#truecrime #educationalpurposes #serialkillerdocumentary
As terrifying as serial killers are, something about them seems to fascinate the public psyche.
What's even more terrifying is knowing that some of these killers have never been caught, and they're still walking around society, probably smiling at strangers on the street and shopping at the local market, scouting for their next unsuspecting victim. Today, we'll be delving into the chilling and notorious cases of serial killers still active in 2024.
As terrifying as serial killers are, something about them seems to fascinate the public psyche.
What's even more terrifying is knowing that some of these killers have never been caught, and they're still walking around society, probably smiling at strangers on the street and shopping at the local market, scouting for their next unsuspecting victim. Today, we'll be delving into the chilling and notorious cases of serial killers still active in 2024.
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00:00Right now, a serial killer is stalking his next victim in New York City, watching, waiting, ready to strike.
00:08As terrifying as serial killers are, something about them seems to fascinate the public psyche.
00:14What's even more terrifying is knowing that some of these killers have never been caught,
00:18and they're still walking around society, probably smiling at strangers on the street
00:23and shopping at the local market, scouting for their next unsuspecting victim.
00:28Today, we'll be delving into four chilling and notorious cases of serial killers still active in 2024.
00:3875. That's how many people the Chicago Strangler is believed to have killed within the span of 19 years.
00:44But with a body count sitting at such an astonishing number, why hasn't the killer ever been caught?
00:50Why has law enforcement done nothing to look into the murders? And why is this case so polarizing?
00:56The murders take place in Chicago's South and West Side neighborhoods,
01:00the earliest of which dates back to 1999 with a woman named Angela Ford.
01:04Angela had left home to pick up her children's report cards.
01:07She went missing, not to be found until days later when she was found unconscious.
01:12She remained in a coma and eventually died a year and a half later, in 2001.
01:17In 2002, another woman was killed in a horrible way.
01:20The pattern continued in 2007, when the body of Teresa Bunn, who was eight months pregnant,
01:26was found in a dumpster.
01:28The very next day, the body of a woman named Hazel Lewis was found in a burning trash can
01:33at an elementary school.
01:35For clarity, by the end of 2019, the police had managed to solve 24 of the 75 cases,
01:41resulting in the arrests of 13 different men.
01:43But that still leaves 51 victims unaccounted for, all murdered in a pattern that is hard to miss.
01:50Everybody was found in similar locations in the neighborhoods of Chicago's South and West Side,
01:55either in abandoned buildings, alleyways, garbage bins, parks, or snowdrifts.
02:00A lot of the women had a history of prostitution, often had previous experiences with the justice system,
02:06and about three-quarters were black.
02:08Most victims were found in trash cans, plastic bags, or bound and gagged.
02:12They were all killed in a gruesome way.
02:15The brutality of their deaths can only be inferred from the way their bodies were found.
02:19But despite this, the media is all but lukewarm on the matter,
02:23and law enforcement has been hesitant to jump on the idea that the murders were perpetrated by a single killer.
02:30The Chicago Strangler is the name given to the perpetrator of the crime,
02:34the single serial killer that many believe is behind the murder.
02:38Thomas Hargrove, founder of the Murder Accountability Project,
02:42is one of the many who believe there's a serial killer at large in Chicago.
02:46In his words,
02:47We know this is a series, we have no doubt.
02:50First of all, almost all of the victims were recovered out of doors,
02:54often in alleyways or abandoned properties.
02:56That's pretty unusual.
02:58At least three-quarters of the victims' deaths had a clear erotic component.
03:02The victims were found partially disrobed or completely nude.
03:06He declared in his conclusion,
03:0851 different men did not kill these 51 women.
03:11Many of these women, probably most of them,
03:14were killed by men who had killed before.
03:15He also pointed out the fact that the murders stopped in 2014
03:20before kicking back up in 2017.
03:22He believes this is because the killer was imprisoned at the time.
03:26However, despite the similarities between the cases,
03:29the belief of the general public,
03:31and the work of the Murder Accountability Project,
03:33the Chicago police still believe the deaths were isolated incidents.
