Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Bayou Serial Killer” - Ronald Joseph Dominique

Episode Date: July 1, 2019

He never caught a break growing up. He was mercilessly bullied, and no romantic prospects ever gave him a chance. In 1997, Ronald Dominique decided to take matters into his own hands. He would take what he wanted, no matter who got in his way. