How Eight Women's Deaths Exposed a Town's Dark Secrets: The Unsolved Murders of The Jeff Davis 8 | Forensic Files

hi crime junkies I'm your host Ashley flowers and I'm Brit and the story I have for you today could probably be its
own season of counterclock it is about eight women all last scene in the same small town in Louisiana all connected by
much more than their deaths and this Rabbit Hole goes deep but answers could be just around the corner because
someone knows something and all it takes is one person to unravel this decades old mystery
so crime junkies grab your snacks pull out your string boards and settle in because this is the story of the Jeff
Davis [Music] 8 it's 20th 2005 and a man named Jerry Jackson is ready for a warm relaxing
afternoon fishing he's standing on a bridge overlooking a canal less than 10 miles from his home in Jennings
Louisiana and before he even baits his hook he notices something churning in the water below at first he thinks he's
looking at a mannequin never no but he has reason for thinking that so he had recently heard a news story about some
mannequins being stolen nearby so at first he's like yeah he's like oh it must be one of those stolen mannequins
but as he looks closer he has this like sickening realization that plastic wouldn't attract the swarm of flies that
he sees buzzing around so he quickly calls 911 and within minutes authorities from the Jefferson Davis Paris Sheriff's
Office are on the scene and they begin to pull a woman's body out of the canal now she's clothed she's wearing blue
jeans a white blouse but nothing else is on her like no ID nothing and considering that she's in an advanced
state of decomposition they know iding her could be tough so her autopsy the next day tells them that she's been in
the water for about 3 days but they can't find a cause of death there's no mention of drowning no mention of sexual
assault and no sign of significant injury although Ethan Brown's book murder in the bayou does mention some
blood under her scalp but I'm honestly a little unclear like what that referring
to and a talk screen reveals there are some drugs in her system but they can't tell if it was enough for an overdose so
her manner of death ends up being classified as undetermined but there is one answer that they get from this
autopsy through fingerprints she is identified as 28-year-old Loretta chasson Loretta's name isn't unfamiliar
to police and Jennings she's a sex worker she'd had several run-ins or prior arrests that often revolved around
drugs and theft and although no one had reported her missing they end up learning from one of her brothers that
he had last seen Loretta 3 days before the fisherman had found her on the 17th and he saw her at a gas station there in
town now this brother had watched her get into this vehicle willingly but a vehicle of a guy named Frankie Rashard
and that is another name that is well known in town he has connections to just about everyone in Jennings criminal
underworld from drugs to sex work to just like General violence and according to Ethan Brown's book word on the street
is that Loretta was seen after this as well so she gets into this guy's car and then she's seen later at this bar and
motel known as The budro Inn it's one of the few hubs in town known for sex work
and drug activity so according to some folks who claim that they saw her she was seen with two other sex workers and
this man who goes by the nickname stymy but what happened to her after she left the Inn or how she ended up in the canal
is anyone's guess and since Loretta's death isn't determined a homicide there isn't this like big push for answers I
mean I know police interview a few people after her death but what those people say isn't totally clear and they
might not have said much of anything at all because the Divide between many of the residents of Jennings and the police
is like very wide and very deep for a few reasons one being that Jen and the larger Jefferson Davis Parish
it's located in sits between Houston and New Orleans and this makes it like the perfect pit stop for drug traffickers
moving between the two big cities and it leaves Jennings with a major drug problem people tied up in illegal
activity don't tend to love talking to the police right they also don't really trust them and rightfully so because
both jannings PD and the Jefferson Davis Paris Sheriff's off office have faced accusations of corruption for things
like selling drugs that they captured in raids using public finances for private
expenses harassing and assaulting local sex workers I mean the list goes on and on but according to reporting by Deanna
Paul for the Washington Post as much as the local community might not trust them
it actually doesn't keep them from calling them about this case the thing is they're not calling with tips though
they want information they want to know if they should be scared because you see
even though police aren't even calling Loretta's death a homicide just about everyone she knew and worked with is and
for some reason there is this rumor going around that there is a serial killer on the loose I don't know why or
how or where these even started cuz it's not like there is a string of cases that
are unsolved at least not yet anyway but less than a month month later another woman's body is found in a canal 5 to 6
miles away from where Loretta was found and it is deja vu all over again when she's pulled from the water she also
looks like she's been there for a few days at least she's partially clothed she's wearing denim shorts and despite
the decom this time there is an obvious wound everyone at the scene can see several clear gashes to her throat so
over the next few days she is identified as 30-year-old Ernestine Patterson there's no arguing that her death is a
homicide in addition to the cuts on her throat there are also some bruising that
they find on her hands indicating that she had some kind of struggle before her death just like Loretta a talk screen
reveals drugs in her system and Ernestine also they find out participated in sex work and she
struggled with substance use disorder in fact she and Loretta actually ran in a lot of the same circles knew a lot of
the same people and now they've both been found in canals under suspicious circumstances so I assume this only
fuels the serial killer talk out there so you would think but just when everyone is like getting on that train
