let gads_event; Mississippi Skies: How long will the great weather last? Unsolved MURDERS of Jefferson Davis 8. [5], Patterson and Brown had their throats slit; the other bodies were in too advanced state of decomposition to determine the cause of death, though asphyxia is a suspected cause of death. In 1894 in Linn County, four members of the Meeks family (Gus, Delora, Hattie and Mary) were brutally murdered by George and William Taylor, wealthy citizens of northeast Missouri. The show is based on investigative journalist Ethan Brown's 2016 book 'Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8?' When the body of victim number one, 28-year-old Loretta Lynn Chaisson Lewis, showed up in 2005, her death was associated with her drug habits and a possible fallout in the trade. Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? The Showtime series released on September 13. JDCSO said the shooting caused the driver of the vehicle to swerve off the road. Tucker Carlson Bashes Fox Nation in Leaked Video, Obviously I wrote the Medium piece years ago, and researched it years and years ago, says Brown. Thanks in part to the near-simultaneous debut of True Detective, with its first-season storyline of murder investigations in backwater Louisiana, Brown generated enough buzz with his Medium article to land a book deal. I was floored, he says. From May 2005 - Nov 2009, 8 Beautiful women from Jennings and Lake Charles Louisiana (Jefferson Davis Parish) mysteriously disappeared only to be found murdered shortly after disappearing. local news and culture. You can take that however you want to.. Members of the Jones County Sheriffs Department assisted in the arrest. He also generated pushback from the Jefferson Davis Parish law enforcement, with new Sherriff Ivy Woods denigrating Brown as an "author of fiction stories." Kadarrian Johnson, 15, of Prentiss has been charged with murder. We have got to do better in this county., We know the families are hurting. Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Deputies have arrested and charged one with murder in the death of Jarriyon Davis. Then, after a massive public records request about the inn, Brown found that it was co-owned by a Martin P. Guillory, a field representative for Boustany. pg.acq.push(function() { document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ The bodies had been dumped in canals or on the side of the road in and around Jennings. gads_event = event; According to 15 Circuit Court District Attorney Hal Kittrell, the law gives the Circuit Court original jurisdiction with charges on anyone under the age of 18 who commits a crime that would carry a life sentence. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), He dropped the lawsuit in December, after losing the race. The agency issued a warrant for her arrest for felony taking of a motor vehicle charge out of Rankin County. [2], Sheriff's office chief criminal investigator, Warren Gary, was also accused of purchasing a truck suspected of having been used to transport a body for the purpose of discarding evidence. The details of the Jeff Davis 8 murders are so incredible and so quintessentially bayou that if they were fiction theyd seem a little heavy-handed. and help keep the future of Westword, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, seek the death penalty against Dexter Lewis, killing five people at Fero's Bar & Grill. According to the Jefferson Davis County Sheriffs Office, 20-year-old Sierra Inscoe was denied bond during her initial court appearance Wednesday for the murder of 24-year-old Carson Sistrunk. ga('ads.send', { One of them described how Barry would cruise the seedy south side for prostitutes with his wife, after which they would drug the pickup with a spiked drink and bring her home to their sex room. Brown was shocked after all, this was the murder of someone intimately connected to other homicide victims. [2] However, the sergeant who took the statements was forced out of his job, and the allegations were ignored by law enforcement. Jeff Davis 8: The True Story of the 'Murder in the Bayou' Killings Eight women were mysteriously murdered in Jennings, Louisiana from 2005-2009 and as the investigation progressed, the small. [1][2], The women all also served as informants for the police about the local drug trade and often provided police with information about other Jeff Davis 8 victims before their own deaths. "The Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Office, along with the U. S. Marshals Task Force, is taking every step necessary to locate Loftin and he will be brought to justice," said JDC Sheriff's Investigator John Wayne Tolar Inscoe was arrested by Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agents in Jones County on Sunday, Sept. 11 around 3 p.m. Note that a "homicide" refers to the cause of death as determined by a medical examiner, not to the crime of murder as charged by prosecutors and adjudicated through the courts. Families and friends of the victims have also commented on the silence from the police and their slow attitude towards the case. Sistrunks body was found last week in Jefferson Davis County at an oil well site by a worker who noticed tire tracks. Eight women were mysteriously murdered in Jennings, Louisiana from 2005-2009 and as the investigation progressed, the small town's dark secrets began to unravel. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Soon afterward, he was out of a job. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), County. Thirty detectives worked the case full time. All rights reserved. Brown got a book deal and got to work quickly on fleshing the investigation out. fleshed out the reporting featured in his Medium article and delivered a new bombshell: A field representative for Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany owned a notoriously seedy Jennings hotel where Boustany allegedly had sex with three of the victims. Nearly 150 evidentiary items were labeled. And most compelling, Brown writes, is that most if not all of the Jeff Davis 8witnessed other murders. Jefferson County Food & Safety Report April 30, 2023 at 2:25 a.m. Denver. Obviously these women were murder victims individual people killed them, says Brown. Advertisement Around 6:30 p.m. Sunday night, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the 300 block of 20th Avenue NE to conduct a welfare check. In the acknowledgments, Brown gives his incredible thanks and boundless gratitude to the protesters in the Ferguson/St. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of Thats when he saw a trailer for the first season of True Detective. All rights reserved. They tracked down more than 1,000 leads, but came up empty. [1] Two people were held on murder charges for months before being released due to issues with evidence. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. JEFFERSON DAVIS COUNTY, Miss. Davis, 24, was found dead on Highway 84 at Lucas Nov. 14 in what was originally thought to be a hit-and-run. eventAction: 'click_image_ads' (The US average is 22.7) Jefferson Davis County property crime is 49.4. In a town with a population of around 10,000, the excess amount of easily available drugs resulted in corruption, addicts, and people looking to make some easy money. Who Is Suspected Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira? Thanks to the connection, Browns article got picked up all over the internet, including by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of True Detective, who tweeted it out approvingly. [4][6] Family members of the victims suspect the police are actually responsible for the deaths. That fall, Sheriff Edwards publicly acknowledged for the first time that the deaths were possibly the work of a "common offender," and the task force more than doubled the reward for information leading to the killer of what became known as the Jeff Davis 8. Its important to note that none of the allegations Brown highlights amount to accusing anyone of the murders. 'Stop it!' Over the next year and a half, the bodies of four more prostitutes 26-year-old Whitnei Dubois, 23-year-old Laconia "Muggy" Brown, 24-year-old Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno and 17-year-old Brittney Gary were found in or near Jennings. Still, he managed to finish his work. Seeking information poster for the Jeff Davis 8 murders, Jeff Davis 8: The True Story of the 'Murder in the Bayou' Killings, G. Gordon Liddys Wild Career After Watergate. Throughout the years hed been investigating the case, Brown had been told that the Boudreaux Inn the former motel where some of the denizens of Jennings underworld, including the Jeff Davis 8, regularly went to take drugs and have sex was operated by people who were in politics, he says, though he never got a name. Jefferson Davis County is in the 81st percentile for safety, meaning 19% of counties are safer and 81% of counties are more dangerous. However, crime means there are criminals with outstanding arrest warrants, and those people could, at any time, be in Jefferson Davis County. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Your IP: ", .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}G. Gordon Liddys Wild Career After Watergate. eventAction: 'click_adunit' Brown was a writer and a private investigator living in New Orleans when he first read about the Jeff Davis 8 in a 2010 New York Times story. When asked what justice would look like in this case, he shrugs off things like a Department of Justice intervention, which he says would produce very little actual change. Instead, he points to street-level flaws. A raid of Richards' home in 2009 found weapons, cash, and drugs in his possession. The Jefferson Davis parish sheriff, Ivy Woods, posted a note on the departments official website, calling Brown an author of fiction stories, and decrying the article for insinuating corruption in our Sheriffs Office. The notes still up there, under the heading, From the Desk of Sheriff Woods. (In an emailed comment to Rolling Stone regarding Murder in the Bayou, Jefferson Davis Chief Deputy Christopher Ivey says that Brown speculates on many of the instances [in the book] based on information he obtained from people he admits he doesnt trust, adding that the cases have not been forgotten. Louis area for bringing the issue of law enforcement misconduct into the public discourse., Trending Pizzolatto has denied that True Detective was based on the Jeff Davis 8 case, but the similarities are undeniable: he was born in Calcasieu Parish, right next to Jefferson Davis Parish, a place thats had its own fair share of law enforcement corruption. Where do I rest my head today? It was not until the seventh body that a task force was set up with the FBI, the local and state law enforcement agencies assisting. Brothers Cameron and Colby Burroughs were arrested and charged with capital murder. Beyond the backlash from those named in its pages, Murder in the Bayou drew a largely positive response en route to becoming