JENNINGS, La. (AP) — The unsolved slayings of eight women in Jefferson Davis Parish will be the subject of an upcoming episode of Investigation Discovery’s new “Dark Minds” television series.
The episode titled “Brutal Bayou” airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday and will explore the killings that occurred in and around Jennings from May 2005 through August 2009.
The first of the eight slayings was discovered in May 2005 when a fisherman found the body of Loretta Lynn Chaisson Lewis, 28, floating in a canal in a rural part of the parish.
Since then, seven other women, ranging in age from 17 to 29, have been found dumped in either canals or along roadways.
The killings are believed to be the work of a serial killer.
The other victims are: Ernestine Daniels Patterson, 29; Kristen Gary Lopez, 21; Whitnei Charlene Dubois, 26; Laconia Shontel “Muggy” Brown, 23; Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno, 23; Brittney Ann Gary, 17; and Necole Jean Guillory, 27.
Host and author M. William Phelps and a crew of three filmed on location in Jennings in June, Phelps said in an email Monday.
“Viewers can expect to see me out of my element (a New Englander in the South!) and having to cope with a few sources, I believe, who have been running me around in circles,” Phelps wrote. “I get one victim’s family point of view, a woman who gives me a solid understanding of what the town is going through as a very active serial killer is still out there and the pain and frustration her family has suffered.”
The series, which premiered Jan. 25, profiles unsolved homicides believed to be the work of serial killers.
The upcoming show includes interviews with private investigator Kirk Menard, who has been hired by a family member to investigate the deaths, two of Dubois’ family members, a former mayor, criminal profiler John Kelly, who works with Phelps on the show, and an anonymous convicted serial killer who works with Phelps and Kelly to explore the possible motivations behind the killings.
The serial killer has a code name of “13” and is in prison, but Phelps and Kelly won’t say where.
In a preview of the episode, Kelly said he thinks the eight victims “could be just the beginning.”
“I don’t know where he’s at, but this guy’s not done until they catch him,” Kelly said.
The show also explores the link between the victims, all of whom knew one another, and shared a similar high-risk lifestyle involving drugs, and whether the victims knew the person who killed them.
“In such a small community, how is this guy flying under the radar?” Phelps asks during the episode.
Sheriff Ricky Edwards, who was not featured in the episode, said he was not available for an interview for the show.
Edwards said a multi-agency task force of six full-time investigators and about six part-time investigators from the federal, state and local level continue to work on the case.
“It is still a very active investigation,” Edwards said.
Investigators constantly follow leads and are “using every available resource that is known to us,” Edwards said.
An $85,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible.