Arrest Made of **Another** Accused Serial Killer In Baton Rouge, LA - Page 2 - Big Big Forums

Jolie Rouge · 05-01-2004, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by St.Lunatic

One other thing I keep thinking about, Dene.

Dene never fit in with the SK victims. I say this because of her adbuction location and the fact that the police said that her killer attempted to hide her body well and did not expect for her to be found.

We know that in all the other cases of victims their bodies were either left in their homes. or were dumped in a remote area, but not exactly "hidden" as Dene was.

I remember several people saying that Dene would be the key to solving the crimes. Did the killer know Dene? Did the killer have an obvious connection with Dene that would cause him to want to hide her body so well that no one would know what happened to her?

From the beginning of DTLs arrest my problem always was his level of intelligence. Of his ability to carry out these murders, get access to the home, in and out with no one seeing him, plus remove the women from their homes with no one seeing him and then successfully dump their bodies with no one seeing him, plus all the stalking time that he would have to split between being home in St. Francisville and spending time with his girlfriend(s). He would have had to have been an incredibly busy guy plus a very lucky man.

However, this man could basically sit and observe any of these victims from his own front porch so to say. His regular daily comings and goings to the grocery store perhaps on Burbank, to the car wash, just cruising around his neighborhood within a three mile radius looking for women jogging or watching them get out of their cars and go into their home. Who knows?

And the shoe size situation along with the brand of shoe. I know most disregard it as just a possible margin of error. But forever they were looking for a guy with a size 10 to 11 shoe. DTL wears a size 12 does he not? I will be very interested to see what type/size of shoe Mr. Gillis wears.

As to the phone cord found at Whiskey Bay, I have questioned is authenticity from the beginning. When asked about it the police knew nothing, yet when Pam's mom reminds them they asked her about a phone cord they "find it" and say they just failed to log it into evidence with the other items collected.

Then you have DNA magically turn up at Randi's crime scene to link DTL to her murder, YET THEY NEVER HAD ANY DNA to link Randi during the serial killer investigation, AND THEY NEVER HAD ANY DNA back when Zachary police said DTL was their prime suspect for Randi's murder yet they couldn't arrest him because they had no evidence to link him to the crime. How does evidence turn up YEARS LATER?

And the same goes for Geralyn Desoto. NO DNA evidence available to link her with the SK victims. It is reported that her killer redressed her thus they were not able to take any DNA .

I will say that although this excuse is bogus I was told by the investigators from the AG's office in charge of Geralyn's murder investigation that the reason there was no DNA evidence was because the first police responding on the scene CONTAMINATED IT. So another miraculous recover of DNA when from the beginning they said "they didn't have any DNA". No DNA to link Geralyn, thus her murder was not included under the task force's umbrella.

I don't know. Alot of fishy sounding stuff going on.

And, don't let me forget to ask, WILL DENE be the clue?

http://boards.courttv.com/showthread...0&pagenumber=3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Granny02

I have been going through all of the same things in my mind.

The major thing that bothers me, is that where was Carrie for days. I did hear that she had only been in the water for about 6 hours. Fact or Fiction, I don't know. But they did send to FL for her dental records, so it leads me to believe that it is fiction.

Pam's case also bothers me a lot. The white truck, white male, and the phone cord.

It is strange that they didn't have DNA for Randi and Geralyn until DTL was in custody.

Also it seems they had ample clues to swab DTL long before they did.

Then the chain of evidence on the DNA of DTL is questionable.
The AG takes the swab, gives it to ZPD, it sits on the shelf overnight, then goes to the LSP lab, sits there for 3 weeks.

More questions than answers. I would also like to know about the shoes, truck, if Gillis has ever been in the military, and if he has a relative here that may have a vacant house, or camp.

Jolie Rouge · 05-03-2004, 01:35 AM

Gillis' Attorney Says Defense Will be a Challenge

www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1831765

Baton's Rouge's second suspected serial killer was once again talking with detectives today... without his court appointed attorney. Sean Gillis has already confessed to murdering eight women, and more confessions could possibly be on the way.