03:40Our next case occurred on the island of Kauai, Hawaii,
03:44and it involves a serial killer that has not been identified to this day.
03:48On the 7th of April, 2000,
03:50the body of a woman was discovered in a ditch close to Polihale State Park,
03:54a remote wild beach on the western side of the Kauai, Hawaii.
03:57The woman, 38-year-old Lisa Bissell, had been heavily assaulted before her death.
04:03An investigation led to the discovery that she had been abducted
04:06from another part of the island before being murdered.
04:09Daughter as well, and sister, you know.
04:13So, you know, you do understand what the families go through.
04:18There was no way to conclusively identify who her killer in Kauai was
04:23until only a month later, another woman was attacked.
04:27This time, she lived to tell her harrowing tale.
04:30It was May 22, 2000,
04:32and a 52-year-old woman was working in her yard when a strange man approached her.
04:36The man spoke up saying,
04:38My name is John, and I'm homeless.
04:41Being the kind person she was,
04:43the woman told him about a neighbor
04:44who frequently let homeless people camp out on their property.
04:48After giving him the necessary directions,
04:50she turned around to continue the work she was doing.
04:53That's when the man struck.
04:54He grabbed her and violently pulled her behind the house.
04:58There, he attacked her, causing serious injuries and trauma.
05:02During the assault, he attempted to inflict further harm with a knife,
05:05but the weapon was rendered ineffective.
05:08Panicked, he threw the knife in a bush and fled the scene.
05:11The woman had to crawl for three hours
05:13until she reached a telephone and called for help.
05:16But she survived and was able to miraculously climb two-story stairs and call for help.
05:23Even after experiencing such a traumatic event,
05:26the woman was able to describe her attacker for a sketch of the man to be made.
05:30However, on August 30, 2000, the attacker struck again.
05:34The decomposing body of a woman was found at a remote campsite near Pakala Point Beach.
05:40The 43-year-old Maui resident, Darren R. Singer,
05:44tragically lost her life after a severe and brutal assault.
05:48The extent of the violence rendered her unrecognizable.
05:51Investigators determined that she was murdered at least 12 hours prior to the discovery of her body.
05:56A large memorial service was held in her honor,
05:58but it was clear that the attacks had rocked the island.
06:01However, investigators were sensing a pattern in the attacks.
06:05The victims all fell around the same demographic.
06:08Middle-aged Caucasian women with similar heights and weights.
06:11They had all been alone when attacked only to meet a violent assault and the end of a knife.
06:16Moreover, all the attacks took place on the west coast of Kauai.
06:20A few months after the attack, the 52-year-old victim who'd survived the killer's attack
06:26was flown to Honolulu and shown a police lineup.
06:29The woman was able to eliminate two men from the lineup as being the perpetrator,
06:33but was not able to narrow down the lineup any further.
06:36The police conducted extensive inquiries,
06:39including questioning 70 individuals with relevant criminal backgrounds on the island.
06:43The main person of interest in the investigation was identified as Waldorf Roy Wilson Waldorf,
06:49who had a previous conviction for serious offenses in Oahu in 1983,
06:53moved to Kauai in January 1999 as part of his parole arrangement.
06:59However, within a year, he faced arrest for not adhering to his parole conditions,
07:04which occurred amidst inquiries into other serious allegations.
07:08Due to his presence on the island during the time of the attacks,
07:11his history, and his parole violation,
07:14the police strongly believed that he had their guy,
07:16but Wilson sued the Kauai County Police Department
07:19and a magazine that ran the story that he was accused of the murders for defamation.
07:24The lawsuit was later dismissed,
07:26and Waldorf would walk out of this case a free man for entirely different reasons.
07:30His DNA was tested against the DNA of the perpetrator,
07:34and the result was inconclusive.
07:36Because of this, he was never charged with the two murders
07:39and the vicious attack of the surviving victim.
07:41It is believed that, to this day, the Kauai Killer, or John,
07:45patiently waits on the island looking for vulnerable women to attack.
07:49Our next case involves a name so infamous in 11 murders that are far from being solved.