a best-seller. What the evidence started pointing to was not a serial killer evading capture. [2], Brown's investigative work reveals many tangled connections between victims, suspects, and the police. (WDAM) - A shooting in Jefferson Davis County left one dead and one injured, investigators with the Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Office said.. "To me justice is nobody having to live the way in which these women lived. April 15: Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23, was killed in the same incident. The rate of violent crime in Jefferson Davis County is 1.98 per 1,000 residents during a standard year. The investigator was fined and removed from the case and placed in charge of evidence at the Parish sherriff's office. At one point in the book, a witness tells him, Welcome to the Dirty South. After all, for those in other corners of America, theres something undeniably atmospheric about the bayou. If you have any information regarding Loftin, please contact the Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Office at 601-792-5169. Between 2005 and 2009, eight women from the town of Jennings, Louisiana, in Jefferson Davis Parish, were murdered, their bodies dumped in crawfish ponds and canals in the area. 8 years on and zero answers. Theres a letter cited in the book from victim Loretta Chaissons attorney, written to a judge after one of her arrests, in which the lawyer pushed for leniency by outlining her health problems tuberculosis, hepatitis, depression and anxiety, addiction. Join the Westword community and help support }); 1 dead, 1 injured in Jefferson Davis County shooting, One dead, one wounded Friday night in Jefferson Davis County shooting, HPD seeks public help locating two suspects in ongoing investigations, Police seeking man wanted in connection to 2 commercial burglaries in Hattiesburg, Jones County volunteer fire department units deploy twice Sunday. [1][2], Author and investigative reporter Ethan Brown has revealed how police investigations have been plagued by missteps in the sheriff's office, contributing to lost or missing evidence. They were all living in poverty and had criminal records filled with drug use and petty crime, often supporting their respective habits with sex work. Its easy to say, Louisiana is terrible, it has the highest incarceration rate in America, it has the worst criminal justice system in America. All those things are true, says Brown. Nashville woman denied bond in Jefferson Davis Co. murder investigation, HPD seeks public help locating two suspects in ongoing investigations, Police seeking man wanted in connection to 2 commercial burglaries in Hattiesburg, Jones County volunteer fire department units deploy twice Sunday. 601-792-5169. In December 2008, Jefferson Davis Parish Sherriff Ricky Edwards announced the formation of a task force culled from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the murders. Denver. 13 North on Feb. 12, 2018. According to the Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Office, 20-year-old Sierra Inscoe was denied bond during her initial court appearance Wednesday for the murder of 24-year-old Carson. The next year saw the bodies of 26-year-old Whitney Dubois, 23-year-old Laconia "Muggy" Brown, 24-year-old Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno, and 17-year-old Brittney Gary showing up. Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8. [1], Frankie Richard, a local strip club owner and suspected drug dealer[1][2] admitted to being a crack addict and to having sex with most of the victims. Less than a month later, victim number two, 30-year-old Ernestine Marie Daniels Patterson, was found in a canal off a highway. Despite his lengthy rap sheet and allegations that placed him in connection to some of the murders, he was free to walk the streets and talk openly with Brown about his involvement with the victims. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { Another point to be noted is the drug epidemic in the city given its location off a major highway. This page was last modified on 1 May 2023, at 13:59. Though the victims causes of death varied several had or appeared to have asphyxiated, two women had their throats slashed the women of the Jeff Davis 8 had plenty in common. Less than two weeks later, Reginald Hartzog was found dead of a gunshot wound in a burned home on Hartzog Magee Road. Amid a tight battle for a Senate seat, Boustany filed a defamation lawsuit against Brown and his publisher. To Brown, something didnt seem right, so in mid-2011 he spent a week in the parish, talking to residents and people who knew the victims, even though he didnt have a story in mind at the time. He was either in a wheelchair or on crutches, and he made an impression just because he had been shot and he was kind of a mess, Brown tells Rolling Stone. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. [2] However, the office refuses to comment on the results of the DNA testing. [2] However, the sheriff's office did not test the alleged crime scene until 15 months after Patterson's murder, and found it "failed to demonstrate the presence of blood."