Gillis' attorney, Bert Garraway, met with Gillis this morning for about 20 minutes at the Sheriff's office. Garraway says Gillis specifically asked him not to do any on-camera interviews in regards to this case. Garraway says his client seemed very intelligent, articulate and remorseful, but Garraway says defending this newest serial killer suspect will be an enormous challenge.

According to his court appointed attorney, Gillis has a lot to say to police. We're told detectives questioned Gillis Saturday morning, despite Bert Garraway's request for police not to ask Gillis any questions without him being there. Garraway tells 9 News he pleaded with Gillis not to talk, but says Gillis insisted on talking to police anyway.

Last night our cameras caught the first glimpse of Baton Rouge's second suspected serial killer. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed, shackled and escorted by numerous police officers. The beard and glasses we saw in the still pictures of Gillis were both gone.

At a news conference Friday, Gillis was linked to the Hardee Schimdt and Ann Bryant murders. He's now been charged with five murders officially, and sources inside law enforcement say he's confessed to three more. Police say a confession was all they needed to connect Gillis with these previously unsolved cases. "A confession is actual evidence and many people are in the penitentiary now and rightly so on the basis of chiefly a confession," said Lieutenent Colonel Greg Phares.

G arraway says these confessions make defending Gillis extremely difficult. But he points out while confessions are strong evidence, he says there's numberous cases where people confess to crimes they haven't committed. He also says this case will be tough on the public defender's office-- an office already cash-strapped from defending another serial killer suspect, Derrick Todd Lee.

Garraway says he plans to ask the District Court on Monday to appoint a Sanity Commission to see if Gillis is mentally competent to answer questions and stand trial.

WAFB's Matt Clough spoke with Gillis' father, Norman Gillis, who lives in California. Norman Gillis says he left his son when Gillis was just one year old. He says he last had contact with him when Gillis graduated from Redemptorist High School in 1980. Gillis' father says he's shocked that his son has been arrested for these murders. "I was just very sad," he said. "I was surprised. I don't know what I said. I was just surprised."

Norman Gillis says he doesn't plan on calling or visiting with his son now that he's been arrested. He said, "I don't see how I can help him."

Jolie Rouge · 05-03-2004, 04:07 PM

Computer Seized From Accused Serial Killer

www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1831765

Experts with the Attorney General's High-Tech Crimes Unit are sifting through the computer seized from the home of accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis.

Meanwhile, a hearing scheduled for one o'clock this afternoon most likely will not happen. Gillis' defense attorney, Bert Garraway, was expected to ask Judge Todd Hernandez to appoint three doctors to determine if Gillis is sane enough to stand trial. However, Garraway tells 9-News he's not sure if he will remain Gillis' attorney. That's because the case will not remain in Judge Hernandez's court.

9 News has obtained a letter from Assistant District Attorney Prem Burns claiming Judge Tony Marabella should preside over the case rather than Judge Hernandez. That would mean Gillis would likely be assigned a different Public Defender.

Jolie Rouge · 05-04-2004, 12:42 AM

Suspect in serial killings allegedly confesses to three more

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/...nfess001.shtml

By BRETT TROXLER 2theadvocate.com staff

In addition to the five murders Sean Vincent Gillis has been charged with in East Baton Rouge Parish, the suspect in the serial killer has confessed to three more, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The latest alleged victims of Gillis are 52-year-old Lillian Robinson, 36-year-old Joyce Williams and 38-year-old Marilyn Nevils.

Robinson disappeared from Baton Rouge's Melrose East neighborhood in January 2000. A month later a fisherman discovered Robinson's badly decomposed body four miles west of Whiskey Bay.

Hunters found Joyce Williams' body January 22, 2000, near the ferry landing on Highway 75 in Iberville Parish. Williams was last seen alive in Baton Rouge in November 1999.

Sources also said Gillis has confessed to Nevils' murder in November 2000. Her body was found along River Road in Baton Rouge, but she was from Lafayette.

Terri Lemoine, Gillis' girlfriend, said investigators have taken two home computers as well as two vehicles from their residence. She also said they wrote on an inventory list that they took an antique dagger that was hanging on the wall.

Another development in the Gillis case was the appointment of Judge Anthony Marabella today. According to prosecutor Prem Burns the earliest murder -- that of Ann Bryan -- falls under Marabella's section. Burns said by law that means the other ones will be handled by Marabella as well.

