and had no history of involved with what drugs and was looking forward to studying welding once he graduated high school. 7:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Wayne's Alan told him a career newspaper that Wayne's ultimate dream once he'd started working was to buy his mother a new house, in his spare time, Wayne enjoyed listening to music, writing his bike, spending time with his girlfriend who he'd been dating for several years, and playing Grand Theft Auto on his PlayStation. 8:15 [SPEAKER_01]: He was just a difficult scene. 8:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Wayne was last seen leaving his house on Rosalone Avenue, on August 13, 2005. 8:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Even out earlier in the day, writing his bike and later came home to drop his bike off. 8:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Only to go straight out again, Wayne wasn't the kind of kid to get into trouble or not come home. 8:34 [SPEAKER_01]: So when he failed to return his family were worried, two of his cousins had been murdered in recent years. 8:47 [SPEAKER_01]: On August 16, 2005, a group of surveyors working near the bank of a buy-u. 8:53 [SPEAKER_01]: In Cedar Grove Road, near Grand Kaiu Middle School, found a fully clothed of badly decomposed body. 9:01 [SPEAKER_01]: The effects of the heat and humidity of the Louisiana summer on the body meant that dental records were required to assist with identification. 9:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Like Michael Barnett, the body also had a distinctive tattoo that police were able to 9:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Wayne's mother confirmed that the tattoo was the same one her son had, broke the news to Wayne's grandmother, but now lost her third grandson. 9:27 [SPEAKER_01]: The family wasn't convinced that Wayne August or day trial had fallen victim to a serial killer, and worked off the theory that a long-running dispute between neighborhood groups was the reason their four family members had been killed. 9:39 [SPEAKER_01]: But in the end, this theory didn't go anywhere. 9:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Not only were the families of the 20 men who had been killed over an eight-year period without their loved ones, they were still without answers. 9:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Part six, stormy weather. 9:59 [SPEAKER_01]: back up in 2005, with the task force who was in the midst of piecing together the last movements of Wayne Smith. 10:06 [SPEAKER_01]: When Hurricane Katrina made laying fall on the coast of the United States on August 29th, flashing southeastern Louisiana with winds above to 167 miles per hour. 10:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Listener, you may recall a season one episode of Obscura that was also sent against the bleak backdrop of Katrina, one of the most destructive extreme weather events ever seen in the history of the United States. 10:30 [SPEAKER_01]: In hurricane-prone areas of the country, it's not unusual for residents to mark the passage of time by referencing events to have occurred either before or after a particular storm. 10:42 [SPEAKER_01]: In the big bowl of New Orleans, or most of the land is below sea level, but these failed. 10:47 [SPEAKER_01]: 80% of the city was flooded, and more than 800,000 residents of New Orleans was displaced. 10:54 [SPEAKER_01]: In numerous cases, 9-1-1 operators became the last contact that some people had with the outside world. 11:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Before succumbing to the destruction, rock by the storm. 11:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Complete wall and roof failure of residential and commercial buildings was not the exception. 11:09 [SPEAKER_01]: But the rule. 11:11 [SPEAKER_01]: household debris, construction materials, trees and vehicles that swept through the air became lethal. 11:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Stormwater couldn't be pumped out, and human corpses couldn't be collected due to a lack of refrigerated storage available. 11:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Many first responders put their own safety and well-being at risk. 11:29 [SPEAKER_01]: By working 24 hours shifts and entering high-risk situations to recover the dead, as well as reach people who are stranded in an unsafe situations. 11:38 [SPEAKER_01]: The official death toll? 11:39 [SPEAKER_01]: 1,836 people dead, but the figure is believed by many to be much higher. 11:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Katrina caused around $100 billion worth of damage, brought out the best and absolute worst of humanity. 11:53 [SPEAKER_01]: After the storm, the president of Jefferson Parish even went so far as to issue a lockout order. 11:58 [SPEAKER_01]: For all parish residents who are not permitted to return to their homes until September 5th, even if survivors weren't stranded in their homes, those who found themselves forced to seek refuge in public spaces, or left wondering if maybe they wouldn't be better off on the streets, vulnerable to other residents with malicious intentions and law enforcement officers. 12:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of whom posed just as much of a risk to personal safety. 12:23 [SPEAKER_01]: While the immediate threat of the storm had passed, in the days, weeks and months following the hurricane, a new logistical and political nightmare unfolded across the south. 12:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The extent of disorganization and lack of leadership, planning, and transparency as to when, and how infrastructure and essential services would be restored, left to stress residents feeling abandoned by the government. 12:46 [SPEAKER_01]: With no power, fresh water, sanitation, and medical supplies, unprecedented walllessness swept the streets. 12:54 [SPEAKER_01]: In many circumstances, it was the Lord of the flies come to life. 12:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Desperate residents took matters into their own hands and found themselves taking to looting to survive. 13:04 [SPEAKER_01]: This internal-insided, the ugly face of vigilanteism. 13:07 [SPEAKER_01]: which targeted looters who usually turned out to be poor and black. 13:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Some residents and law enforcement officials took to shooting suspected looters on site, whom in their eyes were breaking the wall, despite the circumstances. 13:21 [SPEAKER_01]: Media coverage and editorializing of looting focused on African Americans, sending the message that this specific demographic or criminals who had little regard for the wall. 13:32 [SPEAKER_01]: For law enforcement in the south, it was a PR disaster. 13:35 [SPEAKER_01]: The FBI office in New Orleans was itself situated in a low-lying area, an agents found themselves having to relocate physical evidence and files to a higher floor. 13:45 [SPEAKER_01]: Even then, the building lost the significant portion of the roof during the storm, and numerous case materials and evidence were destroyed. 13:54 [SPEAKER_01]: As the residents of Louisiana struggled to get back on their feet, police resources were not only 100% diverted, but unable to cope with the crippling workload that came with responding to the aftermath of Katrina. 14:06 [SPEAKER_01]: The task force investigation into the deaths of young men across several parishes was put on hold for at least the next six months, with all enforcement focused on storm recovery. 14:16 [SPEAKER_01]: This was putting aside the fact that some officers themselves lost their 14:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Meanwhile, the person responsible continue to walk the streets without detection. 14:35 [SPEAKER_01]: The family of 44-year-old Chris Deville had heard from him since Hurricane Katrina hit. 14:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Chris was known around Homa where he lived, and his brother worked as a police officer and nearby LaFouche parish. 14:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Chris was physically fit, so his family were optimistic that he would have been able to cope with whatever difficulties he encountered as a result of the storm and besides. 14:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of them thought he might have evacuated up to Northern Louisiana to escape the worst of severe weather. 15:04 [SPEAKER_01]: But as the weeks passed, with no word or sign of Chris, his worried family knew something was wrong. 15:10 [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't until October 14, 2005, when an Napoleonville farmer in assumption parish found a human skull in the middle of a gravel road, running through a sugar cane field that dental records identified the skull as belonging to Chris. 15:24 [SPEAKER_01]: The daily review newspaper reported that Chris's other remains, still fully closed, were located in the bottom of a drainage canal nearby. 15:33 [SPEAKER_01]: To make matters more heartbreaking for the toville family, not only did Chris have to be farewelled in a close casket, but for his grandmother, he was now the fourth young male relative in her family to be murdered. 15:45 [SPEAKER_01]: With cousin Stetra Woods, August Watkins, and Wayne Smith, all having previously fallen victim to someone in their community. 15:55 [SPEAKER_01]: 21-year-old Homer Resdened Nicholas Pelagrin was known to close friends and family as T-neck. 16:01 [SPEAKER_01]: He grew up with his sister and brother, and their parents eventually remarried. 16:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas was known to law enforcement, with an arrest record then included in drug offense, and charges for disturbing the peace and burglary. 16:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas also had previously worked on an offshore oil rig where he'd work a month on followed by two weeks off and he enjoyed the routine. 16:22 [SPEAKER_01]: He loves spending time playing with his nieces and nephew and hanging out with his brother while they heads and watched movies. 16:29 [SPEAKER_01]: His sister Jodie described him as the kind of person who would, quote, 16:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas didn't own a car, but unlike other young men in his neighborhood, he hated walking and didn't like accepting rides from strangers, preferring to rely on his family to get around. 16:46 [SPEAKER_01]: In early November 2005, Nicholas was released from jail where he'd done time over a minor charge for switch plates. 16:54 [SPEAKER_01]: He soon found work doing construction on a friend's house in Lafouche, Paris, which kept him busy, 17:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Nick wasn't seen or heard from again, as reported by the home of courier newspaper, his family were immediately concerned, as his father had been told following Nicholas's release from jail, the people were looking for him. 17:17 [SPEAKER_01]: The day before Nicholas disappeared, one of his enemies had threatened that he'd be, quote, dealt with. 17:23 [SPEAKER_01]: wasn't unusual for Nicholas to have arguments with his friends, but in the context of his disappearance, this took on a sinister new meaning. 17:31 [SPEAKER_01]: On November 9th, four days after Nicholas last spoke to his friend, mandraving a four-wheeler found the fully called, partially decomposed body of a Caucasian man in a field behind the residential area. 17:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Near the Bahá'á trail, off-crisse and road, hand-saint Charles. 17:48 [SPEAKER_01]: It was Nicholas, who had been sexually assaulted, and whose body, showed signs of being bound, and strangled. 17:56 [SPEAKER_01]: The Pelgorin family refused to believe the Nicholas at phone victim to a serial killer. 18:01 [SPEAKER_01]: They were adamant that he'd been killed by a local drug dealer over a drug dead. 18:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas's mother told the home a courier newspaper that the family was so traumatized, following her son's murder as she slept with a baseball bat near her bed. 18:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas's brother had to quit his job. 18:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Now more than ever, the task force were in desperate need of a solid lead. 18:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Given that many of the victims had criminal backgrounds for petty offenses, investigators decided it was worth getting local parole officers to check in with their current parole ease. 18:41 [SPEAKER_01]: To see if they had any unusual encounters with strangers on the streets. 18:45 [SPEAKER_01]: When parole officer Bill Nau made contact with one of his parole ease, things finally started to heat up for the investigation. 18:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Ricky Wallace, who is also known on the street as Mona Mouth, was on parole for distribution and possession of cocaine. 19:00 [SPEAKER_01]: And Ricky's mother spoke to Bill. 19:03 [SPEAKER_01]: She told him that Ricky was having terrible nightmares while someone tying him up. 19:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Quintzidentally, Ricky was a friend of Chris Deville, and knew what happened to Chris. 19:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Ricky himself told Bill that he had indeed had a frightening experience earlier in November. 19:17 [SPEAKER_01]: The sequence of events revealed that this was estimated to have occurred just after the latest victim. 19:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Nicholas Pelagrin, when missing. 19:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Bill Nahl had also previously been the parole officer for Nicholas regarding a minor drug charge. 19:31 [SPEAKER_01]: He remarked to the task force that he hadn't found him to be any trouble at all. 19:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Ricky told Bill that while walking along the street in East home a one evening, he saw a vehicle pass him two or three times which then circled back to him. 19:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Slow to a stop. 19:46 [SPEAKER_01]: A jumping white man in a truck showed Ricky a picture of woman, 19:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Wanted to have sex with a black man? 19:54 [SPEAKER_01]: A driver asked Ricky if he'd like to come back to the man's trailer to have sex with his wife. 20:00 [SPEAKER_01]: And Ricky agreed. 