there's like this holdup moment because unlike the serial killer rumor that seems to pop up out of nowhere and like
never get traced back to anyone there are people who actually come forward this time with some pretty compelling
stor about what might have happened to Ernestine according to Ethan Brown's book The Running theory is that
Ernestine was out looking for clients and had sex with a man named Byron Chad Jones now Byron's friend Lawrence Nixon
was apparently also there though it's unclear if they had sex but if you believe the rumors they killed Ernestine
and dumped her in the canal and there does seem to be some there there to all of this Lawrence's wife for one
eventually tells police that the two men showed up to her house with this huge blood soaked trash bag filled with
something and then left the bag sitting out on their front porch and admitted to
her that they killed Ernestine now his wife's daughter was home that night too and she says that she saw Lawrence
covered in blood when he came home ernestine's uncle is one of Lawrence's neighbors and he'd actually given
Lawrence an industrial siiz trash bag earlier that same day and then police also hear through the Great find that
Byron the other guy and Lawrence had left a jagged hunting knife in an abandoned home where whatever happened
allegedly went down now based on these witness accounts Byron and Lawrence are eventually indicted for second deegree
murder to which they plead not guilty and the case against them quickly just falls apart though mostly because it's
based on all this hearsay statement and rumors from people and police didn't seem to make use of of the opportunity
to actually gather any physical evidence like for instance that abandoned house with the hunting knife and all of that
like that house has never searched no bloody trash bag is ever found the Assumption being that she'd been in that
bag and they' used it to transport her yeah can they test the porch that the bag was left on my gosh the porch so yes
and they do but they do this 16 months after ernestine's death over a year nothing usable but I mean I'd be
surprised if they could have even gotten anything useable had they gone right away because Lawrence's wife when she's
telling them her story she admits to hosing down the porch after they supposedly left to go dump ernestine's
body it just hosed off the blood no questions asked no questions asked and look neither of those guys are like
squeaky clean by any means Byron had been arrested for things like robbery and sexual assault though I couldn't
find what the outcomes of those charges actually were Lawrence had recently been
indicted along with others for conspiracy to commit forcible rape to which he pleaded not guilty and those
charges were later dropped but they have zero physical evidence tying these guys
to Ernestine to her murder which means they go free was there anything to connect these guys to Loretta's case no
not that I can see I mean they might have known her like or cross paths with her but nothing that would have
indicated that they were suspects in her death I don't think they never get looked at for her death once this like
goes away for Byron and Lawrence like police are back to square one and for nearly 2 years after ernestine's death
things are relatively quiet in Jennings even the rumors of a serial killer seem to kind of die down that is until 2007
when two more women are killed nearly back to back our world is full of natural wonders but what happens when human
Predators visit these Serene Landscapes with evil in mind I'm taking you beyond the beauty of
some of the most unique places on Earth to explore the chilling stories that devastate these picturesque
destinations because sometimes the most beautiful places hide the darkest Secrets listen to park Predators
wherever you get your podcasts the first woman that's found is 21-year-old Kristen Gary Lopez who's
found nearly nude in another Canal just outside of Jennings in March and then 26-year-old Whitney du is found off a
remote Road in may now Kristen was the most decomposed of all the victims found so far but it made sense since she'd
been missing for over 10 days before she was found they found that she had died from a mix of drug intoxication asfixia
and drowning according to Ethan Brown's reporting but her manner of death was undetermined now Whitney was found like
a day after she was killed but somehow they know even less because both her Manner and cause of death end up getting
listed as undetermined so the discovery of the two women's bodies bring all the panic and
all the fear of a serial killer roaring back to life for the people of Jennings although despite now four parent victims
the police publicly were taking a more cautious tone while they felt these deaths could be connected they said they
weren't willing to claim that they had a serial killer on the loose but it's clear to everyone else that something is
going on here because again these were two women who ran together Kristen and Whitney were both involved in sex work
they had connections to the other victims as well Kristen had even been interviewed by police after Loretta's
death and this is when we start to see the outline of this like web of connections so remember Frankie Rashard
uh he's the guy who picked up Loretta before going to the Inn making him one of the last people to see her alive now
to be clear not the last but I think that's part of this weird pattern so with Kristen on the day Kristen vanished
she'd been hanging out with Loretta's cousin this woman named Tracy and Tracy tells police that she and Kristen had
gone to see Frankie at the motel that he was staying at there in town Kristen trusted him almost like a father figure
but they recently had some kind of falling out so he ends up kicking them out of his room after that Tracy and
Kristen end up at like a house on the south side of Jennings that's where Tracy left Kristen so again Frankie
wasn't necessarily the last person to see Kristen but he was one of them one of them and then with Whitney he was
truly the last so she was last seen on May 11th arguing with Frankie outside of his house not sure what they were
arguing about but if the rumors are to be believed he followed her when she stormed off after this like argument or
whatever now Frankie ends up admitting to both of these encounters with both of these women but he claims like he has