Burns will also handle the prosecution of Gillis. Today Burns met with the homicide task force to discuss the case. The assistant district attorney has 60 days from Gillis' arrest to take the case to the grand jury.

Burns said he expects to do that in early June, and added that Gillis will be arraigned after an indictment.

Defense attorney Bert Garraway also said today he is no longer representing the suspect in the serial killings. Garraway said he was told by Mike Mitchell of the Public Defender's Office that the Gillis case falls under another section

Jolie Rouge · 05-04-2004, 12:49 AM

Girlfriend never suspected Gillis of anything out of ordinary

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/...riend001.shtml

By BRETT TROXLER 2theadvocate.com staff
From a report by WBRZ's Ben Lemoine

Terri Lemoine lived with serial killings suspect Sean Vincent Gills for eight years, but on Sunday she said she never suspected Gillis of anything out of the ordinary. The two spent most nights watching movies or playing on the computer, and life was rather boring, Lemoine said. "Our biggest discussions were on politics, computers, science fiction shows," Lemoine said Gillis was meticulous about his video collection and organized his movie library by genre. His favorite was the original Star Trek series.

Lemoine said she always thought Gillis was a genius and that he was too compassionate to kill a bug. "In everyday life, to know Sean, you would think he should be teaching at LSU or something," she said. "He has that kind of demeanor."

But on Friday, he told her he was guilty of murdering women. He told he was sorry when they talked that morning. "I asked him, 'Sorry that we're having to go through all this and it's a mistake or sorry because you did it?'" Lemoine said "And that's when he told me, 'Because I did it.'"

Lemoine said Gillis drove around by himself a lot, and now police are telling her they know why. "I mean, he had done so well all of these years keeping it hidden," Lemoine said. "I don't know, nothing's happened recently that would make him want to change." She added, "I didn't know he could act."

Lemoine said she and Gillis had talked about getting married just two days before his arrest. She said that is now unlikely because of his confession.
"If you can turn around and see what you've done, why would you want to go on?" she said "That's the feeling I feel like he has."

Gillis' Girlfriend Speaks Out

www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1836628

Terri Lemoine's life changed the instant police slammed through this door at 1:15 the morning of April 29th. Later, Sean Vincent Gillis, the man which she had spent a faithful 8 years with was arrested for a string of murders that has her baffled. Terri says she had no idea that Gillis was capable of committing the terrible acts he has admitted to. While Gillis is officially charged with 5 murders sources say he has confessed to 8.

"This is not the Sean that I knew," says Terri. "I still need to talk to him because I've got questions that need answers."

Terri is disabled, a victim of epilepsy. During the interview the WAFB's Jim Shannon, she suffered a mild attack. It's something she says she has dealt with for years, but in the recent days has become more active. Terri says she depended on Gillis for her daily living.

Terri described Gillis, "As someone whose quiet, fun, he's a thinker. He's very intelligent, very intelligent."

Terri says it did not sink in until Gillis confessed to her over the phone. She says, "I got the answer from him you know that he told me it was him."

Terri says if Gillis had told her that he was innocent she would believe him without question. She says he hid his double life that well. But in the wake of the past 5 days things have changed. When asked if she can be supportive of Gillis, Terri says, "Not if what he says is so."

Terri has talked with Gillis only once since his arrest. However, she has thought long and hard about the one thing she has to know. -- She says she wants to know, "Why.................why?"

Meanwhile, Terri says she wants to talk with Gillis again, but is waiting for his attorney to make arrangements

Jolie Rouge · 05-11-2004, 12:43 AM

EBR Public Defender's Office Asks To Be Removed From Gillis Case

Sean Vincent Gillis

www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1855626

There are new developments in the case of accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis. 9 News has learned some interesting details concerning Gillis' DNA and how that could affect the case of serial killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee. WAFB's ***** Davidson explains.

A source close to the Gillis investigation says experts at the State Police Crime Lab have compared Gillis' DNA to that found on the murder victims in the Derrick Todd Lee case. According to the source there is no match. That could be important considering one of the reasons the East Baton Rogue Public Defender's Office is asking to be taken off the Gillis case.