20:02 [SPEAKER_01]: The hairdrowed back to a trailer on Bayou Blue Road, where the man told Ricky to get undressed. 20:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Time self up and lie on his stomach. 20:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Ricky quickly refused. 20:13 [SPEAKER_01]: The man explained that his wife was shy and just wanted to make sure she felt safe before coming into the room to meet Ricky. 20:20 [SPEAKER_01]: But street smart Ricky wasn't budging. 20:23 [SPEAKER_01]: The men argued back and forth for about a half an hour. 20:26 [SPEAKER_01]: With Ricky finally saying, you can talk a hole in your head. 20:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I can tie it up. 20:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually the man gave in and dropped Ricky back near where he picked him up earlier. 20:36 [SPEAKER_01]: It's verified Ricky was too scared to tell anyone at first. 20:39 [SPEAKER_01]: But he somehow instinctively knew this was the man who killed his friend Chris. 20:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Bill asked Ricky if he could remember where the trailer was parked. 20:47 [SPEAKER_01]: Ricky offered to show him on the way to the police station to make his statement. 20:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Investigators decided to pay a visit to the trailer to see who live there, and they found that the wonders in the mailbox were addressed to one Ronald J. Dominique. 21:01 [SPEAKER_01]: With Ronald tentatively identified as the owner of the trailer, investigators asked Ricky to identify the man who picked him up in a photo line up. 21:09 [SPEAKER_01]: This confirmed Ronald as the man in question. 21:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Officers returned to the trailer, despite being familiar with Ronald's appearance from a photograph, they were still somewhat surprised when they'd door open to reveal a heavily overweight, unassuming looking man, of average height. 21:26 [SPEAKER_01]: He was leaning on a walking cane. 21:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronin was fully and cooperative when he spoke to the police. 21:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Explaining that he was relying on the cane to help get around due to his deability in our condition. 21:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Officers asked Ronin to accompany them to the station to clear some things up. 21:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Back at the station, Ronin openly told police that he was gay. 21:45 [SPEAKER_01]: Now he did indeed pick up Ricky Wallace and bring him back to his trailer on the evening in question, but his interpretation of events was that Ricky had consented to bondage play, and the tying him up was a part of the agreed dynamic. 21:58 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't agree to provide a DNA sample, but the task force knew they were in a race against the clock to get it tested. 22:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Given the conflicting occurrence of what transpired between Ronald and Ricky, there was nothing for police to charge Ronald with following his initial interview, 22:13 [SPEAKER_01]: No DNA was able to be recovered from the majority of the crime scenes, but investigators were pinning their hopes on DNA found on the bodies of all of Rilla Banks and Manuel Reed. 22:23 [SPEAKER_01]: The backlog at the state crime lab meant that samples were now taking up to a year to be tested, while they waited if investigators dug deeper into Ronald's background and what they found helped to build their case. 22:36 [SPEAKER_01]: At least circumstantially, Ronald had been open with police about being gay. 22:41 [SPEAKER_01]: And when they checked into his background, they found his 1996 charge for aggravated rape, the details of which forced striking similarities to Ricky's account. 22:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Further inquiries were veiled Ronald at previous ties to the gay scene in Homa, and showed that he lived in and around areas where many of the bodies had been dumped, especially New Orleans Airport. 23:02 [SPEAKER_01]: But this didn't seem to fit with the man who spent his Sundays as a volunteer bingo caller and seemed to have limited mobility due to a chronic heart condition. 23:11 [SPEAKER_01]: R7. 23:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Cry me a river. 23:18 [SPEAKER_01]: As 2005 became 2006, no more bodies turned off. 23:23 [SPEAKER_01]: This was a positive, but of course could have meant anything. 23:27 [SPEAKER_01]: If the killer wasn't Ronald Dominique, anything may have happened, the killer could have died. 23:32 [SPEAKER_01]: He could have been incarcerated, he could have moved in her state. 23:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Whenever the reason, the murder seemed to have come to an abrupt halt, since Nicholas Pelacre was found dead, the previous November. 23:45 [SPEAKER_01]: 42-year-old Ronald had had been seen behaving suspiciously during this period, but the task force investigating the murderers had an ace up their sleeve. 23:53 [SPEAKER_01]: The initial DNA results had come back from previous victim Oliver LeBanks, and it was a matched Ronald. 24:00 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a step closer, but it wasn't the slam dunk the task force needed when it came to the prospect of getting a watertight conviction falling in a rest. 24:09 [SPEAKER_01]: The Vogue-The-Ballius triangular by author Fred Rosen explains that the DNA match that came back, only matched for mitochondrial DNA, indicating that the killer came from someone in Ronald Dominique's gene pool, but didn't confirm Ronald as the standalone perpetrator. 24:25 [SPEAKER_01]: What was needed to conclusively link Ronald to a crime scene in nobody else was nuclear DNA, which provides it wrecked match. 24:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The task force ran things up and started conducting 24 hours surveillance on Ronald Dominique. 24:39 [SPEAKER_01]: In the summer of 2006, another breakthrough came with a mitochondrial DNA head against victim Angel Mahia, who had been murdered in 1999, and then another vocal man went missing. 25:07 [SPEAKER_01]: 27-year-old Christopher Sutterfield was one of three children and known by his family and friends as a good-natured Joker. 25:15 [SPEAKER_01]: Christopher had been living in the St. Charles bypass road in Tibado, but in September 2006, he and two friends moved into a room at the A-Bear Motel. 25:24 [SPEAKER_01]: In Homer, on Highway 182, it was here that he met and began dating his girlfriend, who was also a resident of the complex. 