LA LA - DERRICK TODD LEE - Baton Rouge SK, 1992-2003

[Bootsctr]

Glad he's gone from this earth! He still left families with questions. Very cruel!

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I live in Zachary. This monster tormented my town for years.
I graduated with Connie Warner's daughter. I went to school with the young couple who was hacked up in the cemetery that's less than a mile from my house. I know the detective that tried to get the task force to look into DTL. He is now our Chief of Police. There is a memorial tree for Randi M. planted at the local ballpark where my daughter plays softball. This animal got his evil start right in my backyard.
When I read "I've Been Watching You" I was so unnerved because I knew so many people in that book.

I did a happy dance today.
Rot DTL. ROT!

 

[KateB]

Dead. May the victims families have some peace now.

http://www.wafb.com/story/31022385/...todd-has-died?clienttype=generic&sf19369943=1

From your link:

http://wafb.images.worldnow.com/images/9700382_G.jpg
​

 

[geauxgirl]

A blog post about living in B.R. during the years that DTL was active. http://www.wbrz.com/news/sylvia-baton-rouge-was-a-scary-place-during-serial-killer-years

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Here is an interesting article about some of what I spoke of yesterday about how DTL had tormented my town for years. Our police chief, was interviewed yesterday.

http://theadvocate.com/news/1463911...iller-derrick-todd-lee-dies-at-local-hospital

 

[Bootsctr]

Here is an interesting article about some of what I spoke of yesterday about how DTL had tormented my town for years. Our police chief, was interviewed yesterday.

http://theadvocate.com/news/1463911...iller-derrick-todd-lee-dies-at-local-hospital

Thanks! From your article:

"Over the next six years, Zachary police officers' and Lee's paths would cross again and again. McDavid said Lee would park his car on one side of three cemeteries - Buhler Plains, Azalea Rest, and a public cemetery which are all next to each other on Old Scenic Highway - and cut through them to get to the Oak Shadow subdivision and nearby area."

.... Regarding the search of Lee's house in 1998 after Ms. Mebruer's disappearance...

"McDavid said during the search he was looking for car keys. He believes that Lee took a souvenir, car keys from each of his victims, at least the Zachary victims. The killer had taken Warner's car and Mebruer's keys were missing."

 

[Bootsctr]

Just looking at the photos of his victims... Beautiful women. They all look so warm and friendly. Gorgeous smiles! Then I caught a picture of Lee. He has that dead-eye look. Like, he could look at you, but not see a human being. Definitely void of any recognizable emotion. He was a killing machine. How many more deaths was he responsible for that are still unknown?

 

[Teche]

The St. Martin Parish (16th JDA) Assistant DA was interviewed by KATC and he stated that DTL couldn't have died from a heart-related illness because he had no heart. He went on to say that he hoped DTL burns in hell. The assistant DA words match what many of our south Louisiana residents.

 

[KateB]

Another post by the Advocate, with quotes from some of the family of the victims.
http://theadvocate.com/news/1464356...although-with-some-frustration-for-family-mem

Ann Pace, the mother of Charlotte Murray Pace, said Lee’s death robbed her of the justice she sought.

“The sentencing had a true feel of finality. We simply did not understand that the jury’s decision, the close of the trial, none of that would matter in the convoluted system that passes for justice,” Ann Pace wrote in an email. “The capital offender has what seemed to be limitless appeals. Appeals so frustrating, so lengthy, that some of us died before we could get to the end of it all — including, now, the killer himself.”

But while Lynda Yoder described the appeals process as difficult, she was pleased to see it end. “It’s over, and we couldn’t be happier,” she said.

Michael Mebruer, the ex-husband of suspected Lee victim Randi Mebruer, said any hope of finding her body disappeared with Lee’s death.

“We always felt there was that 1 percent chance that he might say where he put her. This morning, that died,” he said. “To have no hope at all is incomprehensible, really.”
The first murder?

Melanie Barr, the mother of DeSoto, said she found no joy in Lee’s death. Now, she said, “he goes to meet the Lord and the Lord will pass the true sentence against him.”

“His sentence here on Earth is nothing compared to what he’ll suffer when he goes before God if he hasn’t made his peace,” Barr said.

Comments from prosecutors and more, including a brief history at link.

 

[bessie]

Not everyone will get closure with serial killer's unexpected death Thursday
January 21, 2016 in News
Source: WBRZ By: Trey Schmaltz

Lee was convicted in two attacks but DNA linked him to five others. There are likely more, authorities speculate.
Mari Ann Fowler is believed to have been abducted and killed by Lee. She vanished from the parking lot of a sandwich shop in West Baton Rouge on Christmas Eve 2002. Her body was never found.