Gillis is accused in the murders of five women in the Baton Rouge area , may soon find himself without an attorney. A motion filed by Mike Mitchell in the Public Defender's Office asks Judge Tony Marabella to remove his office from the case due to conflict. Attorney Bruce Unangst says one conflict is the fact he represented at least one victim in the Gillis case. Sources close to the legal team say another conflict is due to the public defender's office representing Derrick Todd Lee: that it would be incumbent upon them to look at the possibility Gillis committed the murders Lee is accused of committing. If removed, Judge Marabella would have to give Gillis a private attorney.

"I think it's going to be very difficult to find anyone from the private bar who is able and willing to take on the case," said defense attorney Michele Fournet.

Fournet is one of twelve local attorneys certified by the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board to defend a capital case. She says the lawyer appointed to represent Gillis would most likely have to work for free.

"I don't want the case," said Fournet. "A case of this magnitude can completely devastate a private attorney's practice. I'm sure it would completely devastate mine."

Fournet says defending Gillis would be worse because of recent decisions in the Lee case not to provide additional funding to the defense. "The stage seems to be set in Baton Rouge at this point for the notion that it is not necessary to fund these cases properly," said Fournet.

Of the twelve lawyers listed as certified to take a capital murder case in Baton Rouge, only five would be able to accept the case. Six of them say they can't take Gillis as a client either because of conflict or workload. And one of the lawyers on that list, which was last updated April 15th, recently passed away. Judge Marabella will hear the motion at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Officials in the District Attorney's Office say they will not fight the motion.

Jolie Rouge · 05-11-2004, 01:14 AM

[b]Gillis claims one victim was good friend

By BRETT TROXLER 2theadvocate.com staff
From a report by WBRZ's Ken Pastorick & Veronica Mosgrove

Quote:

Family members of murder victim Johnnie Mae Williams spoke out Thursday in reaction to comments made by suspected serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis through his girlfriend Terri Lemoine.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/...riend001.shtml

According to his girlfriend, Terri Lemoine, accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis claims that one of his victim, Johnnie Mae Williams, was a good friend to him. Williams, who was killed last October, is one of five murder victims connected to Gillis, according to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office.

Lemoine said Gillis called her from jail Wednesday evening and apologized. She said he talked about his eight-year good friendship with Williams.
Lemoine said Gillis told her, "Johnnie Mae was as good a friend as I could want. I don't understand why I would kill her."

James Patterson, who is Williams' uncle, said Thursday he is angry at the comments Gillis made to Lemoine the day before. "Either she saw some evidence in that van or he himself revealed something, or somebody told her something, and when he found this out he had to silence her," Patterson said. "That is my gut feeling."

As reported Wednesday evening on WBRZ, post mortem pictures of some of Sean Gillis' alleged victims were found on the suspected serial killer's computer by investigators, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The Attorney General's crime division took the computers form Gillis' home last week. Sources close to Gillis said three pictures of victims were taken from his home with a digital camera he owned.

Also reacting to the latest Gillis comments was Octavia Jackson, aunt to the deceased Williams. Jackson said her niece brought Gillis to Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago. From her home in Mississippi, Jackson described Gillis as strange, and said that "He looked like he was on drugs."

"I think he's sorry he got caught," Jackson said. "I think in another couple of days he would have gone out and found another target of opportunity."

Lemoine also said her boyfriend told her, "If I could end it all now, I would. I don't want to go through a trial, I want to die."

Jackson responded by saying, "Killing him is too good. God didn't put us on earth to kill each other. What I would like to know from him, if I had a chance to talk to him, why did you do it?" Patterson said. "At least if nothing else it will satisfy my observation of what happened."

Lemoine also said Gillis told her, "I am so sorry I've put those families through what I did."

As reported on May 6 on WBRZ's 6 p.m. telecast. If you have information or comments related to this story, e-mail them to news@wbrz.com.

Jolie Rouge · 05-15-2004, 03:04 AM

Pictures of Murder Victims Found on Sean Vincent Gillis' Computer

Sources close to the investigation of accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis say technicians have found some rather disturbing images on Gillis' computer

www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1846081

The question is are they photos of the victims released to the media, or crime scene photos ....

Just found on another site that Gillis has post mortum photos of Hall, Williams and Johnston on his computer. They know he had a digital camera according to Veronica Musgrove at WBRZ but she didn't say whether or not LE has that camera. She also said that LE has learned that Gillis frequented a website about mutilations etc.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/scripts...ein.htm#LEMOINE

News Two has learned that investigators have found on Sean Gillis' computer post mortem pictures of one of the alleged victims. That means the pictures were taken after the victim was dead.

Last week, the Attorney General's crime division confiscated a computer from Gillis' home. Sources close to Gillis say he owned a digital camera.

Sources close to Gillis also say police confiscated three pictures of victims from Gillis' home. Sources close to Gillis say the post-mortem pictures were of these three women. who authorities say Gillis has confessed to murdering.

Jolie Rouge · 05-15-2004, 03:22 AM

Ann Bryan

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead March 1994
Linked to Gillis by confession

Katherine Hall

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead January 1999
Linked to Gillis by DNA

Hardee Moseley Schmidt

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead May 1999
Linked to Gillis by confession

Joyce Williams

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead Jan. 22, 2000
Linked to Gillis by confession

Lilian Robinson

Found dead Feb. 10, 2000
Linked to Gillis by confession

Marilyn J. Nevils

Found dead November 2000
Linked to Gillis by confession

Johnnie Mae Williams

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead October 2003
Linked to Gillis by DNA

Donna Bennett Johnston

Baton Rouge resident
Found dead Feb. 27, 2004
Linked to Gillis by DNA

Jolie Rouge · 05-17-2004, 12:46 AM

Police, experts doubt that Gillis killed only eight

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/...eight001.shtml

By JOSH NOEL Advocate staff writer

If Sean Gillis can be believed, he killed for the first time at the age of 31. Not many people believe him, however. "I'd bet my medical license he killed before the age of 31," said Helen Morrison, a Chicago psychiatrist who has studied and interviewed dozens of serial killers.

"I'd assume his first killing was before that -- in adolescence," she said. "Most serial murderers begin earlier and increase in their late 20s or early 30s."

By all accounts, Gillis has been cooperative since his April 29 arrest, admitting to not only the three killings Sheriff's officials say DNA ties him to, but five others, including two that seemed unrelated and might never have been solved if not for his confession. But sources close to the investigation and Gillis' girlfriend have said Gillis steadfastly insists he killed eight women -- no more, no less.

According to his timeline, he killed for the first time in 1994 then stopped for five years. He says he killed five more women in 1999 and 2000 then stopped again, for three years. Finally, Gillis has said, he killed twice more, in October 2003 and February 2004.

Both the on-again, off-again pattern of the killings and his supposed late start are suspicious to both experts and law enforcement officials. "We can't go by what he tells us," said Sgt. Ike Vavasseur, commander of the Baton Rouge Police Department's Homicide Division. "We go by what we can prove."

Widening parameters

Gillis, 41, was initially thought to be killing only women with "high-risk lifestyles" -- those addicted to drugs and who had worked as prostitutes. The task force that arrested Gillis was created after the killings of three women who lived such lifestyles -- Katherine Hall in 1999, Johnnie Mae Williams in 2003 and Donna Bennett Johnston in 2004. Authorities have said DNA evidence connects him to the killings.

However, Gillis' subsequent confessions have changed the initial perception.
In addition to confessing to killing Lillian Robinson, Joyce Williams, and Marilyn Nevils -- women whose lives could be considered high-risk -- authorities have said Gillis confessed to killing 82-year-old Ann Bryan in her retirement community apartment and Hardee Schmidt, a 52-year-old married mother of three who lived in a subdivision.

"The Schmidt and Bryan cases make you widen your parameters some," said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Lt. Col. Greg Phares.

The warrant for Gillis' arrest in the Schmidt case accuses him of abducting her on May 30, 1999, while she jogged in Pollard Estates. He drove into her with his car to subdue her, strangled her, sexually assaulted and beat her, the warrant says. He dumped her body the next day in a St. James Parish bayou.