25:32 [SPEAKER_01]: At the time, Christopher was unemployed, but he previously worked at jobs doing painting and sandblasting. 25:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Known to law enforcement, his criminal record included charges for public intoxication. 25:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Theft, aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon, drug offenses, and contempt of court. 25:50 [SPEAKER_01]: On October 14th, 2006, Christopher had been out drinking with his friends and girlfriend. 25:56 [SPEAKER_01]: The group were turned to the motel, where Christopher went outside for his cigarette. 26:00 [SPEAKER_01]: When his girlfriend came looking for him, he told her he was just taking a ride with a friend, but he wouldn't be long. 26:07 [SPEAKER_01]: The last Christopher's girlfriend saw. 26:09 [SPEAKER_01]: He was being driven away in a truck. 26:11 [SPEAKER_01]: She didn't recognize. 26:13 [SPEAKER_01]: The following day, Christopher's fully clothed body was found near Tipee Canal Bo landing on Highway 69, outside White Castle, midway between Tipee though in Ben Rouge, in Iberville Parish. 26:26 [SPEAKER_01]: The task force was equal parts frustrated and deflated, given they felt they were on the cusp of an arrest. 26:32 [SPEAKER_01]: But they were now 23 victims. 26:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald Dominique knew he was under surveillance, and men were still disappearing, only the turnoff murdered. 26:41 [SPEAKER_01]: The task force decided enough was enough, and even though they didn't have the nuclear DNA match, they'd been hoping for. 26:47 [SPEAKER_01]: They requested two arrest warrants in Jefferson, Barrish, for the first degree murders of Oliver LeBanks and Manuel Reed. 26:55 [SPEAKER_01]: At the same time, the constant police presence outside Laney's home had now proved too much for her to bear. 27:01 [SPEAKER_01]: In Laney, November 2006, she told him to leave, and he relocated to Bunkhausen, a shelter for the homeless on Main Street in Homa, which coincidentally happened to be owned by an officer of the Homa PD. 27:14 [SPEAKER_01]: On December 1, 2006, armed with an arrest warrant, the task force arrived at Ronald's sister's house on Bayou Blue Road. 27:22 [SPEAKER_01]: When she told them where he'd gone, they swiftly descended on the homeless shelter where they arrested Ronald, and charged him with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and aggravated rape. 27:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald didn't show any emotion when he was arrested, and was notably compliant. 27:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Just as he had been in his previous interview, following his arrest in over two days of police questioning. 27:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald confessed to raping and murdering at least 23 men, and dumping their bodies in the sugarcane fields, ditches, and small by-use across the six-perish area. 27:54 [SPEAKER_01]: During his confession, Ronald weft, sniveled, sobbed, and whiled as he recounted how viciously he raped his victims. 28:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, listener, he wasn't crying for his victims. 28:07 [SPEAKER_01]: No, he was crying for himself, and the prospect of what he knew awaited him in jail. 28:13 [SPEAKER_01]: In between his bouts of unrestrained self-pity, he told investigators that he sometimes drove a small blacker white pickup around the streets of Homa, and nearby towns in night. 28:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Usually between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. looking for men who were down on their walk, and out to make a quick buck. 28:31 [SPEAKER_01]: with an easy, helpful manner, a non-threatening physical appearance. 28:36 [SPEAKER_01]: He picked up men who were hitchhiking on the side of the road. 28:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Our from public spaces like Motelcar Park, same convenient stores. 28:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald explained that he got to know the back roads of local areas well. 28:47 [SPEAKER_01]: There was jobs as pizza delivery driver and meter reader. 28:50 [SPEAKER_01]: He also claimed to be quickly able to determine just by looking at someone. 28:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Whether they were open to the proposition to fool around with him, or whether he would need to rely on another ruse. 29:00 [SPEAKER_01]: A strategy involved Ronald Luring men into his car with the promise of selling them drugs or sex, with the fictitious but attractive woman who's picture he showed them. 29:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Explaining that she was his wife, Ronald told investigators he also frequent area gay bars. 29:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Targeting men he thought would be open to having sex for money. 29:21 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald would drive the men to wherever his trailer was parked. 29:24 [SPEAKER_01]: If it was a homosexual encounter, he would then faint nerves, and asked the men to tie themselves up to make Ronald feel more comfortable. 29:32 [SPEAKER_01]: The men had been lured back to the promise of having sex with a woman. 29:36 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald told his victims that his wife was shy, and wanted her partners to be tied before entering the room. 29:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald explained that if the men allowed themselves to be tied off, he raped them, then suffocated or strangled them before dumping their bodies in the cane fields, or remote buy-use. 29:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald told police that if a man refused to be tied off, he would let them go unharmed. 29:58 [SPEAKER_01]: But that if they cried out during the assaults, he would gag them by stuffing a towel in their mouths. 30:04 [SPEAKER_01]: He explained that a no-stage did he draw any of his victims, that all of them were voluntarily tied up. 30:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald told investigators that it was following his traumatic experience in jail in 1996. 30:16 [SPEAKER_01]: That he made the decision to kill his victims after raping them to prevent them from testifying. 30:21 [SPEAKER_01]: Put simply, Ronald would rather kill someone after raping them than let the victim go and face the possibility of returning to jail. 30:29 [SPEAKER_01]: When asked about the lack of DNA, how many of the term sites, Ronald explained that he always had protected sex with his victims to avoid detection. 30:38 [SPEAKER_01]: But acknowledge that there may have been occasions such as with me and what read, where the condom broke. 30:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Many of his victims blood from the face, Ronald police the plastic bag over their heads to minimize having to clean up the blood. 30:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Then remove the bag when he dumped the bodies. 30:54 [SPEAKER_01]: He's seen it that he didn't keep souvenirs for many of his victims, discarding all their clothes and personal belongings that weren't found with their bodies. 31:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald was adamant that in all the encounters the men later attacked him. 31:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Fearing for his life, he felt he had no option but to kill them out of self-defense. 31:11 [SPEAKER_01]: The following audio from his taped interview, Ronald can be heard confessing to the task force members, who tended to unburder on, and who tended Dennis Thorin, of the Terrabone and Jefferson Parish Sheriff offices about the murder of Daitreau Woods. 31:27 [SPEAKER_04]: It's now December 3, 2006, the 29th year. 31:34 [SPEAKER_04]: state will be obtained by the said non-version law and the term that I show us office and the term that I still want to be done some fact shows office. 31:42 [SPEAKER_04]: The location of the state is going to be the term that I show us office and we'll just take you filming this law until the time of 31:52 [SPEAKER_04]: a few hours ago, you had given a statement before, is that correct? 31:57 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 31:58 [SPEAKER_04]: And you're giving another statement right now to clear some more things that you wish to discuss with us. 32:05 [SPEAKER_04]: Okay. 32:05 [SPEAKER_04]: I want to start. 32:07 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to show you a picture with the number 13 lady who wants to picture over a blacken on me. 32:12 [SPEAKER_03]: Rachel, would you start someone else in the middle? 32:14 [SPEAKER_03]: Yes. 32:14 [SPEAKER_03]: Why does he look familiar? 32:18 [SPEAKER_03]: Because I don't think it's good. 32:21 [SPEAKER_05]: What do you think of the energy of the Guru? 32:22 [SPEAKER_05]: What did you talk about? 32:23 [SPEAKER_05]: What did you tell him? 32:26 [SPEAKER_03]: I was in pain and I didn't even ask him. 32:29 [SPEAKER_05]: So what did you go with him? 32:32 [SPEAKER_05]: What did you start to do with him? 32:37 [SPEAKER_03]: He was in pain and he didn't even do it in my room. 32:42 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know why I just wanted to take him to the place. 32:45 [SPEAKER_03]: You have to be quiet because I didn't do anything at all. 32:48 [SPEAKER_05]: So you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have to be quiet because you have 33:14 [SPEAKER_05]: I think, and I thought it was one space, and the thing is, it's five words about the space. 33:24 [SPEAKER_05]: I like it, you see. 33:26 [SPEAKER_05]: These are anything else about the church? 33:28 [SPEAKER_05]: I think it's one of those things. 33:31 [SPEAKER_04]: And we just thought a little bit, and I think that's really stuff right now. 33:34 [SPEAKER_04]: A lot of things about all the other things you gave us through. 33:39 [SPEAKER_04]: You pretty much talked about what happened. 33:41 [SPEAKER_04]: You made a kid early and a lot of these men and all of these men had to pick up. 33:46 [SPEAKER_04]: He was like back to a place and they wanted you when they were going to have sex with you. 33:52 [SPEAKER_04]: And then you basically said that you were going to be the role model. 33:57 [SPEAKER_04]: be fearful that there's going to burn the police or there's going to hurt you or rather there's one more money and that's not totally true now. 34:05 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't have to clear that up, you know, what actually did happen to some of these styles? 34:10 [SPEAKER_04]: How did you actually put them off? 34:13 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know, I think they don't have a thing there, so I'm going to put them around. 34:17 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, and I have to deal with them all the time. 34:20 [SPEAKER_03]: And then I had to turn right and to be taught that this place is going to go through. 34:27 [SPEAKER_03]: They had to be taught, yes? 34:28 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm glad it wasn't too. 34:31 [SPEAKER_04]: The one you have to use is a picture. 34:37 [SPEAKER_04]: If you're using it in the air, would you be done in any other way? 34:43 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not used to it. 34:46 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not used to it. 34:47 [SPEAKER_04]: If you didn't matter if you were going to go straight enough, 34:50 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to do that, I said it wasn't my hand, I still do it right for me, when they are always, yeah, when we talk about radio, they all thought that they were going to do the hair, what, didn't they have sex with a woman, four of our men, one one of them. 35:19 [SPEAKER_04]: But they were, but all of them that we talked about when he didn't talk and we didn't have sex with a woman to money, or when he didn't. 35:27 [SPEAKER_04]: But it doesn't follow God what? 35:31 [SPEAKER_04]: But with, I couldn't sex as I get, right? 35:35 [SPEAKER_04]: It was against that woman. 35:36 [SPEAKER_04]: Yes. 35:37 [SPEAKER_05]: But it didn't want to get. 35:39 [SPEAKER_04]: Right? 35:41 [SPEAKER_04]: Were they all trying to go wrong or pretty much in the same way? 35:44 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 35:46 [SPEAKER_05]: Any other? 35:47 [SPEAKER_04]: When we start off today, we need to find one, yes, but when it's time for me, yes, what would have happened here in the night, so I want you to let another one go. 36:00 [SPEAKER_04]: And just try to stop, let me do this. 36:03 [SPEAKER_05]: You think it would have been for me? 36:06 [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe so. 36:08 [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe. 36:09 [SPEAKER_05]: Turn it. 36:10 [SPEAKER_05]: It's fine. 36:11 [SPEAKER_05]: You think it's not my mind. 36:12 [SPEAKER_05]: Went home. 36:13 [SPEAKER_04]: These people don't get enough, you don't get all the different things, every stuff will go on. 36:26 [SPEAKER_03]: This is what I'm about to give you inside. 36:29 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 36:33 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 36:39 [SPEAKER_04]: Wow. 36:40 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't think you stay here, it's too cool, the best you know is, yes. 36:48 [SPEAKER_04]: Just take it, it's not windy, it's December 3, 2006, 2015 to the end. 36:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald recounted to investigators how things transpired when his individual victims. 37:02 [SPEAKER_01]: He explained how in 1997 he picked up David Mitchell, who was walking outside of a gay bar. 37:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed that David agreed to have sex as he was in need of money. 37:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Once David was tied up, Ronald raped and strangled him, then dumped him in a drainage canal. 37:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald met Oliver LeBanks in 1998 at the Royal Hyde Bar New Orleans. 37:25 [SPEAKER_01]: After talking for a while, the pair left, walked down St. Anne Street and gone to the back seat of Ronald's station wagon, where Oliver Reid agreed to perform moral sex on Ronald for $30. 37:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald then pushed Oliver onto his stomach and had anal sex. 37:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Afterwards, he told Oliver to rub his penis on Ronald's bunnix. 37:45 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald then claimed that Oliver tried to rape him. 37:47 [SPEAKER_01]: He had all over with a tire iron repeatedly until he lost consciousness, and chucked him to death with his own hands and then his belt before dumping Oliver's body. 37:58 [SPEAKER_01]: May 1999, Ronald Matt Manwell read at a bar, and Propositioned him for sex. 38:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed they retired to the vaccine of his car, or Manwell performed oral sex. 38:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald then had anal sex with Manwell, a claim that when Manwell tried to penetrate Ronald and demanded money. 38:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald reached down into the foot wall of the car, grabbed a tire iron and hit me in while. 38:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald stated he then got scared and choked man while with the seat belt. 38:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Before driving his body to the dumpster, where he was later found. 38:31 [SPEAKER_01]: When Ronald approached Mitchell Johnson three months later, he showed him a photo of a woman. 38:36 [SPEAKER_01]: And asked, if he wanted to be paid to have sex with her. 38:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed that when Mitchell threatened him in the car at night point for money, Ronald hit him and then he choked him. 38:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald celebrated a New Year's Eve, 1999, by picking up Michael Vinson for sex. 38:52 [SPEAKER_01]: But when Michael fell, things were getting out of hand, and threatened to call the police, Ronald responded by strangling him to death. 39:00 [SPEAKER_01]: In October 2002, when a no-co-john just outrighting his bike, Ronald pulled his black pick up alongside him, and started talking about how a no-co could make some money. 39:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed that after a Noko agreed to be tied up, he then raped and strangled him, covered him with a blanket, drove towards New Orleans, where he disposed of the body. 39:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed to have picked up Michael Barnett, an October 2004. 39:26 [SPEAKER_01]: From a gas station near the sugarball motel, after Michael approached Ronald offering sex for money. 39:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald stayed at the offered 39:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed that after he had anal sex with Michael, the latter asked for more money, and threatened to go to the police. 39:46 [SPEAKER_01]: In response, Ronald strangled Michael with an extension cord and drove through a mini storage facility where he'd have Michael's body. 39:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald will believe that in August 2005, Wayne Smith flagged him down at a convenience store. 40:00 [SPEAKER_01]: He said Wayne asked him if he was looking for drugs or wanting to fool around. 40:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald followed Wayne home two streets over so he could drop off his bike. 40:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Then Wayne guned Ronald's car. 40:11 [SPEAKER_01]: If air drove the Ronald's trailer, which was parked at the Dixie shipyard, once they got there and Wayne got on dressed, Ronald claimed he was scared he would be raped. 40:20 [SPEAKER_01]: So he tied Wayne's hands with a rope. 40:22 [SPEAKER_01]: When Wayne asked for money and threatened to call the police, Ronald strangled him with an extension cord and retraced him before dumping the body. 40:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald met Nicholas Pellegrin in November 2005, working as a meter reader in the neighborhood. 40:36 [SPEAKER_01]: When Nicholas was working on his friend's house, the pair got talking at Nicholas gave Ronald his phone number on the agreement that they would later meet up, so Ronald could buy some weed. 40:47 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed that when he picked Nicholas up a couple of nights later and went back to Ronald's trailer, Nicholas demanded more money and threatened to go to the police. 40:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald told police that when he tried to tie Nicholas off, he kicked him in retaliation. 41:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald threw Nicholas across the trailer and he hit a cabinet in collapsed on the floor. 41:05 [SPEAKER_01]: In October 2006, Ronald picked up his final victim, Christopher Sutterfield, from the Motel, were cursed for what's staying until him to a storage facility, where they engaged in sexual acts. 41:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Afterward, Ronald had crissed for on the head and then strangled him. 41:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The day after his confession ended, Ronald directs a task force officer installed 23 dump sites. 41:39 [SPEAKER_01]: The home occurier newspaper reported that when Ronald appeared in court on December 4th, 2006, on the two original charges, he was in a wheelchair by the stage had been diagnosed with three arterial blockages. 41:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald was fleeing the role of failing invalid to his full advantage. 41:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Surely a man in a wheelchair couldn't have been capable of the things he was being accused of, 42:02 [SPEAKER_01]: On December 12th, 2006, digital charges were laid against Ronald for rape and first degree murder, and he was held in Teribone Paris, jail. 42:12 [SPEAKER_01]: The additional charges were laid into the rape and murders of Kenneth Randolph, Michael Barnett, Leon Le Red, August Walkins, Kirk Cunningham, Alonzo Hogan, Christopher Wayne Smith, Enneclus Paul Grin. 42:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Bill was set for $1 million for each case in which Ronald was charged in the parish, totaling $8 million. 42:34 [SPEAKER_01]: The Teribone Parish DA announced their intention to seek the death penalty when the case went to trial. 42:39 [SPEAKER_01]: The ripple effect of Ronald's action struck a heavy blow for the gay community in small towns like home, my Antibado, and socially conservative rural South Eastern Louisiana. 42:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Members of the LGBTQI-Plus community continue to struggle daily 42:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Following Ronald's rest, media coverage focused heavily on the psilaceous aspects of the case, including the fact that Ronald identified his gay, reports that many of his male victims engaged in sex work. 43:08 [SPEAKER_01]: This, in turn, only fueled suspicion and apprehension, of anyone openly identifying as LGBTQI, and the community is affected by the murders. 43:18 [SPEAKER_01]: On January 2007, 43-year-old Ronald appeared in Jefferson Parish Court to hear the two murder charges against him for Oliver LeBanks in Manuel Reed. 43:29 [SPEAKER_01]: However, investigators had determined that the men were killed in New Orleans and not Jefferson Parish as originally thought. 43:36 [SPEAKER_01]: As a result, the charges were dropped, with New Orleans PD now having oversight of the two regional charges in the cases of Manuel Reed and Oliver LeBanks. 43:46 [SPEAKER_01]: A similar jurisdictional matter arose over the charges relating to Kenneth Randolph, whose body was found in Teribone, who was believed to have been killed outside the parish. 43:56 [SPEAKER_01]: And his arrangement in Teribone parish on January 16, Ronald initially put not guilty to the 44:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Several of the victims' families attended him and were physically distressed when the plea was announced. 44:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Following the agreement, Wayne Smith's mother Angela told the media, I want to see him and jail the suffer, but before they walk him up, I want to ask him why. 44:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Why did he kill my son? 44:20 [SPEAKER_01]: And why were my son's last words before he died? 44:24 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even get to see the Bonnie before Wayne's burial, because of what this man did to the body. 44:30 [SPEAKER_01]: I buried a box. 44:32 [SPEAKER_01]: and what some said was a bid to delay court proceedings. 44:36 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald claimed to have had two heart attacks in as many months, and his defense team filed a motion requesting a stay in proceedings on the basis that Ronald required bypass surgery. 44:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Following an independent medical exam, Ronald was granted a leave for our surgery. 44:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald next returned to court in early May 2008. 44:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Representatives from Lafouche and Jefferson Paris Sheriff's offices, 45:02 [SPEAKER_01]: including interview transcripts, crime scene photographs and autopsy reports. 45:07 [SPEAKER_01]: It was impaired by this stage that based on the available evidence, should Ronald choose to proceed with a knock guilty plea. 45:14 [SPEAKER_01]: The state was in a strong position to secure both a guilty conviction and the death penalty. 45:20 [SPEAKER_01]: discussion commenced about what a plea deal would mean for both the families of the victims and for Ronald as a punishment. 45:26 [SPEAKER_01]: System DA Margroge consulted with the families of the victims of out-of-potential sentence. 45:31 [SPEAKER_01]: He explained to them that Ronald's worst fear was not death, but jail. 45:35 [SPEAKER_01]: And in this instance, wouldn't fact be the worst punishment available. 45:40 [SPEAKER_01]: After long discussions, the family almost unanimously agreed that given the circumstances, life in prison for Ronald was actually the more harsh yet just punishment. 45:50 [SPEAKER_01]: The only family who was vocal in their disagreement was that of Nicholas Pallagrin, whose mother Veronica told the local prime media. 45:57 [SPEAKER_01]: It hurts a lot, knowing that this man did this to my kid and other kids. 46:03 [SPEAKER_01]: He took my kid's life for me, and I'll never forgive this man. 46:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronald accepted the plea deal, pleading guilty in September to 8 counts of first-degree murder. 46:14 [SPEAKER_01]: In return, the state announced it would not pursue a capital case. 46:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Part 8, the Fat Lady sings, 46:21 [SPEAKER_01]: on September 23rd, 2008, 44-year-old Ronald Dominique, paired before Terrible and Paris District Judge Randall Beth in a court, an a court room filled with police, lawyers, and family members of the eight victims, Ronald had been charged with murdering. 46:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Assistant DA Mark Rhodes told the court, 46:42 [SPEAKER_01]: The lives of a young man were taken from these families by the actions of the defendant. 46:47 [SPEAKER_01]: He knew nothing about them, or their families. 46:50 [SPEAKER_01]: And he canlessly killed the victims and left a lifetime of pain as their legacy. 46:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Like a two-headed hydra of pain and terror, he swept through our parish and indiscriminately met and out his own form of self-protection. 47:04 [SPEAKER_01]: This NDA also read letters from victims' families who weren't able to attend, as well as his own statement on behalf of the victim's families. 47:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Relatives of seven of the victims gave emotional victim impact statements toward the end of the 90-minute sense saying hearing. 47:20 [SPEAKER_01]: Kirk cunning him's brother, Chris, addressed Ronald with the following. 47:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Kirk didn't deserve to die the way he did. 47:33 [SPEAKER_01]: My brother is in a better place. 47:36 [SPEAKER_01]: He's finally home. 47:38 [SPEAKER_01]: The negative impact this has caused my family is beyond comprehension. 47:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Kurt was a good kid. 47:44 [SPEAKER_01]: You can never grow old. 47:46 [SPEAKER_01]: The pain will never go away. 47:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll miss him to the day I die. 47:50 [SPEAKER_01]: I hope hell finds you fast. 47:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Wanzo Hogan's sister Cynthia spoke on behalf of the family saying, It hurts me every day. 48:00 [SPEAKER_01]: I have to see my mom go through this. 48:03 [SPEAKER_01]: How could you do something so cruel? 48:06 [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't deserve to die, not like this. 48:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Every day, we have to live with this. 48:12 [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't have no drug problem. 48:14 [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't gay. 48:15 [SPEAKER_01]: He just had mental problems. 48:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I have to forgive you. 48:19 [SPEAKER_01]: My brother wasn't just a person on crack. 48:22 [SPEAKER_01]: He's already forgiven you, Mr. Dominique. 48:24 [SPEAKER_01]: So I have to try to forget the hate in my heart. 48:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Wayne Smith's mother-in-law wrote a letter to the court that said, 48:32 [SPEAKER_01]: It's been three years, and I haven't seen my baby yet. 48:35 [SPEAKER_01]: I've put something in the ground, and I really don't know if my child is dead or not, because I did not get a chance to see my baby. 48:43 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not get to see my boy for the last time. 48:45 [SPEAKER_01]: No good why. 48:47 [SPEAKER_01]: To say I love you one more time. 48:50 [SPEAKER_01]: How does your kill my son? 48:52 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't sleep at night. 