07:55You may have already heard of this New York serial killer,
07:57but the true extent of his crimes is more harrowing than you can imagine,
08:01and his 14-year reign of terror is yet to be crowned with his arrest.
08:06From 1996 to 2011, a series of tragic incidents in Long Island
08:11led to the loss of at least 10 lives,
08:14with the possibility of more yet to be discovered.
08:17Many of the identified individuals were using Craigslist for their work,
08:21which led to the perpetrator being referred to as the Craigslist Ripper.
08:25However, the term Long Island serial killer emerged under different circumstances.
08:29The discovery of the victims was an unintended outcome during an unrelated investigation.
08:34On December 11, 2010, the Suffolk County Police Department Missing Persons Bureau
08:40was conducting an investigation into the disappearance of 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert,
08:46a woman who had gone missing after fleeing from a client's home.
08:49Before she completely fell off the radar,
08:51she made a harrowing 23-minute-long call to 911 saying,
08:55They are trying to kill me.
08:57Officer John Mallia was tasked with the responsibility of searching for Shannon
09:01with his trained cadaver dog, a German Shepherd named Blue.
09:06The officer kept his search designated for a gated beach community
09:09on Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach, Suffolk County.
09:12It was the last place Shannon had been seen,
09:15so it was as good a place as any to begin looking.
09:18Unfortunately, for the entirety of summer 2010,
09:22Officer Mallia was nowhere closer to finding the missing woman.
09:25That was until that day in December 2010 when Officer Mallia decided to widen his field of search.
09:32The first discovery of human remains was made by the side of Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach
09:37on December 11, 2010.
09:40He started searching the shoulder of the parkway,
09:42away from the gated area but still in the area,
09:45going off on FBI data indicating that dumped bodies are frequently found close to roadways.
09:50It was like a car pulled up and opened the door and the bodies were dumped into the bushes.
09:56During the search, Blue, the trained cadaver dog, detected something unusual.
10:01They found skeletal remains, but these were not of Shannon Gilbert.
10:05Instead, they belonged to Melissa Barthelemy,
10:07a 24-year-old from Erie County, New York,
10:10who had been missing since July 12, 2009.
10:14Melissa, who had been using Craigslist for work,
10:17had met with a client on the night she disappeared.
10:20That evening, she made a bank transaction of $900
10:22and tried to contact a former boyfriend.
10:25The call didn't go through, and Melissa was never seen again.
10:29However, the story doesn't end there.
10:31One week later, Melissa's teenage sister, Amanda,
10:35began receiving strange phone calls.
10:37I was so excited.
10:38Oh my God, Melissa's finally calling me,
10:41and then there's a guy on the other end.
10:43The calls received were deeply unsettling and offensive,
10:46believed to be from the individual responsible for Melissa's disappearance.
10:50The caller made derogatory inquiries about Amanda's relationship to her sister,
10:54growing more distressing over time.
10:57This alarming series of calls lasted for five weeks,
11:01concluding with the caller grimly informing Amanda of Melissa's fate
11:04and making a chilling statement about it.
11:07Authorities traced the calls to Madison Square Garden,
11:10Midtown Manhattan, and Massapequa,
11:12but were unable to determine who was making them.
11:15Melissa's body wasn't the only one found on Ocean Parkway that day.
11:19While searching the scene, three more bodies were discovered.
11:23Another victim, Maureen Brainerd Barnes,
11:25was 25 years old when she went missing.
11:27She was from Norwich, Connecticut,
11:29and was last seen on July 9, 2007.
11:32That night, she called a friend in Connecticut
11:34and told her that she was planning on meeting a client outside of the motel
11:38and planned to spend the day in New York City.
11:41The mother of two, in an effort to support her family
11:43and manage her mortgage payments,
11:45initially turned to Craigslist for income.
11:48She later transitioned to an escort job at a Super 8 motel in Manhattan.
11:52However, facing the challenge of an eviction notice,
11:55she felt compelled to return to her previous line of work.
11:58After she'd gone missing, her friend Sarah Carnes
12:01received a phone call from an unfamiliar number.
12:03The man claimed he'd seen Maureen alive working at a brothel in Queens.
12:08He didn't give Sarah the location of the brothel or identify himself,
12:12but he did say he would call her back later with an address.
12:15He never did.
12:16The third body found that day belonged to 22-year-old Megan Waterman,
12:21a mother from South Portland, Maine,
12:22who went missing on June 6, 2010.
12:26Like the other victims,
12:27she'd placed advertisements on Craigslist as an escort.
12:30At the time of her disappearance,
12:32she was staying at a motel in Haupage, New York,
12:3515 miles northeast of Gilgo Beach.
12:37Sadly, Megan had been a victim of human trafficking,
12:40and her disappearance that night ended in her gruesome death.
12:44The final victim was 27-year-old Lynn Costello of West Babylon, New York,
12:49a small town just 10 miles north of Gilgo Beach.
12:52She went missing on September 2, 2010,
12:55after going to meet up with a stranger who had called her several times
12:58and offered $1,500 for her services.
13:01The four bodies were found approximately 500 feet from each other
13:05and were dubbed the Gilgo Four.
13:07The lab was selected because its ability to take dampness, moisture, and breathe,
13:13which would promote decay, as well as act as camouflage.
13:18Again, the story is far from over.
13:20The following year on March 29th and April 4th, 2011 in Suffolk and Nassau counties,
13:26six more bodies that police had been dumped earlier than the four first found were discovered.
13:31The bodies were found in another parkway near Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach,
13:36about two miles east of those found in December.
13:38The first individual discovered in this case was 24-year-old Valerie Mack,
13:43also known as Melissa Taylor,
13:45who was reported missing in 2000.
13:47Initially, only part of her remains were found in a wooded area
13:51near Halsey Manor Road and Mill Road.
13:54Further searches in April 2011 led to the discovery of additional remains.
13:58It wasn't until May 2020 that she was finally identified.
14:03Another victim, Jessica Taylor,
14:05was also dismembered and disposed of in a similar manner.
14:0834-year-old Karen Vergata met a similar fate.
14:12Other discoveries included the bodies of a mother and her child
14:15and the body of a cross-dressing male simply dubbed Asian male.
14:19There are other possible victims that haven't been conclusively tied to the Long Island serial killer,
14:24but with a clear modus operandi identified and a laundry list of victims.
14:28It was hard to ignore that there was a serial killer on the loose.
14:31The real question was, who was he?
14:34In September 2017, a prosecutor suggested John Bittroff,
14:39a carpenter from Manorville with two previous murder convictions,
14:42might have been responsible for some of the Gilgo Beach cases.
14:45He was arrested, and although he was convicted for two separate earlier murders,
14:50no statement was made on his involvement in the Gilgo Beach murders.
14:54In July 2023, a 59-year-old Nassau County resident was arrested and charged
14:59with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.
15:04He is also the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainerd Barnes.
15:08The man, Rex Andrew Heuermann, became a suspect after a Chevrolet avalanche
15:12identified by a witness and linked to one of the killings was registered in his name.
15:17His cell phone records also revealed that he had been in contact with three of the four victims.
15:21It was discovered that the man had peculiar taste.
15:25His search history revealed sadistic materials and images of the victims and their relatives.
15:30His DNA was also linked to hair found on the burlap wrappings of one of the bodies.
15:35He pleaded not guilty, but ultimately had no conclusive ties to the ten victims found.
15:40It's theorized that the killer possibly has a law enforcement background,
15:44judging by how he's managed to elude capture for so long.
15:48And as for Shannon Gilbert, the woman whose body started it all,
15:52her body was found a year after the remains of the Gilgo Four.
15:56And although her cause of death remains contested,
15:58with police claiming accidental drowning while an independent autopsy determined possible strangulation,
16:04it is believed that her murder is an isolated incident unrelated to the Long Island serial killer case.
16:10Her now-deceased mother strongly believed otherwise.
16:14The Jeff Davis Eight, also known as the Jennings Eight,
16:18is a case shrouded in mystery through and through.
16:21This series of unsolved murders took place between the years 2005 and 2009
16:26in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana,
16:29when the bodies of eight women were found in swamps and no one knows how they got there
16:33or has any idea who took their lives.
