During the serial killer investigation, we, as students and members of the Baton Rouge community, were advised to use the information from the suspect profile and eye-witness description to make educated assumptions concerning the serial killer.
The task force also warned us not to limit our observations to the confines the profile and description established.
Now, it seems like the task force needed a dose of its own medicine.
Yesterday afternoon Cpl. Mary Ann Godowa, the Multi-Agency Homicide Task Force spokeswoman, faxed a reporter in our office a press statement from East Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade.
The release was a response to Tuesday’s press conference where a St. Francisville woman claimed she had notified authorities several times of her suspicions about Derrick Todd Lee. The woman, Collette Dwyer, claims if police had heeded her warnings months before Lee’s capture, the last two victims may not have died.
Though one may question Dwyer’s motivation to speak up now, we instead question the responsibility of the task force.
According to the press release from Englade, this female caller notified the task force that Lee drove a white truck. Investigators located the truck and “based on priorities of the task force and cumulative information to date, Derrick Todd Lee was not DNA tested,” the release states.
At a time when police tested the DNA of hundreds of men, many with white trucks, we find it absurd that the task force was aware of Lee and his record, ignored tips about him and neglected to get his DNA because he did not fit the physical description.
He was black and the task force was looking for a white man. And until an outside DNA analyzing agency presented them with information that the suspect had African ancestry, the task force fell victim to the very thing they warned against.
Police told women to trust their instincts and to inform them of any suspicious activity. It was perhaps comforting to women to hear they could call about a car following them home or a man who made them feel uncomfortable. But apparently they only should have called the task force if their suspicions involved a white man.
We also understand that Englade is thinking of writing a book about solving the serial killer case.
Laughable – it seems as if he and his task force merely tripped and stumbled over Lee rather than systematically and strategically identifying and apprehending him.
We realize that we are not experts on what went on behind the scenes during the investigation. Englade may have some facts or information to refute our argument. He has publicly stated in the past that his task force was at the top of the line compared to the efficiency of other multi-agency forces.
In the task force’s defense, the amount of white males tested most likely is consistent with the high number of incoming tips about white males. But considering tips also came in about Lee, we still think it would only be natural to test his DNA, no matter his race.
One must wonder about the priority system our law enforcement set up if a man could have such a criminal record, own a white truck and conjure such suspicions and still not be a priority.
Frankly, the task force screwed up and we find it ridiculous that they take credit for Lee’s capture.