nothing to do with their deaths but connections and like last moment Connections three out of four it feels
like more than a coincidence and four women from the same Community showing up dead in similar way
it isn't of a coincidence to people who have been already convinced that there is a serial killer like since day one
right and the sheriff at the time this guy Ricky Edwards he isn't really doing anything like to assuage anyone's fears
he kind of dances around the serial killer rumors pointing to like the technicality that three of the women's
deaths are classified as undetermined like they don't know if there can't be a serial killer if three of the women
couldn't be determined to be homicide yeah like they're like we don't know if it's a single whatever we don't know if
it's several people at one point he claims that they may be dealing with a Serial dumper as he puts it what's that
I've never heard of a serial dumper you haven't heard of it because it's not a thing like he literally made this up
piecing it together like with what he says later which is basically that like all of these women lived very high-risk
Lifestyles that's what led to their death I think it was his insinuation that maybe the three undetermined at
least those deaths were some kind of accident or something kind of their fault is his implication but maybe that
they were all hanging out with the same people who then just disposed of their bodies in similar ways and like no fear
he gets mad backlash for all of this later kind of walks it back but when your sheriff is saying things like that
it doesn't breed confidence that law enforcemen is doing everything they can to get to the bottom of whatever is
going on not to mention it doesn't appear that they're very good at solving murders to begin with according to
several news articles and Even's book statistics from the FBI show that the Jefferson Davis Parish clearance rate
for homicides like I don't even like want to make you guess it is so abysmal it was just under
7% which like the national clearance rate is over 60 that's a single digit abysmal everyone's frustrated everyone
is scared it feels like there is no hope mhm that is until May 16th this is 4 days after Whitney's body is found
that's when police announced that they have charged two people with Kristen's murder now police didn't have to look
hard to find Frankie rishard he was already sitting in jail at this point on a pending sexual assault charge an
assault where by the way the Survivor alleges that Frankie threatened that she would quote end up like the others if
she told anyone referencing the four women who've already been found deceased so he's one of the two they charge they
charged him with second deegree murder in Kristen's case along with his niece Hannah who was one of Kristen's friends
and the arrest seems to be based on testimony from Loretta's cousin Tracy remember her so her story by this point
has changed her first story was they hang out they go to Frankie's Motel he kicks them out they go somewhere else
Tracy goes home leaves Kristen at the house whatever well according to Ethan Brown's book no
Tracy now tells investigators that she was with Kristen Frankie Frankie's niece Hannah and another sex worker on the
night of March 9th apparently the group was partying but at some point the night
took a turn when they were all out like driving around and Frankie accused Kristen of stealing from him so he like
dragged her out of the truck they were in beat her he pulled her into a canal where Hannah held Kristen underwater
water until she stopped moving Tracy apparently took investigators on the route that the group drove that night
and everything so they were confident enough in her story to make these arrests well then Tracy gets charged as
an accessory after the fact now later on a conflicting story starts to Bubble Up
one that says Kristen's murder took place in Frankie's brother's camper after he got mad that Kristen refused
his sexual advanage and that Frankie forced Tracy to hold Kristen's head down in a bucket of water like there are
elements that are the same but like pretty big pieces that change police don't know which story is the more
accurate one but the consensus seems to be that Frankie was the ring leader and that Hannah and Tracy were involved to
varying degrees except a lot like the story we have with ernestine's case we only have people telling stories we have
no hard proof of anything and actually this time they even lose the story they have as well because eventually Tracy
stops cooperating and she walks back her confession like all versions of it because she got implicated well she says
that none of it was ever true to begin with she says that the police wouldn't leave her alone so she made up a story
that she says she heard on the street and like padded it with things that she claims investigators led her to say but
because of this now like the da quietly has to just like drop the Char charges against Frankie and Hannah cuz without
Tracy they got nothing right which isn't to say that there was no physical evidence to get though so this is so
weird somehow someway a Jennings Police Sergeant now this is a different agency than the sheriff's office that was
investigating the sheriff's office is Jefferson Davis Parish so this sergeant from the police department takes the
statement of two women while they're in jail who tell this sergeant that one of the sheriff's lead investigators
assigned to the murders may have gotten rid of evidence in Kristen's murder on behalf of none other than Frankie rard
oh apparently this investigator was friendly with Frankie and shortly after Kristen's murder he bought the pickup
truck that Kristen was allegedly riding around in the night she was murdered and
this dude washed it and then flipped it for almost double what he paid the price
doesn't even matter but he basically washed it and sold it got rid of it and listen there is no proof this
investigator bought the truck to do Frankie some kind of favor but is there proof he bought the
truck or the truck if Tracy's story about the murder was real that's there's proof of
that it's not a matter of if this investigator bought and then sold the truck there's no proof of the intention
or like okay okay right and perhaps even more telling than that though is what happened
after on a warm day in 1985 aah herodin tended to her garden a neighbor waved and another passed Ada around 3:10 p.m.
but by 3:20 a was missing 3 years later A's body was found only 10 m away but finding her only compounded the
questions questions about what happened the last day she was seen how she ended up where she was and what was really
happening in A's life before someone took it I'm Ashley flowers and this is the deck
investigates so the sergeant who takes this statement about all of this Shady truck business he doesn't feel
comfortable going up the chain of command with what he's heard about one of the lead investigators he's worried
that it'll go to the wrong person and then nothing's going to happen brush on the rug mhm so he tells this local Pi
about the story and then the pi goes to the FBI we'll fast forward a little bit and the investigator who sold the truck
ends up going before an Ethics board who determined that his actions were unethical great he's fined
$10,000 taken off the murder investigations which feels like a step in the right direction I approve so far
until the sheriff's department puts him in charge of the evidence room at the sheriff's office in charge of the EV
like this guy who was unethical for what he did with evidence shut the I know up
so okay just to lay this all out no you got it the guy who sold potential evidence
for a profit and potentially like to help a suspect out and like by helping him out like by
helping him like cover something up well I don't know why he did it but okay in potentially potentially allegedly maybe
he claims that he didn't know it was potential evidence at the time but now he's in charge of all the evidence of
all the evidence it's not cool oh and the sergeant who took those two statements and then reported this whole
thing like and it got to the FBI he gets fired the guy who did the right thing according to a docu series based on
Ethan's book he's arrested and accused of malfeasance and obstruction because he went to a civilian as opposed to
following the standard chain of command that may or may not be corrupt okay he is also accused of inappropriately
touching one of the female inmates who gave him this information during their initial interview to be clear this
charge is later dropped but by that point like the damage was done to his career he pleads guilty to the malin's
charge and the obstruction charge is eventually dropped okay again the guy who takes the statement is fired and
charged the guy who did the super sketchy thing is fined and given another job within the department and also like
with the evidence which is what he was accused of makes sense where's the rule book in all of this like I'm not sure
what's right and wrong here like I know what is but what do they consider is right and wrong here I know and the
argument they have for not firing the guy who sold the truck is like he didn't do anything wrong intentionally like yes
big oopsie but you know he was getting rid of evidence for a criminal like why would you be getting rid of evidence for
a criminal in like any and again maybe he didn't know like what he was doing but like I guess that's my question
exactly like even if you didn't do this intentionally why Frankie Rashard is in custody for things and you're also like
getting rid of something that's his so there are a few theories okay one is that Frankie was working as an informant
feeding police info about the drug trade there in town if you haven't gotten this
by now Frankie is like super well connected like not a great guy and Jennings is like as small town as it
gets everyone knows everyone so having someone like him on your side can be an asset and he can't be useful he can't be
a useful asset if he's behind bars but is he a useful asset if he's just allowed to keep committing whatever
crime he wants well that's what it feels like to a lot of people in town like he
feels Untouchable he feels like he can do whatever he wants and boo I wish this was new I was just listening to this
podcast called uh who killed Jennifer Jud oh I just started listening to that very good highly recommend light spoiler
here but I'll be vag um where I left off in the series The investigator who like
host it thinks that police in that case kept letting this one guy off for everything even murders he was
confessing to because he was an informant now if that sounds unbelievable but I guess the way that
certain laws work in certain States the cops who the Ci's like report to could be held accountable for the Ci's crimes
too because they did stuff like on their watch right so it's like you let one thing slide you know they're still out
there they kill someone like oh now all of a sudden you're on the hook a little so you're like actively covering for the
CIA to cover your own ass right or equally Sinister you just don't care about the people your CI is killing and
however like you're on the take money drugs promotions whatever like that's the thing that's important to you and
here in Jennings Police are definitely rumored to be in on the take like I said there is a massive drug problem in
Jennings Police are making traffic stops all the time seizing tons of stuff but where it all goes can get a little fuzzy
when it goes to that evidence room right like oh oh yeah and we know who's in charge of the evidence room there are
numerous stories of cops stealing money and drugs from the evidence room and in the docu series one of Kristen's friends
alleges that a lot of the drugs in town actually come from the cops themselves and Frankie is at the top of this food
chain so if Frankie's at the top and the cops who are supposed to be policing his
criminal activity are rumored to be in on it who do you go to right there is no one and the community feels hopeless but
they haven't hit rock bottom yet on May 29th 2008 another woman is found by a police officer no less 23-year-old lonia
brown or muggy as most people know her is found she is discovered laying on the road fully clothed she has seven cuts to
the front of her neck along with several Cuts behind her right ear and it appears
like bleach had been poured over her body to destroy any physical evidence and mugg's an interesting player in all
