The Flute That Played After She Vanished - Episode 31

The Town That Buried Eight Women and Asked No Questions: The Unsolved Murders of the Jeff Davis Eight

Eight women found in canals, on roadsides, and in tall grass across Jefferson Davis Parish between 2005 and 2009 — and the lead investigator on the case quietly bought the truck one victim was last seen riding in, washed it, and resold it for nearly double the price. This homicide investigation into one of Louisiana's most overlooked serial cases reveals how a small town's drug corridors, a jail warden, and a clearance rate of under seven percent kept eight deaths invisible for two decades.

In this episode, we explore a 2009 order for DNA swabs from every investigator on the case — results that were never publicly released — a jail warden who identified a victim's skeletal remains by a tattoo on an intimate part of her body before any official identification was made, and a string of witnesses whose testimony collapsed every time an arrest came close. Were these women killed by one person, or protected by one system? The forensic science and the institutional record point in the same direction, but they still don't have a name attached.

Case Details

Victim: Eight women — Loretta Chasson, 28; Ernestine Patterson, 30; Kristen Gary Lopez, 21; Whitney Dubois, 26; Laconia Brown, 23; Crystal Shea Benoit Zeno, 24; Brittany Gary, 17; Nicole Guillory, 26.

Date: May 2005 – August 2009.

Location: Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, USA.

Case Status: Officially unsolved. No convictions have been obtained. Newly elected Sheriff Kyle Mears, elected 2024, has publicly committed to reopening the case and retesting available evidence.

Episode Key Points

- The lead investigator purchased the pickup truck Kristen Gary Lopez was last seen riding in, washed it, and resold it for nearly double the purchase price — then was removed from the murder case and placed in charge of the evidence room.

- Jefferson Davis Parish's homicide clearance rate stands at just under seven percent, against a national average above sixty percent.

- In 2009, the sheriff ordered DNA swabs from every investigator working the case — and the murders stopped. The results were never publicly released.

- Jail warden Terry Guillory told Crystal Zeno's mother he knew the unidentified skeletal remains were her daughter — identifying her by a tattoo on an intimate part of her body — and added, unprompted, that he did not kill her.

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