Based on Gillis' claims to have killed Schmidt, the door suddenly is opened to the killings of Melissa Montz, Christine Moore and Eugenie Boisfontaine -- three cases Police Chief Pat Englade said detectives are reviewing.

Montz and Moore, both LSU graduate students, were abducted while jogging near campus and found weeks later dumped in south Baton Rouge. Montz was killed in 1985, when Gillis was 23 years old (and apparently living in Baton Rouge according to city records), and Moore in 2002.

Boisfontaine, 34, disappeared in mid-June 1997. Though it is unknown if she was abducted from her home or in public, a jogger found her driver's license and credit cards on a jogging path near the LSU lakes, where she often walked and jogged. Her body was found that August in Bayou Manchac in Iberville Parish. Like Schmidt, she had blond, shoulder-length hair and was athletic. Also like Schmidt, her body was found in water.

The Police Department had two detectives assigned to the task force that arrested Gillis, but all the department's 12 homicide detectives -- among whom the cold cases are spread -- are looking into his background, Vavasseur said. They also are reviewing evidence to look for a match to Gillis, particularly by DNA. "I don't think anyone is willing to accept (that Gillis stopped at eight), and I don't think the public wants us to," Vavasseur said. "The whole homicide division is considering him."

Vavasseur said he is particularly skeptical about Gillis committing his first killing when he was 31 years old. "You don't just wake up one day and begin killing," he said. "Even if that wasn't my opinion, it would be our obligation to re-examine these unsolved crimes."

Detectives also are paying close attention to the unsolved killings of several other women who lived high-risk lifestyles. About six such women were killed in the Midcity area east of downtown in 1999 and 2000 -- a time Gillis has already admitted that he killed. Police formed a task force in 2000 to determine whether a serial killer was responsible for the deaths, but disbanded without reaching a conclusion.

Though Gillis hasn't claimed responsibility for those killings, "he's made admissions he's driven through those parts of town," Englade said. DNA evidence from those cases is being re-examined in the State Police Crime Lab for potential matches to Gillis, he said. Also, FBI behavioral scientists are comparing details of the killings to those Gillis has already confessed to.

But detectives are staying open-minded about other cases, too. Much as they did for another serial killer suspect from the Baton Rouge area, 35-year-old Derrick Todd Lee, detectives are assembling a timeline of Gillis' life, Englade said. Because Gillis apparently has lived in Baton Rouge for most of his life and spent relatively little time in prison, the possibilities are wide, he said.

"He's stood pretty firm on (eight)," Englade said. "We suspect there are more, but until there is evidence, this is where we are."

Addiction

Mac McIlwaine, a former FBI profiler who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., said the gaps between killings in Gillis' confessions give him the most pause. "The bunch-ups are strange, but other things may have precluded him from going on the hunt," McIlwaine said. "But it also sounds like this guy was pretty smart and able to cover his tracks."

Morrison, the Chicago psychiatrist, said she is less suspicious of the gaps. She called serial killing an addiction, and said that once the need is satiated, the behavior can stop for years, especially after the first kill. "They feel better but they can't exactly tell you what that means," she said. "It's not until they get the need again that they start doing it on a typical basis."

She said there are two reasons Gillis might not admit to more killings if he has committed more: Either he's not being truthful or he doesn't remember them all. Morrison said serial killers have used confession as an opportunity to get out of their jail cells and possibly get outside, directing detectives to homicide scenes.

The interrogation can be "a big power thing" for an accused serial killer, she said. Killers only like to reveal information at their own pace, and will often clam up if leaned on too heavily, she said.

Morrison also said that serial killers form memory differently than most people, which could cause certain killings to become obscured. Either way, investigators face a challenge, she said. "Unless they're capable of getting some great DNA, they won't get all the ones he's done," she said.

One person who believes that Gillis stopped at eight is his girlfriend of eight years, Terri Lemoine. The day after his arrest, Lemoine said Gillis told her on the phone that he had killed eight women. In another phone call a week later, she asked him whether there were any more. He said there were not. "Why would he lie at this point?" Lemoine asked.

