Baton Rouge was a place of fear during 2002. With a serial killer on the loose and no resolution in sight, residents, particularly women, armed themselves with Mace, pepper spray and other personal safety devices.
But the summer of 2003 was much different. With the May arrest of serial killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee, residents turned their attention to court appearances and the search for more evidence and possibly more victims. Here is a breakdown of the major events in the case this summer.
May 5: Derrick Todd Lee submits a sample for DNA testing.
May 23: The Mutli-Agency Homicide Task Force announces it is assisting the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office in finding a suspect in attacks on women in Breaux Bridge, La.; a sketch of a possible suspect in those attacks is released.
May 25: DNA test results match Lee’s DNA with DNA taken from all five serial killer victims.
May 26: The task force identifies 34-year-old Lee as a suspect in the murders of Gina Wilson Green, Charlotte Murray Pace, Pam Kinamore, Trineisha Dene Colomb and Carrie Lynn Yoder. A warrant is issued for Lee’s arrest in connection with Yoder’s murder.
May 27: Lee is arrested outside a tire shop in Atlanta, Ga. St. Martin Parish authorities issue a warrant charging Lee with attempted first degree murder and aggravated attempted rape in a July 9, 2002 attack.
May 28: Lee returns to Baton Rouge and is booked in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
May 29-30; June 2-3: Authorities dig up several concrete slabs poured by Lee in East Feliciana Parish after receiving tips that other victims may be buried under the slabs; bones are found, but authorities determine them to be animal, not human.
May 30: Law enforcement officials seize a white pickup truck belonging to a relative of Lee’s girlfriend; the public defender’s office is assigned to Lee’s case, with Mike Mitchell as Lee’s lead attorney.
June 17: Officials announce Lee is the prime suspect in two Zachary murders – the 1992 murder of Connie Warner and the 1998 murder of Randi Mebruer.
June 19: Officials use DNA to connect Lee to the January 2002 murder of 21-year-old Geralyn DeSoto of Addis.
June 25: A grand jury indicts Lee for the murder of Charlotte Murray Pace. Prosecutors also file a formal notice that they intend to seek the death penalty against Lee. Mitchell files a motion asking that all evidence in the serial killer investigation be preserved. Mitchell also files a motion asking for a court order to obtain outside funding for Lee’s defense. The motion says the public defender’s office will ask to be removed from Lee’s case if it cannot obtain adequate funding.
July 2: Lee pleads innocent in the Pace case; a trial date is set for March 1, 2004.
July 22: The East Baton Rouge Parish Prison sends Lee to the University’s Earl K. Long Medical Center for medical evaluation.
July 24: Lee undergoes a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.
July 30: Authorities release a surveillance video of Charlotte Murray Pace at a Perkins Road car wash, proving she was alive after noon on May 31, 2002 and that state District Judge Richard Anderson was correctly assigned to the case.
August 13: Prosecutors announce they have eyewitnesses who can identify Lee in Pace’s murder. The First Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Lee’s case should remain before Judge Anderson.
August 14: Judge Anderson refuses to order any governmental agency to provide money for Lee’s defense. He urges Lee’s attorneys to ask for money from the state Interim Emergency Board.
Sources: The Advocate, The Advertiser, klfy.com