2002 brought a lot of national attention to Baton Rouge as major news events found links to Louisiana. The Washington D.C., area sniper was no exception. The sniper began shooting Oct. 2 and continued for three weeks.
After the elusive sniper driving a white van turned out to be two men driving a small blue car, the case was connected to Baton Rouge. It turned out John Allen Williams Muhammad was a Baton Rouge native and he and John Malvo were in Baton Rouge during the summer.
This is a portion of an article by staff writer Samantha Sieber published in the Reveille on Oct. 30, 2002.
The Baton Rouge Area Homicide Task Force is trying to decipher if John Allen Williams Muhammad and John Malvo are connected with the Baton Rouge serial killings.
Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Oct. 24 in connection with the Washington D.C., sniper case. According to family members, Muhammad, a Baton Rouge native, and Malvo were in the Baton Rouge area during the summer.
BRPD Cpl. Mary Ann Godawa said authorities immediately began steps to either connect or eliminate the sniper suspects in the serial killer investigation through comparative DNA analysis.
“The Baton Rouge district attorney is in contact with the Montgomery County district attorney to get all of our needs met,” Godawa said.
The FBI profile released in August identified the suspect as a white or Hispanic male. Though Muhammad and Malvo do not meet the profile, authorities still are looking for a possible connection, Godawa said.
“It is something we have to look into,” Godawa said. “We are standing behind [the profile] they gave us. Anything is possible, but we still believe it is a white male.”
Authorities also are looking at a possible connection between Muhammad and the other unsolved murders in the Baton Rouge area, Godawa said.
Muhammad and Malvo were not connected to the Baton Rouge serial killer, but the next day the two were connected to another murder in Baton Rouge, the Sept. 23 shooting of Hong Im Ballenger at Beauty Depot at 3055 Florida Blvd.