Jolie Rouge · 05-17-2004, 01:00 AM

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.) archived excerpts

March 11, 1987

Clues on missing, murdered women sought outside BR
Detectives hoping to find similar cases in other cities in South Louisiana

Frustrated by a lack of leads, Baton Rouge law enforcement officers are looking to other cities for new clues in the cases of at least seven women who either mysteriously vanished or were murdered in the past several years.

By sharing information with law agencies in other cities, detectives are hoping to find similarities or differences in their respective cases. Police want to know whether other South Louisiana cities have cases that are similar, according to Detective Ike Stubbs, in charge of missing persons for the city police detective office.

"What we need to do is get the various departments in the area together to discuss unsolved homicides, concentrating on females and also females who are missing," Stubbs said. "Over the past several years, there have been a number of unsolved homicides involving females, and this is an organized effort to focus on those homicides."

Some of those cases -- about 30 percent, Stubbs said -- are similar in that there are no suspects. "Many of those cases," he added, "have different suspects and are obviously not related."

Stubbs said even solved cases will be studied again in the hope that they could provide a lead in some of the unsolved cases.

Some of the Baton Rouge cases which will be re-examined include the disappearance of 18-year-old Eleanor Parker, who mysteriously vanished Nov. 10, 1981, after dropping by her parents' Southdowns home. Her car was found a week later parked not far from the downtown Maison Blanche/Goudchaux store, where she worked. Extensive searches for the young woman turned up nothing.

The body of 27-year-old LSU graduate student Melissa Montz was found in October 1985 near the LSU golf course two weeks after she was
reported missing after an early morning jog. She had been strangled. No suspects have been located in the case.

On Oct. 13, 1986, 24-year-old Laurie Samson was found strangled in her Tigerland apartment. Few clues have turned up and no suspects have been located, police said.

In an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's office case, the body of 25-year-old Teresa Moore was found July 5, 1985, after she was abducted from a Hooper Road convenience store. Her throat had been cut, and an autopsy revealed that she died from a loss of blood. The case has baffled detectives.

In the most recent case, the sheriff's office is actively investigating the disappearance of Mary Keller Thornton, a 38-year-old woman who has not been seen since a man stopped to help her at 2 a.m. Feb. 5 when her car ran out of gas on Jefferson Highway.

Authorities have released a drawing of the man, but no traces of the woman or the man who stopped to help her have been found. The woman told convenience store clerks that the man was acting strangely, but that she guessed it would be OK to ride with him back to her car with $2 worth of gas.

Thornton has not been located, and Litchfield said Tuesday that deputies don't know what happened to the woman.

Two other cases -- in which police found decomposed bodies of unidentified females -- also will be reviewed.

Sheriff Elmer Litchfield said his office will be glad to meet with city police and other agencies in the investigations into murdered and missing women. While the sheriff said he hasn't noticed similarities in the cases his detectives are investigating, the cases could be similar to cases being investigated by other agencies. "The more input you can have, especially from out of town, the better off you are," Litchfield said.

Stubbs said he hopes several law enforcement agencies will be able to
meet soon to compare notes. "The purpose of the meeting is to exchange information to draw any parallels or similarities in the cases and to share any leads that might separate the cases or bring them together," he said. "At this
point, no one case is being tied to any other case."

"Any homicide that's solved that could be a parallel to other homicides will be looked at," he said. "We may in fact be wasting our time," Stubbs said, but he added that detectives are trying to find "anything that would establish a
pattern."

Investigators will look at the method of the murder, a description of the victims, the time of day when the murder occurred and the location of the crime in relation to the victims' homes and workplaces, he said. "It's not going to be something that's done overnight or at one meeting," he said. "We're laying the groundwork."

Each city police detective with unsolved cases involving women will contribute information to the project, and Stubbs said he hopes other departments will do the same. "Several detectives in the office were discussing it and they feel there is a need to coordinate the efforts of each individual officer and each agency," he said. "We're trying to organize to develop new leads," he said. "We don't want to put them on the back burner and forget about them."
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Police have no reason to think there is a serial killer or any other sensational angle to the cases, but are simply trying to determine whether any of the disappearances or murders might be connected, the detective said. "At this point we don't know, but we can't rule anything out," Stubbs said.