16:36But the hunt for a killer began with the discovery of the body of 28-year-old Loretta Lewis in
16:41a river.
16:42It was the 20th of 2005,
16:44and a fisherman was out on the Grand Marais Canal's East Fork,
16:48a few miles southwest of Jennings,
16:50angling when he found a body floating in the river.
16:53Loretta was last seen three days before her death,
16:56and she was found partially clothed and shoeless.
16:59The advanced decomposition caused difficulty identifying her cause of death,
17:04but an autopsy found Loretta had no physical injuries.
17:07The toxicology analysis indicated the presence of significant amounts of substances and alcohol in her system.
17:13However, the exact cause of her passing remained undetermined.
17:17It didn't take long before the authorities discovered
17:20that Loretta's wasn't the only skeleton in the waters, so to speak.
17:23The body of 30-year-old Ernestine Marie Daniels Patterson
17:27was soon discovered on June 18th in a drainage canal off L.A. Highway 102.
17:33The mother of four, Iota State University employee and Jennings resident,
17:37was last seen on June 16th, 2005,
17:40and her body was found partially clothed.
17:42Her death was ruled a homicide,
17:44and two people were arrested and charged with two-end-degree murder,
17:48but were later released due to lack of evidence.
17:51The third victim was 21-year-old Kristen Gary Lopez,
17:54who was discovered by a fisherman on March 18th,
17:57completely nude in the Petit Jun Canal,
18:00a rural area near Cherokee Road right off L.A. 9,
18:03about 10 miles south of the town of Welsh.
18:06Again, the autopsy reports remained inconclusive on the cause of death,
18:10but toxicology results showed high levels of alcohol in her system.
18:13In May 2007, Frankie Richard and his niece, Hannah Connor,
18:18were arrested in connection with Lopez's death.
18:21The pair were also questioned about the other deaths
18:24before Kristen's body was even found
18:26because Richard was reportedly seen with three of the victims
18:29in the last days of their lives.
18:31However, again, charges were dropped due to lack of evidence
18:34and conflicting witness statements.
18:36Also arrested was Tracy L. Chaison, who reported Kristen missing.
18:41Investigators believed she knew where the body was when she made the report.
18:45And again, the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence
18:49and conflicting statements.
18:51The next victim, 26-year-old Whitney Dubois,
18:54was found nude on the May 12, 2007,
18:57at the intersection of Bobby and Earl Duhan Roads,
19:01approximately five miles outside of Jennings, Louisiana.
19:04Cause of death undetermined,
19:06high levels of alcohol and drugs were found in her system.
19:09On May 29, 2008,
19:12the remains of 23-year-old Laconia Muggy Brown
19:15were discovered on Rocca Road, near a police training area.
19:18She was found without shoes and wearing a white tank-top style shirt,
19:23which had changed color, possibly due to a diluted substance.
19:26It appeared that she had suffered significant harm
19:29and unusual measures had been taken with her remains.
19:32She was last seen two days prior to the discovery,
19:35and it is believed that her remains were placed on the road
19:38only hours before they were found.
19:40Investigators are working to understand the full circumstances
19:43surrounding this tragic event.
19:46Next was 24-year-old Crystal Shea Benoit Zeno,
19:49who was found on September 11, 2008,
19:52near a dry irrigation canal a few miles from Jennings, Louisiana.
19:56The woman was married with a daughter,
19:58and she loved to spend time with family and friends.
20:01According to her parents, Crystal, who went by Shea,
20:04was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 12
20:07and started using certain substances to cope with the illness.
20:10On the day her body was discovered,
20:13hunters reported a foul smell in a wooded area to authorities.
20:16Her body was found on the Lacour Road levee,
20:19off L.A. Highway 1126,
20:21a few miles southeast of Jennings.
20:23She was so badly decomposed
20:25that she wasn't identified until two months later with DNA.
20:29The seventh of the Jeff Davis Eight was also the youngest.
20:33Seventeen-year-old Brittany Gary was last seen
20:35walking out of the family dollar store in Jennings.
20:38She never came back home.
