Mississippi Crime Statistics Hed spent years compiling the story, but by the fall of 2013 it was languishing in editorial limbo at a mens magazine. If Jennings seemed like any other rural Louisiana town at first glance, it only took a few days for Browns suspicions to grow deeper. All three murders were committed while Anaya was age 17. 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. 15 Tennessee Murders That Will Keep You Up At Night Less than two weeks later, Reginald Hartzog was found dead of a gunshot wound in a burned home on Hartzog Magee Road. Whoopi Goldberg interrupts 'The View' live segment, raises her voice and hits co-host, Demi Moore has not left Bruce Willis's side and is doing everything to make his 'last moments happy', 'Liza took a final breath and sighed': Liza Burke, 21, dies 6 weeks after stage 4 cancer diagnosis, Baywatch star Jeremy Jacksons ex-wife Loni Willison spotted looking for food in LA waste, Archie Blake: Boy, 11, mauled by shark while snorkeling just meters away from shore during family trip. 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. Who Killed the Jeff Davis 8?. An investigation into a real-life True Thats when he saw a trailer for the first season of True Detective. Phone. Your IP: This Web site is funded through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (2018-FU-CX-K045). Unsolved MURDERS of Jefferson Davis 8 : r/UnsolvedMurders We are reaching out to you in hopes that you will make an announcement to the citizens in your . pg.acq.push(function() { 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. eventAction: 'click_adunit' Later that day, speaking with some former police officers, Brown recounted his experience. Mississippi Skies: How long will the great weather last? A gendas. 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 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. As Brown pointed out, Richards had multiple allegations made against him and had been arrested around 23 times but was never convicted for any of his crimes. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The incident happened on Zion Hill Church Road. 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. The residents of Jennings explained that the north side of Jennings is full of the privileged and rich while the south side is known for poverty, prostitution, and drugs. hitType: 'event', A raid of Richards' home in 2009 found weapons, cash, and drugs in his possession. Jefferson Davis County is in the 81st percentile for safety, meaning 19% of counties are safer and 81% of counties are more dangerous. Address. let gads_event; }); Parents of Stephen Abram spoke with the Jefferson Davis County Board of Supervisors at its meeting Monday concerned over unsolved murders in the county. [2], The first victim, Loretta Lewis, 28, was found floating in a river by a fisherman on May 20, 2005. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Brown was shocked after all, this was the murder of someone intimately connected to other homicide victims. The Jeff Davis 8, sometimes called the Jennings 8, refers to a series of unsolved murders in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. Once authorities arrived on the scene, they discovered that Davis had also been wounded with multiple gunshots. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. }); View Official Website. 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. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. 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. Just two days later, authorities found 25-year-old Ashley Oatis shot to death after a drive-by shooting on Valentines Day. They interviewed more than 100 people. }); Jennings, Louisiana, is a rather quiet space and the parish seat of Jefferson Davis. According. And most compelling, Brown writes, is that most if not all of the Jeff Davis 8witnessed other murders. There are references to mistaken deaths in Atlanta and Tampa as the result of shoddy police informant tips. Unsolved Homicides - Prince William County, Virginia 173.236.152.142 3 high schoolers arrested in deadly rock-throwing crime spree Though the article wasnt particularly long, it detailed the inability of Jefferson Davis law enforcement to get any leads on the case that had so far seen eight deaths not negligible, especially in a town of only 10,000 residents. 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. And they said, essentially, Welcome to Jennings. Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies 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. The Abrams' son, Stephen Abram, was murdered, along with a friend Patrick Hartzog, in December 2017. You can almost smell it on True Detective all chemical refineries and Spanish moss and creeping swamps which captured it marvelously. 5 Things You Need To Know About The Complex Case Of The Jennings 8 A witness later said she saw Lopez, the third victim, in the truck on the day of her disappearance, but by then the vehicle had already been washed and resold. Convicted of killing his girlfriend's mother, brother and niece. Everything that Im talking about in this book is not confined to Louisiana., But where shows like True Detective lean heavily on the built-in spookiness of the swamp, Brown almost instantly does away with the tropes you came for in favor of a more powerful idea. Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center, Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, https://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_homicides_in_2023&oldid=201245, March 14: Timothy R. Davidson, 62, was died at, March 19: Djuante Nyjuwan Dickers, 23, died at. 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. Two men were held for second-degree murder, though the charges were later dropped. were handled by local law enforcement with some in the town even thinking local sheriffs were involved. 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. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { [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. 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. All rights reserved. We have got to do better in this county., We know the families are hurting. While reassuring to some, the beefed-up scrutiny wasn't enough to prevent an eighth death in August 2009, 26-year-old Necole Guillory was spotted off I-10 in nearby Acadia Parish or provide any new answers. The victims who have become known as "The Jennings 8" or "The Jeff Davis 8" were all different, but they were also deeply connected in various ways. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ Whenever he was back in New Orleans, Brown used Louisianas excellent public records laws to request thousands of legal documents, police personnel files and building liens, which he pored over. document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8. But the book deal came three to four months before Ferguson and and Eric Garner, and I believe that none of these issues were on the table in any real way pre-Black Lives Matter. Amid a tight battle for a Senate seat, Boustany filed a defamation lawsuit against Brown and his publisher. [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. That's a greater justice to me than just, OK, we're going to slap some handcuffs on people," Brown told The Advocate. 15-year-old charged in roadside murder of Mississippi man originally The September 2016 release of Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8? eventAction: 'view' The book, obviously a much more detailed account than the Medium article, includes a particularly jaw-dropping revelation that came to light since 2014: In the second-to-last chapter, Brown discovers a connection between some of the victims and Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany. pg.acq.push(function() { Despite the numerous allegations, Barry sat for only one interview with the task force before his death in 2010. The Arkansas Department of Health regulates the sale of food at establishments that include restaurants, bars, day cares,. [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. It's to say that the way in which they lived, this life so beyond hardscrabble Where do I get a cheese sandwich today? He published the article on Medium on January 31st, 2014, under the title Who Killed the Jeff Davis 8? and subtitled it an investigation into a real-life True Detective case., The show was a few episodes in and already a runaway success. Last year, Radelet put together a letter to Governor John Hickenlooper's office that highlighted studies he'd conducted arguing against the death penalty, with one section pointing out how inconsistently (and rarely) it's been sought in Colorado even for the most shocking crimes. Notifications can be turned off anytime from browser settings. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. }) Man facing multiple charges in double fatal shooting at a Jefferson hitType: 'event', 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 . 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. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. BASSFIELD, Miss. Despite speculation, the Jeff Davis 8 cases were not the inspiration for the first season of the HBO series True Detective, according to creator Nic Pizzolatto in the series DVD commentary. Davis, 24, was found dead on Highway 84 at Lucas Nov. 14 in what was originally thought to be a hit-and-run. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Bassfield man found dead outside home following early-morning shooting The details of the Jeff Davis 8 murders are so incredible - and so quintessentially bayou - that if they were fiction they'd seem a little heavy-handed. This is a List of homicides in 2023, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. Brown clearly recognizes the pull: he named his book Murder in the Bayou. }); ga('ads.send', { For years, the police department has implied that a serial killer was in the parishs midst, but its been over a decade since the killings began, and the cases remain unsolved. [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. 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.