"There's two things that eat me up every day and one of them is I have no where to go to pay my respects to my mother and I've never given her the resting place I know she deserves," Fowler's son, John Pritchett said in an interview with WBRZ reporter Brittany Weiss.

Derrick Todd Lee dies without revealing what happened to Mari Ann Fowler — West Baton Rouge investigators say the case of her disappearance remains open


DNA Tests Come Up Empty in Case of Mari Ann Fowler
Undated from 2002-2003

Tonight new results are in for the heart-wrenching case of the kidnapping of Mari Ann Fowler - wife of former Elections Commissioner Jerry Fowler. For weeks her friends and family have been anxiously awaiting DNA tests from Fowler's fingernails that could tell whether her disappearance is linked to the south Louisiana serial killer. WAFB's Jennifer Hale has the results.

After careful testing, the Reliagene Lab in New Orleans could find no DNA evidence anywhere on Mari Ann Fowler's fake fingernail tips. These are the nails that likely popped off while Fowler struggled with her attacker. This means we can't link Fowler to serial killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee - but we also can't rule him out either.

In an exclusive interview, Fowler's only son says the news is a double edged sword, "I really hate to think of my mother having to suffer the way this person committed his crimes, but yet I need to know

 

[Hiandmighty]

This is actually the first time I heard they were looking to connect DTL with Fowler. I pass that subway shop in port Allen often and I think of her every time.

I always thought she was targeted for an abduction because she IIRC was grabbed at her car in the parking lot and no one saw a thing. Weird.

 

[rhapsdy]

I'm actually friends with her step children and we were just talking about this today and how his death made them feel. Apparently the west baton rouge police really believe her disapearance (Fowler) was by Derek Todd Lee...they just didn't have enough definitive proof to move forward with that. There was video footage of her abduction but it just wasn't clear enough to help with the case.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

[Hiandmighty]

Interesting. Well, tell them as I said I pass that subway often and every single time I think about her and what happened and her family, etc. I've never forgotten her or her family.

Was the video ever released to the public? Do you know?

 

[colette]

I always thought Lee killed Mrs. Fowler, so sad her family has not been able to bring her home.

 

[rhapsdy]

Interesting. Well, tell them as I said I pass that subway often and every single time I think about her and what happened and her family, etc. I've never forgotten her or her family.

Was the video ever released to the public? Do you know?

I'll let them know! I don't think the video has ever been released. I found a few more references to it online and also a great article talking about why they believe Lee as involved....apparently his cell phone pinged very close to where she was abducted at the time of her abduction.

On Christmas Eve in 2002, Mari Ann was on her way from Louisiana to Texas to visit her incarcerated husband when she stopped at a Subway sandwich shop at a strip mall in Port Allen. Shortly after purchasing some food, Mari Ann disappeared. Her vehicle was left behind with wrapped Christmas presents inside, and her food, purse, and keys were scattered in the parking lot. Some false fingernails were also found on the ground, which likely came off when Mari Ann struggled with an attacker.
Investigators checked footage from a nearby surveillance camera. Although it was hard to see anything at first, the FBI eventually enhanced the footage enough to make out the image of Mari Ann being forced into a Chevy pickup truck before it sped out of the strip mall parking lot. Unfortunately, the footage was not clear enough to provide an adequate shot of the assailant.
The most likely suspect is Derrick Todd Lee, the notorious Baton Rouge serial killer, who is currently on death row for the murders of at least seven women. Lee owned a pickup truck similar to the one seen in the surveillance footage, and cell phone records placed him in Port Allen on the day of the abduction. However, there has never been enough evidence to conclusively link him with Mari Ann Fowler’s disappearance. To date, she has not been found.

Coroner's Journal: https://books.google.ca/books?id=9s...nepage&q=mari ann fowler surveillance&f=false

Article about the Cell Phone:
jacksonville:http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/012804/D80BVIIO2.shtml

 

[bessie]

Hiandmighty, I took the liberty of adding some information from my notes to your list, and links to WS threads.

1981 Nov - Eleanor C. Parker, LSU student; East Baton Rouge - MISSING

1985 Oct - Melissa Montz, 27, LSU Ph.D. Student; disappeared on morning run near LSU; tied to log; decomposed remains found Nov 1985, LSU golf course - UNSOLVED

(2015 police take a fresh look: http://theadvocate.com/news/police/1...etectives-take

1997 Jun - Eugenie Boisfontaine, 34; kidnapped while walking near LSU Lakes; skull fractured; body found Bayou Manchac, Iberville Parish in August - UNSOLVED

1998 Jul - Natasha Collins, 31; East Baton Rouge Parish - MISSING

1999 Sep - Kassie Federer, 19; LSU student; shot to death by intruder in her Baton Rouge apartment - UNSOLVED

2000 Jan - Robin Gremillion, 28, nude body found LSU Lakes; drowned, no obvious injuries - UNSOLVED


DEREK TODD LEE

1992 Aug - Connie Warner, 41; kidnapped from Zachary; bludgeoned; body found in ditch near Capital Lakes, BR - suspect

1998 Apr - Randi Mebruer, 28; kidnapped from home, Oak Shadows subdivision, Zachary; blood at scene - DNA link - MISSING

2002 Dec - Mari Ann Fowler, 65; disappeared in Port Allen; witnesses reported silver or white truck - MISSING

2001 Sep - Gina Wilson Greene, 41; found strangled in home on Stanford Ave, BR - DNA link

2001 Nov - Trineisha Dene Colomb, 21; kidnapped from St. Landry Parish cemetery; raped, beaten; body found near Scott, LA - DNA link

2002 Jan - Geralyn DeSoto, 21; found dead in home; stomped, throat cut ear-to-ear - DNA link - CONVICTED

2002 May - Charlotte Murray Pace, 21; found dead in BR home; beaten with iron, throat cut, stabbed 80+ times - CONVICTED

2002 May - Christine Moore, 23; bludgeoned, skeletal remains found a month later on River Rd, BR; no DNA - suspect

2002 Jul - Pam Kinamore, 44; kidnapped from BR home; raped, beaten, throat cut; body found Whiskey Bay - DNA link

2003 Mar - Carrie Lynn Yoder, 26; kidnapped from home near LSU; beaten, raped strangled; body found Whiskey Bay - DNA link


SEAN VINCENT GILLIS

1994 Mar - Ann Bryan, 81; killed in apartment; throat slashed, stabbed 47 times - CONFESSED/CHGD

1999 Jan - Katherine Hall, 30; strangled with zip tie, stabbed 37 times, body dumped in Ascension Parish - CONFESSED/CHGD

1999 May - Hardee Moseley Schmidt, 52; stalked; hit her with car; strangled with zip tie, then raped; body found in bayou, St James Parish - CONFESSED/CHGD

1999 Nov - Joyce Williams, 36; picked up Scotlandville; killed Port Allen; dismembered; cannibalism; skeletal remains found Plaquemine ferry landing, Iberville Parish - CONFESSED/CHGD

2000 Jan - Lillian Robinson, 52; picked up in North BR; strangled with zip tie; body found Atchafalaya Basin - CONFESSED/CHGD

2000 Oct - Marilyn Nevils, 38; picked up in Lafayette; killed with zip tie; SVG showered w/corspe; body found Mississippi River levee - CONFESSED/CONVICTED

2003 Oct - Johnnie Mae Williams, 45; acquaintance; strangled with zip tie, dismembered; SVG kept her hands; body laid on river embankment - CONFESSED

2004 Feb - Donna Bennet Johnston, 43; strangled with zip tie; mutilated - CONFESSED/CONVICTED

 

[Hiandmighty]

I've been reading up/refreshing my memory of things related to DTL since the Boisfintaine case was reopened and DTL died, etc. I bought and read Dr. Mary Manhein's book "Trail of Bones" (forensic anthropologist and director of LSU FACES lab, now retired --I hear--) and a few remaining thoughts for the archive:

Was it ever found out that DTL drove or has access to a white pick up truck?

An overview of the case and appeals on a law site http://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-supreme-court/1398549.html shows that after they sent his DNA to Atlanta, "certain markers" came back to show the killer was possibly a black man. (This ties in with me hearing that the killer had sickle cell).

I wanted to figure out the timeline from that to when he was arrested because I never remember the task force ever announcing a change from white man/white truck to black man.

 

[Hiandmighty]

An interesting link I found discussing anecdotes about DTL: http://m.topix.com/forum/state/la/T2PP6GET4O38MUG2H/p8

 

[Hiandmighty]

Here is the link I wanted to post on my thread above: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-supreme-court/1398549.html

 

[Hiandmighty]

Answering my own question about the white truck: "Englade said the task force received Dwyer's tip on Sept. 4, 2002, and sent an investigator to look at Lee's truck after she noted it was white. But the investigator who examined the truck said it did not match the suspect vehicle."

Tips ignored about DTL: http://capitolwatch.reallouisiana.com/html/79F3AA57-5854-4CEA-898C-4C8566EDE0BD.shtml