20:40Sometime that same day, she was kidnapped,
20:42and although her family hoped she would be found alive soon,
20:45that wasn't the case.
20:47On November 15, 2008,
20:50her deceased body was found in a grassy area outside Jennings.
20:54She was a trusted friend of Christine Gary Lopez,
20:56and knew several of the other victims.
20:59The final body, that of 26-year-old Nicole Guillory,
21:03was found off Interstate 10 on August 19, 2009.
21:07Due to the advanced state of decomposition,
21:09determining the exact causes of death
21:11for most of the victims proved challenging.
21:14Investigations did indicate that Ernestine and Laconia
21:17suffered severe injuries,
21:18but conclusive details regarding the others
21:21were not ascertainable.
21:22While authorities hypothesized that asphyxia
21:25might have been involved,
21:26the state of the remains left many questions unanswered.
21:30What we do know for certain
21:31is the strange connection between the victims.
21:34While the other cases we've looked at
21:36involves victims who were total strangers to one another,
21:39the Jeff Davis Eight knew each other well.
21:41Some were even blood-related with Kristen Gary Lopez
21:44and Brittany Gary being cousins,
21:47and Gary living with Crystal Benoit shortly before her death.
21:50Investigators also revealed a pattern of similar traits
21:53that the eight shared.
21:54They were all living in poverty,
21:56suffering from mental illness,
21:57and all had histories of working in the Jennings South.
22:01Another peculiar tidbit is the victims' connections
22:03with law enforcement.
22:05All the women served as informants for the police
22:07about the local illegal medicine trade,
22:09and some even provided police with information
22:12about other Jeff Davis Eight Victims
22:14before their own deaths.
22:16One of the victims, Kristen Lopez,
22:18witnessed the police shooting and death
22:19of a dealer named Leonard Crochet in 2005.
22:23She also knew Alvin Bootsy Lewis,
22:25the boyfriend of victim Whitney Dubois
22:27and father of her child,
22:28as well as the brother-in-law of the first victim,
22:31Loretta Chaison Lewis,
22:32along with several individuals
22:34connected to the Jeff Davis Eight case.
22:36It seems that, when it comes to this case,
22:39each victim isn't the target
22:40of a serial killer hungry for power.
22:42It's that of a calculating murderer
22:44looking to shut witnesses up.
22:46Despite the fact that Leonard Crochet
22:48was unarmed when police shot and killed him,
22:50a grand jury's investigation revealed
22:53that there was no evidence to support
22:54a negligent homicide charge against the officers.
22:57But the decision put out an entire flurry
23:00of rumors against the police.
23:02Witnesses told investigators they believed
23:04the police had killed many of the victims
23:06because of what they knew
23:07about the shooting of Leonard Crochet.
23:09In December 2008,
23:12a task force consisting of 14 federal,
23:14state, and local law enforcement agencies
23:17was formed to solve the Jeff Davis Eight case.
23:19And although the task force searched
23:21for a serial killer from the outset,
23:23the more an investigator looked into it,
23:26the more the connections between the victims
23:28were brought to light.
23:29It was even revealed that the families of the victims
23:32believe that the police are actually responsible
23:34for the deaths.
23:35Ethan Brown, an investigative reporter
23:38who has been documenting the case,
23:40revealed that task force investigative reports
23:42present witness interviews
23:43in which local law enforcement
23:45were implicated in the murders.
23:47Two female inmates confessed to working
23:49with the sheriff's office
23:50to dispose of evidence in the Lopez case.
23:53But strangely enough,
23:54the sergeant who took their statements
23:56was forced out of his job,
23:58and the allegations were ignored by law enforcement.
24:01In an interview,
24:02Nicole Guillory's mother, Barbara,
24:04gave Ethan Brown insight on her daughter's behavior.
24:07She said,
24:08She was always paranoid.
24:10It got to the point
24:11where she did not want to go anywhere by herself.
24:13Adding,
24:14I think she could feel
24:15that they were closing in on her.
24:17Nicole even refused to celebrate her 27th birthday.
24:20Barbara said,
24:22I bought some icing and cake for her birthday.