of this because she kind of threads our web together even tighter starting from the beginning so remember our first
victim Loretta she's rumored to have been with a man named stymy and two other sex workers when she was last seen
alive well muggy was one of those two sex workers and and stymy is mugg's boyfriend there's even a rumor that
muggy and stymy saw Loretta's body in the canal before that fisherman saw her now if we go to victim number two
Ernestine muggy had been brought in for an interview during the investigation into her death because they ran in the
same crowds muggy told police that she had heard that Ernestine robbed some people kind of offering that up as a
possible reason for her murder but according to Ethan Brown's book some sources a little unclear who claim that
muggy witnessed Byron and Lawrence kill Ernestine and oh by the way Lawrence is her cousin could Lawrence Andor Byron
have wanted to kill her to keep her quiet about ernestine's homicide I don't think so we're in 2008 like Ernestine
was killed in 2005 they've been kind of home free for a while at this point like no one's
really looking at them hard for her murder anymore and they had been but now they aren't they're kind of off them and
in all of the rumors about who killed muggy that make their way through the community Byron and Lawrence like I
don't think they come up at all again I think it's more of like like okay there has to be an eye at the center of this
hurricane who's at the center that's what they're looking for now so st's name comes up a lot again he's her
boyfriend after all a couple of other names kind of get thrown out in connection to her case but all the names
that get thrown around they all have a connection to the same guy to Frankie rishard of course but also on the list
of potential suspects with Frankie and stymy and you know other associates is a surprise that probably shouldn't be a
surprise by now the police themselves and it's someone from the inside who tips mugg's family off that they should
be looking at the police you see shortly after her death mugg's family is contacted by the Jefferson Davis Parish
coroner who tells them that he suspects the police are involved in her death and
that he he says is being followed by sheriff's deputies now he won't say anything else not who he thinks killed
her not why literally just I think police killed your daughter and I think I'm in danger okay bye yep and if he
ever gives them any more details that's never reported on but what's interesting
is that this isn't the first time that he has contacted a victim's family and told them that he suspects a cover of
now this wasn't for any of cases that I've told you about today this is totally unrelated other than the fact
that I think it shows like the system in our case like that we're operating in but I think it's important for context
so back in 2007 a sheriff's deputy shot a man in an altercation that escalated far more than it should have and it was
deemed justifiable at the time with the officer claiming that the man had tried to shoot him so he shot back in
self-defense but this coroner had contacted the family of that man who was shot and told them that the man had no
gunpowder residue on his hand so he couldn't have shot the gun like that officer was saying now the coroner later
backtracked that accusation but obviously there were still some questions during the production of the
docu series in 2019 an investigator working with the production team wanted to look at the gun that was supposedly
fired at police but wouldn't you know it it was inexplicably missing from the evidence Locker gosh darn evidence I
know so the coroner that coroner eventually dies of cancer so he can't answer all of the questions I'm sure
that mugg's family would still like to ask him and there's nothing in the source material that mugg's family did
anything with what they were initially told and maybe they couldn't I mean he didn't really give them a whole lot to
go on no specific details no actual proof or evidence that they could use and again like they're up against the
system that's working against them I was say I feel like at this point we are kind of back to like who do you go to
exactly who do you go to and the people who are supposed to be protecting you are the ones you need protecting from so
just like the other cases eventually the investigation into muggy death stalls summer turns into fall there's no
arrests no justice for her or any of the other women there's this palpable fear that hangs in the air everyone is
wondering if there's going to be another victim and on September 11th 2008 they get their answer when a group of hunters
finds another body this time in the woods The Remains are unclothed and according to Ethan's book nearly
skeletal and while the death is ruled a homicide investigators can't positively ID the victim so they have to turn to
DNA for that and that ends up telling them that their victim is 24-year-old Crystal Shea benois Zeno who hadn't been
seen in a few weeks and she was already skeletal I we're talking summer in the woods a lot of animal activity is my
assumption now getting her ID took a minute especially with them having to use DNA and while they're still trying
to figure out who she was another Jennings resident went missing 17-year-old Britney Gary now she is
actually the cousin of Kristen Lopez victim number three Kristen Gary Lopez yes now within a couple of weeks
Britney's body ends up getting found she's nude laying face down in tall about 10 ft off a rural road like many
of the victims her body was already in an advanced state of decomposition possibly on the elements for days so
that makes it hard to determine precisely what happened in ean's book it suggested that the cause of death is
aixia and that she didn't have any other visible injuries like we've seen with some of the others and I'm assuming
Britney and Crystal fit this sort of pattern ran in the same circles knew the same people both associated with Frankie
rishar exactly but there's something that is very interesting about Britney's case
specifically now Ethan later claims in his book that he spoke to someone in law enforcement who claims that Britney was