[2]. They were doomed by their own social status, by the inescapability of their poverty, and because the people who were supposed to protect them, at best, didnt give a shit about them. The community of Jennings lost faith in the police who were anything but helpful or effective in their search to find the killer. Suspicious of his colleagues, Ewing sent the tapes to a regional FBI office, only for them to be relayed to supervisors on the taskforce. March 29: Walterius Jamal Barnes, 21, died at UAB Hospital from wounds suffered when he was shot multiple times from another car while he was driving, and crashed into a house on the 2900 block of Fairfax Avenue. Kiss Paul Stanley Has 'Thoughts' About Parents Who Support Kids Gender Identities [2], Police have arrested or issued warrants for the arrest of four people in connection with the case. You can take that however you want to," Brown was leery to return to Jennings to complete his interviews for months afterward. According to law enforcement officers, Sistrunk and Insoce had been communicating through social media and had planned to meet each other. ga('ads.send', { hitType: 'event', ga('ads.send', { People who live in Jefferson Davis County generally consider the south part of the county to be the safest for this type of crime. A January 2010 New York Times article reported on the fear and frustration felt by family members of the slain women, as well as the missteps of local law enforcement in charge of solving the crimes. }); Convicted of killing his girlfriend's mother, brother and niece. The victims, he wrote on Medium, not only knew each other well and shared similar woes with their drug addictions and financial problems, they had all served as police informants. Every serial killer suspect that has been identified and/or arrested, in the United States, since 2009 are looked at by our investigator.), Following the publication of his story, he received a bevy of attacks from law enforcement, and not just the Sheriffs post: the Jennings local newspaper, which had initially been very supportive of Browns investigation, published attacks on his reporting and, he says, stopped returning his emails. } were handled by local law enforcement with some in the town even thinking local sheriffs were involved. The Mystery Novelist Who Committed a Real Murder, Boston Marathon Bombings Survivors, 10 Years Later, A Complete Timeline of Adnan Syeds Trial, Release. eventAction: 'render' Tipsters must call or contact Metro Crime Stoppers online to be eligible for a cash reward. [4], Task force investigative reports reveal a series of witness interviews in which local law enforcement were implicated in the murders. Johnson is being charged as an adult. We want to make sure everything is handled properly so if and when there is a conviction, it will stand. According to family and friends of the victims, many of the girls had served as police informants and had seemed scared or anxious before they died. Performance & security by Cloudflare. The Abrams' son, Stephen Abram, was murdered, along with a friend Patrick Hartzog, in December 2017. [3] The two female inmates who stated the Sheriff's Office disposed of evidence in the Lopez case alleged that the evidence was discarded at the behest of Richard. Meanwhile, the saga had expanded past the realm of local coverage and into the national media. Their heightened security was not enough to prevent yet another murder, taking the body count to eight when 26-year-old Necole Guillory was spotted off I-10. Lopez. HBO began airing the show during a real bayou moment in culture: The true-crime show Swamp Murders had premiered in fall of 2013 on Investigation Discovery, and American Horror Story: Coven, set in New Orleans, wrapped up in January 2014. hitType: 'event', According to relatives, many seemed excessively anxious or frightened before they disappeared, with the article making it clear that they couldn't rely on protection from police. [4][7], In 2009, the sheriff ordered that every investigator working the Jeff Davis 8 case be swabbed for DNA in response to the accusations against investigators. The victims were either intimately connected and/or related. Most of the bodies were found in such a state of decomposition as to make the actual cause of death difficult to determine. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: The city of Jefferson Davis, Mississippi does not have FBI Crime Statistics. 2) Murder She Spoke (Ep. Since the publication of Murder in the Bayou earlier this month, Boustanys communications director called the allegations in the book completely false, and Boustanys wife sent a letter to his supporters in which she called the congressman a good man, a loving husband, and an incredible father.. eventAction: 'view' Parents of Stephen Abram spoke with the Jefferson Davis County Board of Supervisors at its meeting Monday concerned over unsolved murders in the county. To me and years later I actually feel the same way it was the best representation of southwest Louisiana, visually, that Ive ever seen, Brown says of the series first season. The Meeks were tenants on land owned by the Taylors. Emergency crews had to use the jaws of life to rescue those in the car. But he also got less than ideal attention. JENNINGS, LA Between 2005 and 2009, the bodies of eight local women were found in or around the small town of Jennings in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. Menudo Star Says Jos Menendez Assaulted Him. Although Inscoe is being charged with murder in Jefferson Davis County, she is currently being held at the Rankin County Detention Center. They interviewed more than 100 people. The Jeff Davis 8, sometimes called the Jennings 8, refers to a series of unsolved murders in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. The tiny city made headlines when the bodies of eight young women showed up over the span of four-and-a-half years between 2005 and 2009. Showtime's five-part series titled 'Murder in the Bayou' looks deeply into the case and highlights the negligence, harmful environment, and lack of police involvement that surrounds the untimely deaths of these women. } Writing about the death of the man in the bust-gone-wrong, which a parish grand jury ruled no true bill meaning there wasnt sufficient evidence to show a crime had been committed by the officers Brown compares it to the outcomes of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, which were ruled similarly. 