24:24She said,
24:24Mama, it doesn't matter.
24:26I'm not going to be here.
24:28Before her death,
24:29Guillory housed her four children with relatives.
24:31A task force witness revealed
24:33that in her final days,
24:34she was scared of someone,
24:35but she would not say who.
24:37Nicole also mentioned
24:38that she knew who killed the girls.
24:41Barbara believes that her daughter was murdered
24:42because she witnessed the corruption
24:44of local law enforcement.
24:45To Brown, she said,
24:47She used to tell us all the time
24:49it was the police killing the girls.
24:50We'd say,
24:52Nicole, a name, something.
24:53Write a letter and leave it somewhere.
24:55Let us know.
24:56We can help you.
24:57No, Mama.
24:58It's too far gone.
25:00It's too big.
25:00I'd rather y'all not know anything.
25:02That way, nothing can happen to you all.
25:05She knew,
25:06and that's why they killed her.
25:07Several other families of victims
25:09have similar stories.
25:11Ethan Brown wrote,
25:32Again, task force witness interviews
25:37corroborate the Brown family accounts,
25:39with one individual telling the investigators,
25:42Laconia Brown told her that
25:44three police officers were going to kill her.
25:47When it comes to the accusations of corruption
25:49and misconduct lodged against the Jennings police force,
25:52it's an understatement to say the list is long.
25:55Back in the 70s,
25:57local law enforcement was riddled with officers
25:59who dabbled in illegal medicine trafficking.
26:01In March 1990,
26:04two locals broke into the sheriff's office,
26:06stealing an eye-watering 300 pounds
26:08of illegal substances.
26:10When one of the burglars was interviewed,
26:12he confessed that Frankie Richard and Ted Gary,
26:14who was the chief deputy sheriff at the time,
26:17were his accomplices.
26:19No charges were brought against the two men.
26:21There have been reports of sheriffs using parish funds
26:24to purchase personal items illegally,
26:26sheriffs unlawfully and purposefully stopping cars
26:29with out-of-state plates,
26:30even more reports of improper dealings with inmates,
26:33and even the murder of one officer and his wife
26:36by another officer.
26:37Perhaps Ethan Brown is right to think
26:39that there's no serial killer at work here,
26:41because the crimes of the Jennings law enforcement
26:43are hard to ignore.
26:45In October 2003,
26:47eight female Jennings cops
26:49filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court
26:51against Jennings police chief Donald Lucky Deloosh,
26:54a group of male officers,
26:56and the city of Jennings,
26:57accusing them of constant violence and harassment.
27:01In the complaint,
27:02a woman reported inappropriate and unwelcome behavior
27:05from a captain towards female officers.
27:08This included suggestive comments
27:10and an alleged incident of coerced intimate contact
27:13with a female officer.
27:15In January 2013,
27:17former Jennings police chief Johnny Lasseter
27:19was hit with a slew of charges
27:21after a Louisiana state police audit
27:23found $4,500 in cash,
27:261,800 pills,
27:28more than 380 grams of the white stuff,
27:31and several pounds of other substances
27:33missing from the department's evidence room.
27:35Sheriff's office chief criminal investigator Warren Gary
27:39was also accused of purchasing a truck
27:41suspected of having been used
27:43to transport a body
27:44for the purpose of discarding evidence.
27:46It's almost like the Jennings police force
27:49was full of officers
27:50who had exactly zero care for the law.
27:53But, with everything going on,
27:55they couldn't refuse to do anything
27:57about the eight murders for much longer.
27:59In 2009,
28:00the sheriff ordered that every investigator
28:03working the Jeff Davis 8 case
28:04be swabbed for DNA
28:06to put the accusations
28:07against investigators at rest.
28:09And what you know,
28:11the office refused to comment
28:12on the results of the test.
28:14In total,
28:15police have only arrested
28:16or issued warrants
28:16for the arrest of four people
28:18in connection with the Jeff Davis 8 case.
28:20The question remains,
28:22is this the work of a serial killer
28:24or that of dirty cops?
28:25We'll let you answer that.
28:27We'll let you answer that.
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