with Dany for two days after she was last seen like drinking and doing drugs she's with Dany but that is Deputy
Danny Barry he works at the Jefferson Davis Parish jail now this dude isn't exactly a squeaky clean like no
skeletons in the closet type of guy when you think of New England you don't think of this I'm Kylie low I'm an
investigative journalist and Storyteller each week I share homicides in missing persons cases from across the state of
Maine and greater New England this is my home these stories are my passion and this podcast is my platform to help
friends and families keep the memories of their loved ones alive long after the attention fades this is dark down
east apparently Deputy Danny Barry is known around town for picking up sex workers including some of the other
victims and rumor has it from some of the sex workers in town who have visited his home that he has what is essentially
a Sex Dungeon to each their own as long as everyone's a consenting adults well listen first of all
if he did pick up Britney she wasn't an adult and sure I agree like you want your 50 Shades of Gray room like you do
you boo but this dude was lined with plastic sheeting and unless you're hosting like the town jello fight in
your basement like I don't like it Dexter Dexter Vibes yeah yes but the dungeon is just a rumor though like to
be clear even doesn't name his law enforcement Source in the book but it seems like the allegations levied
against Danny Barry are at least taken semi-seriously because according to the docu series Danny's interviewed a few
months after Britney's body is found now the interview lasted only like 15 20 minutes and he didn't tell them anything
incriminating during it he said like he can sleep fine at night because he didn't do anything didn't even know
Britney now Dany is never named an official suspect by police in Britney's murder or any of the homicides for that
matter despite Frankie rishard later alleging that Dany was responsible for all of them Frankie also says that all
of the bodies were found within a threemile radius of Danny's home is that even true so I don't think so like not
if all the reporting is accurate and to be clear Frankie could be saying all of that because he wants people off his
back right after Britney's body is found jenning's residents are tired tired of finding their women Dead Tired of law
enforcement seeming to look the other way and they make enough noise that a multi- agency task force ends up getting
formed this task force is made up of other sheriff's offices State Police the Attorney General's office and the FBI so
some major third parties yes and you would think that this new multi- agency task force like propels this thing
forward essentially with outside influences like the FBI being on board but it doesn't the sheriff's office is
actually the one who oversees the TX task force question mark wait you would think the FBI would like or any of the
outside entities yeah and as you can imagine like this doesn't go well with literally anyone so while not a whole
lot is happening with the task force Frankie Rashard is again arrested in 2009 this time in connection to like
this theft ring that's going on his house gets raided and $3,500 in cash is taken and then subsequently goes missing
from evidence so without that money the case against Frankie falls apart the charges are dropped and the one
Sheriff's deputy is fired for her suspected role in the theft which yet again causes allegations of police
corruption like that's when everyone starts talking about it again I mean I feel like there's proof of what people
saying like I feel like there's proof that it's true and hi maybe we do need someone on the outside in charge of of
all of this yes but no one takes charge in time according to the Daily Advertiser on August 19th 7 victims
becomes eight a maintenance crew doing some mowing along I 10 in neighboring Acadia Parish discovers yet another
young woman's body just 10 miles away from Jennings but the victim is a Jennings local 26-year-old Nicole
gillery while there are some minor cuts on Nicole's face and above her eye the coroner concludes that she most likely
died from asphyxia roughly 2 days before she was found according to her family Nicole was afraid in the months and
possibly even years leading up to her death not just because other sex workers were turning up dead but because she
knew a lot of them and was possibly a witness to at least one of the murders cuz guess what just like how muggy was
one of the two sex workers with victim number one Loretta like the last people she was seen with before died well lo
and behold Nicole was the other one and she had apparently told her friends and family that she watched sty again mugg's
boyfriend kill Loretta this is like same as the muggy thing though if someone wanted to silence her they waited so
long to do it no I agree I don't think sty is ever seriously considered as a suspect in her death but I don't think
anyone really is but there are some odd connections Nicole has with the rest of the Jeff Davis 8 that I haven't really
talked about yet so another common thread in this web that we have other than Frankie Rashard is Nicole's cousin
Warden of the Jefferson Davis Parish jail this guy named Terry gillery and that would be the same jail where Danny
Works yep interesting now Terry's name first pops up with Loretta victim number one literally just hours before her body
was found Loretta's mom claims that Terry went to her house and asked her where Loretta was she said you know I
don't know and Terry's response was that he thought she was missing but except you got it that's weird because nobody
knew that she had vanished until her body was found right now Terry and Loretta definitely knew each other like
intimately allegedly one of Loretta's former cellmates at the jail said that she witnessed Terry and Loretta having
sex during one of the times that Loretta was incarcerated which no matter which way you slice it is legal because
inmates can't consent to having sex with an officer correct so there's connection
number one to victim number one he also pops back up with Crystal Zeno victim number six so she made a phone call
right before she vanished to Terry I'm not sure what they talked about and after that she was allegedly seen
getting into a white truck with a few guys who were known associates of Frankie Rashard so Terry wasn't the
first on the list of potential suspects for that reason alone in that case but like something he said after Crystal's
body was found was eerily similar to what he told Loretta's mom so after Crystal's remains were discovered but
before she was identified he went to Crystal's mom and said that he knew the body they found was her daughter and she
obviously asked him like how do you know that yeah and he says that he recognized
a tattoo on this like quote intimate part of her body so how did he know that tattoo was there that's the weird part
right like I don't and I don't even know what the tattoo was of or where exactly
it was her mom later says the only way he would have known it was there is if he'd been intimate with her and again
Crystal much like Loretta wasn't even reported missing yet Terry seems to know a lot more than everyone else and
allegedly during this conversation with Crystal's mother Terry said that he didn't kill her like by the way did
anyone suggest that no dude just like offered up that information randomly which that left Crystal's mom feeling
like all sorts of like not right about it yeah then there's this relationship with another victim which is a little
less concrete but he's got this reputation around town for helping the local sex workers out when they get in
trouble like they get arrested they get in a bind they call Terry and Terry will
get them out for information in return all eight of the victims were at one point or another giving police
information on the happenings in Jennings like in the criminal underworld known fact like nobody's questioning
that and Terry was one of the people who had built out this network of informants
which included some if not all of the Jeff Davis eight so it is possible that he would hear things first right like
knowing Loretta was missing or that c had been killed I mean it's definitely a possibility just like Danny Terry
himself isn't squeaky clean M so here you go remember that other case that I talked about where the coroner tried to
blow the whistle where like the guy got shot okay so the deputy who fired the shot that killed the man was Terry
gillery what and then remember when Frankie got in trouble but then like the money went missing the Char got dropped
okay so the deputy that got fired for maybe being connected to that the money going missing whatever that's Terry's
wife oh and as the warden of the jail Terry's eventually Accused by task force Witnesses of running it basically like a
brothel or at least it's being run like a brothel by other officers who he's in charge of like officers can come in
sexually assault inmates and get away scottf free and while he's never officially disciplined for anything a
civil suit is filed against a guard under Terry's command so in one of the few steps forward that the task force
actually makes Sheriff Ricky Edwards orders that all of the investigators on this case should submit DNA samples this
happens in 2009 so there's DNA uh so here's the thing I don't know nothing has been stated publicly about what they
would compare this to or if there's ever a sample in any of the cases that they've collected that they have a
profile against also something they've never said is like what they do with these
samples oh mhm so like cool whatever happens after they're like hey everyone needs to
give us their DNA it's been kept a secret literally nothing is released about the
results I'd like to assume if there was a match that there would be an arrest but and I'd like to assume that if there
were no matches we'd also want to say that part out loud too right yeah lots of Silence coming from that side but
after everyone gets swabbed for DNA what's so interesting is that the murders just stop oh the task force
stops investigating eventually sheriffs come and go rumors still fly accusations
are still levied against people one rumor has it that the murders were never properly investigated because a
congressman had spent time at the Buro Inn where many of the women worked out of and basically like investigating the
deaths might make things messy for someone in a public office and I think that's like the overarching theme of all
of this like the apathy were all of these women victims of the same killer I don't know in Ethan's book he describes
how rare it is for victims of a serial killer to all know each other now the caveat of that is in a town like
Jennings everyone does know everyone so if there was a serial killer and he's only operating in one area the chances
are really high that his victims are going to know each other probably know each other right but it's also possible
that these women were victims of separate Killers I mean we have stymy who was allegedly with Loretta the night
she died Ethan Brown States in his book that he thinks stymy was the one who killed her he also is on the list of
people who may have killed muggy and Nicole but any secrets that he might have kept he took to his grave because
he died in 2017 and then you have Danny Barry his name pops up when Britney's body is found and he was allegedly with
her for 2 days after anyone last saw her remember we got Frankie accusing him of
killing all of the women now Danny's not around anymore either he died of cancer
in 2010 and if you're keeping track that is a year after Nicole the final victim
there's a man everyone in town seems to be connected to as well and the guy who pointed his finger at a lot of other
people and that's Frankie Rashard who at one point had most of the Jeff Davis 8 Women working for him he was one of the
last people who saw Loretta and Whitney he was accused of killing Kristen but to
be clear Frankie has always always claimed his innocence and he died in 2020 so he's not around to ask anymore I
also think it's worth mentioning Terry gillery here as jail Warden cousin of victim number8 Nicole and he definitely