173.236.152.142 The next two years saw no victims until in 2007 when a third victim, 21-year-old Kristen Gary Lopez, was found in another canal. A cocaine addict, Arguello was permitted to plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence for killing his wife . That's a greater justice to me than just, OK, we're going to slap some handcuffs on people," Brown told The Advocate. }); Jefferson Davis. None of them had been able to count on the police for protection. New Jeans, Rina Sawayama, Saweetie Among Gold House A100 Honorees, 'Redfall' is a Decent Looter Shooter With an Identity Crisis, Right-Wing Media and Anti-Trans Groups Welcome Kiss' Paul Stanley to the Cause, Inside the Big Battle to Save One Small TV Show, CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report, Newsmax Accuses Murdochs of Designing a New-World-Order Globalist Kill List Against Tucker Carlson, DeSantis' Disney Board Will Countersue the Mouse. Four people were in a vehicle when shots were fired, hitting two of the individuals, JDCSO said. }); Even more alarming, one member of the sherriff's office, David Barry, was fingered as a murder suspect by multiple witnesses. All the bodies had been found in canals or off the highway. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. Atlanta Monster (Season 1 all episodes) True Crime Garage (Ep. The show is based on investigative journalist Ethan Brown's 2016 book 'Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8?'. [1] However, Brown's recent investigative work exposing connections between victims, suspects, and the police casts doubt on the theory that the Jeff Davis 8 is the work of a serial killer. The backlash spooked him. Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, "8 Deaths in a Small Town, and Much Unease", "In Louisiana, 8 Women Were Murdered and Cops May Be Their Killers", "Jennings 8: Unsolved murders haunt town, police", "Jeff Davis 8: Why A.G. After escaping from prison, Bell murdered a convenience store clerk in Broomfield, and later shot and killed three men in Lefthand Canyon in Boulder. He wrote that one of his contacts in Jennings, who is deeply connected to the case, told him, Ive already heard more than once that youll never get that book out. The fact that all eight victims hailed from the south seemed to pacify the case and numb the much-needed police action. The article caught the attention of New Orleans-based writer Ethan Brown, who ventured to Jennings to conduct his own investigation beginning in mid-2011. }); (WDAM) - A Nashville, Tenn. woman is behind bars in Rankin County for her possible involvement in a murder in Jefferson Davis County. The September 2016 release of Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8? Brown clearly recognizes the pull: he named his book Murder in the Bayou. Indeed, women who provided information on the first few cases wound up victims themselves., It seemed that a new lead, a new horrifying implication, or a new allegation against a high-level individual came up every time Brown scratched the surface of the case. According to investigative journalist Ethan Brown, Richards was known to all eight of the victims and had often partied or done drugs with the girls. All of them were from South Jennings, the poor side of town, and knew each other. 56) Worst Crimes Ever (Ep. [3] Some were related by blood (such as cousins Kristen Gary Lopez and Brittney Gary) or lived together (Gary lived with Crystal Benoit shortly before her death). In this case, both apply. We want to hear it. There seemed to be a link between all eight murders but no answers were found. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Still no arrests made in April 21 shooting that left one juvenile dead, What a cookie can do for a Girl Scout program, Pinwheel garden on display at courthouse as part of child abuse awareness, Prentiss High basketball star inducted into the William Carey Hall of Fame. [2], Kristen Lopez, one of the victims, was present when police shot and killed a drug dealer named Leonard Crochet in 2005 along with several individuals connected to the Jeff Davis 8 case, including Alvin "Bootsy" Lewis, who fathered a child with victim Whitnei Dubois and is also the brother in law of the first victim, Loretta Chaisson Lewis. On the surface, much about this case feels like classic Louisiana corruption. At the center of it all was Richard, the pimp and former strip-club proprietor who was also allegedly an informant and claimed to have been sexually involved with most of the women. Davis, 24, was found dead on Highway 84 at Lucas Nov. 14 in what was originally thought to be a hit-and-run. A prison nurse and a sergeant who had tried to voice some of their concerns were subsequently fired from their jobs. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is looking for a man believed to have stabbed a woman to death and then shot four others.