True Crime Collection

Jeff Davis 8

The first victim, Loretta Lewis, 28, was found floating in a river by a fisherman on 20th May, 2005. Other victims were Ernestine Marie Daniels Patterson, 30; Kristen Gary Lopez, 21; Whitnei Dubois, 26; Laconia "Muggy" Brown, 23; Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno, 24; and Brittney Gary, 17. The final body of Nicole Guillory, 26, was found off Interstate 10 in 2009.

Ernestine and Laconia had their throats slit; the other bodies were in too advanced state of decomposition to determine the cause of death, though asphyxia is a suspected cause of death.

Most of the victims knew each other well. Some were related by blood (such as cousins Kristen Gary Lopez and Brittney Gary) or lived together (Brittney lived with Crystal Benoit shortly before her death). The victims also shared in common traits such as poverty, mental illness, and history of drug abuse and prostitution.

The women all also served as informants for the police about the local drug trade and often provided police with information about other Jeff Davis 8 victims before their own deaths.

Kristen Lopez, one of the victims, was present when police shot and killed a drug dealer named Leonard Crochet in 2005 along with several individuals connected to the Jeff Davis 8 case, including Alvin "Bootsy" Lewis, who fathered a child with victim Whitnei Dubois and is also the brother in law of the first victim, Loretta Chaisson Lewis. A grand jury investigated the shooting and determined there was no probable cause for a charge of negligent homicide against police even though a Louisiana State Police investigation into the Crochet shooting concluded that he was unarmed when he was shot to death by law enforcement. However, witnesses told investigators they believed the police had killed many of the victims because of what they knew about the shooting of Leonard Crochet. 

In December 2008, a task force consisting of 14 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies was formed to solve the killings. From the outset, the task force was searching for a serial killer. However, recent investigative work exposing connections between victims, suspects, and the police casts doubts on the theory that the Jeff Davis 8 is the work of a serial killer. Family members of the victims suspect the police are actually responsible for the deaths.

Task force investigative reports reveal a series of witness interviews in which local law enforcement were implicated in the murders. Statements from two female inmates portrayed suspects working with the sheriff's office to dispose of evidence in the Kristen Lopez case. However, the sergeant who took the statements was forced out of his job, and the allegations were ignored by law enforcement.

Sheriff's office chief criminal investigator, Warren Gary, was also accused of purchasing a truck suspected of having been used to transport a body for the purpose of discarding evidence. In 2009, the sheriff ordered that every single investigator working the Jeff Davis 8 case be swabbed for DNA in response to the accusations against investigators. However, the office refuses to comment on the results of the DNA testing. 

Police have arrested or issued warrants for the arrest of 4 people in connection with the case. 2 people were held on murder charges for months before being released due to issues with evidence.

Frankie Richard, a local strip club owner and suspected drug dealer admitted to being a crack addict and to having sex with most of the victims. He was among those last seen with one of the victims, Kristen Lopez. Law enforcement's own witnesses have connected Frankie to the Sheriff's Office. The 2 female inmates who stated the sheriff's office disposed of evidence in the Kristen Lopez case alleged that the evidence was discarded at the behest of Frankie. 

Byron Chad Jones and Lawrence Nixon (a cousin of the 5th victim, Laconia Brown) were briefly charged with second degree murder in the Ernestine Patterson case. However, the sheriff's office did not test the alleged crime scene until 15 months after Ernestine's murder, and found it "failed to demonstrate the presence of blood."