spoke with Crystal the night that she vanished and then there's those weird conversations with Loretta and Crystal's
moms that like were just bizarre yeah he's never been named a suspect and at the very minimum it's like maybe he just
has weird connections to this case like we actually he's the one person who's still alive we tried to reach him for a
comment he's still working in law enforcement he's he's actually he's not in Jennings anymore he's in a town over
so we left a message for his colleagues but like he never called us back and look maybe it's not any of them I mean
they're are rabbit holes upon rabbit holes that you can go down in this story if you want to Deep dive like I didn't
even get into the guy like that got some attention around Whitney's case like her
body was found by a man named Jamie who claimed that he saw her body on the road
from where he was driving past like on a nearby Highway it was like half a mile away literally it's physically not
possible based on where he said he was so that's weird and another man actually comes forward and says that Jaime's like
straight up lying according to this witness he says that he was out driving the back roads with Jamie the night
before like before she was quote unquote found and before Whitney's body even lit
up under the headlights while they're driving Jamie was already like swerving out of the way to avoid her so what does
that mean like who is he connected to in the web of all of this I even tried looking to see if there were any active
serial killers like in the relative vicinity of Jennings around 2005 to 2009 but all the known ones were either
caught before Loretta's death our first victim or they targeted men so either there is someone out there who hasn't
been caught or there are several people who are responsible for all eight deaths
and at least as of right now that's the prevailing school of thought a new sheriff of Jefferson Davis Parish was
recently elected in 2024 his name is Kyle MIRS and we tried reaching out to him too but as of the recording of this
episode he hasn't called or emailed us back but back when he was running for Sheriff he talked about bringing justice
to all eight murder victims and he called them all murder victims he promised to keep the cases open and have
the evidence tested again what evidence I don't know but he made a lot of promises that I hope he keeps and
delivers on M the longer these cases go unsolved the harder it's going to be to see the light at the end of the tunnel
but Secrets like this don't stay Secrets forever someone knows what happened to these women cuz that's just the nature
of a small town everyone knows everyone's business and it just takes the right person or the right people to
come forward and listen that might be you so if you have any information about the deaths of Loretta chasson Ernestine
Patterson Kristen Lopez Whitney duah Crystal Zeno lonia muggy Brown Britney Gary or Nicole gillery you can call the
Jefferson Davis Paris sheriff's office at 337 27581 188 or you can contact them online
at jdpso.org Crim tips you can find all the source material for this episode on our website
crimejunkiepodcast.con and be sure to follow us on Instagram @ crime junkie podcast and be sure to subscribe to our
channel to make sure you don't miss a single video episode you can find us every week on the crime junkie podcast
feed wherever you get your [Music] podcasts and

Explore the unsolved mystery of the Jeff Davis 8 murders in this in-depth analysis with Crime Junkie Podcast hosts, Ashley Flowers and Brit.

Between 2005 and 2008, eight women are killed in and around the small town of Jennings, Louisiana. Rumors of a serial killer on the loose are met with apathy by local law enforcement, possibly due to the corruption that’s broken the trust between the public and the forces meant to protect them. Over a decade later, the question still remains: who killed the Jeff Davis 8?

If you have any information about the deaths of Loretta Chaisson, Ernestine Patterson, Kristen Gary Lopez, Whitnei Dubois, Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno, Laconia “Muggy” Brown, Brittney Gary, or Necole Guillory, please contact the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office at 337-275-8188, or contact them online at JDPSO.org/crimetips.

Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/infamous-the-jeff-davis-8/

The Jeff Davis 8, also known as the Jennings 8, refers to the unsolved murders of eight women in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, between 2005 and 2009. These women, all with ties to sex work or drug use, were found in rural areas, often in waterways. Allegations of corruption within local law enforcement have cast suspicion on authorities, complicating investigations. The case has drawn attention through documentaries and true crime discussions, with ongoing theories pointing to serial killers or institutional misconduct.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the unsolved murders of eight women in Jennings, Louisiana, exploring connections, police corruption, and community fears of a serial killer.

Key points

The Mysterious Deaths in Jennings. Eight women connected by their deaths in Jennings, Louisiana, raise suspicions of a serial killer.
Loretta Chasson's Discovery. The body of Loretta Chasson is found in a canal, sparking a complex investigation.
Ernestine Patterson's Murder. Another woman's body is found, leading to fears of a serial killer in Jennings.
Connections Between Victims. The discovery of two more bodies reignites fears of a serial killer in Jennings.
Arrests Made in Kristen's Case. Police charge Frankie Rashard and his niece with the murder of Kristen Lopez.
The Unethical Investigator. An investigator involved in a murder case is fined for unethical behavior but remains in charge of evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Someone knows something and all it takes is one person to unravel this mystery.

Introduction to the mystery surrounding the deaths of the women.

0:17WatchJan 10, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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