48:54 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't think right no more. 48:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Chris DeVille's sister Cynthia told the court, 49:00 [SPEAKER_01]: The nature of what he did, and how he left my brother's body in a cane field for road and see him. 49:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I know we had problems. 49:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody has problems. 49:11 [SPEAKER_01]: He was undrugs. 49:13 [SPEAKER_01]: He did things he shouldn't do, but he's still in respect for my mother. 49:17 [SPEAKER_01]: We loved him, cared about him, and ever imagined I would lose him that way, no matter what they do to him, it won't bring him back. 49:26 [SPEAKER_01]: When we found him, he was bones. 49:29 [SPEAKER_01]: We had to bury bones. 49:31 [SPEAKER_01]: You wanted to lead a life so where you didn't want to leave victims behind. 49:35 [SPEAKER_01]: People didn't care about him, but I did. 49:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronin declined to make a statement to the court before sentence was announced. 49:43 [SPEAKER_01]: But no one left to address the court. 49:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Ronin was convicted of a count of first-degree murder. 49:49 [SPEAKER_01]: In sentence say consecutive life sentences, 49:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Louisiana. 49:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Life means life. 49:55 [SPEAKER_01]: There is no possibility of parole. 49:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Judge Beth and a court sentenced Ronner without comment. 50:02 [SPEAKER_01]: After the sentencing, Ronald's sister spoke with the victim's family's privately in the court. 50:08 [SPEAKER_01]: On to Hogan's sister Cynthia later told the home of Times newspaper, 50:12 [SPEAKER_01]: My heart went out to Ronald's sister. 50:14 [SPEAKER_01]: She cried the whole time she talked because she said she don't know what got a whole liver brother, because they weren't raised that kind of way. 50:21 [SPEAKER_01]: They just don't know what happened to him. 50:24 [SPEAKER_01]: She was saying a day don't go by without her feeling what the families must be going through. 50:28 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said it's hurting her until this day. 50:31 [SPEAKER_01]: It can't bring back what he did because now he's gone for life and that's still affecting them too. 50:38 [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't her. 50:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It was him. 50:40 [SPEAKER_01]: But the legal process hadn't quite ended for Ronald. 50:44 [SPEAKER_01]: He was again indicted on October 30, 2008, by LaFouche Grand Jury for the murder of Christopher Sutterfield. 50:51 [SPEAKER_01]: And in mid-November, with transferred to LaFouche Paris jail to a weight trial. 50:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully, for Christopher's family and friends, in early December 2008, Ronald pled guilty to Christopher's murder. 51:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Was later revealed that the man who Ronald had been charged with raping back in 1996, actually knew Larry Matthews, who was Ronald's 14th victim. 51:12 [SPEAKER_01]: The survivors hold the home of a courier newspaper that he'd often wondered what happened to Larry. 51:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Commenting, it takes a real smart person to get away with murder for that long. 51:23 [SPEAKER_01]: These days, 55-year-old Ronald continues to be incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angla where he spends 23 hours of every day in a one-out cell with one hour for recreation and a shower. 51:37 [SPEAKER_01]: He hasn't always been well behaved on the inside, and only since throwing hot water at another inmate. 51:43 [SPEAKER_01]: He's now reported to have endeared himself to other inmates, and spends the majority of his time alone. 51:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Even though Ronald is now where he belongs, the lifelong impact of his actions continue to be felt, not only by the survivors and his victims, families, and friends, but also the next generation. 52:01 [SPEAKER_01]: and an interview with The Home at Times Newspaper in 2010. 52:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Long to hug and sister Cynthia, spoke of her heartbreak in the knowledge that her late brother will never know as youngest daughter Angel, who was born just two months after her father was murdered. 52:15 [SPEAKER_01]: Saying, she is just like him. 52:18 [SPEAKER_01]: It hurts every time I see her. 52:20 [SPEAKER_01]: She wasn't even born when he got killed. 52:22 [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't here to even see his little girl. 52:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Lanzo was a quiet person, which everybody knew out there. 52:29 [SPEAKER_01]: It was very few in words. 52:31 [SPEAKER_01]: If he didn't say nothing to him, he wasn't going to say nothing. 52:34 [SPEAKER_01]: All he liked was his little hobbies, this hobby was fishing. 52:38 [SPEAKER_01]: He would fish every day if he could. 52:39 [SPEAKER_01]: If he didn't fish, he would ride his bike every day. 52:42 [SPEAKER_01]: That was a card to him. 52:44 [SPEAKER_01]: He would ride his bike everywhere. 52:46 [SPEAKER_01]: He was on the slow side, but he didn't bother nobody. 52:50 [SPEAKER_01]: He had his little friends, he would hang out with them stuff. 52:52 [SPEAKER_01]: But other than that, he would just stay to himself. 52:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Never gave anybody no trouble, never bothered anybody. 53:00 [SPEAKER_01]: It's an old body ever bothered him. 53:02 [SPEAKER_01]: My main thing is, I hope Ronald finds Christ through that, because through it all, God still was going to forgive him. 53:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I looked at it like, as bad as it was, must have had a serious problem himself. 53:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm fine with it the way it is, because I just feel like whatever journey he's going to get. 53:22 [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to get. 53:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Even if it's just being locked up, why take his life? 53:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Feel like he'll suffer regardless. 53:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Cynthia manages her life on grief by finding solace and prayer. 53:36 [SPEAKER_01]: That's really all I can do. 53:37 [SPEAKER_01]: If one day for God, I don't know. 53:40 [SPEAKER_01]: I just pray. 53:41 [SPEAKER_01]: It don't stop me from crying and missing him and all that. 53:46 [SPEAKER_01]: But I just pray. 53:47 [SPEAKER_01]: That's all I can do.
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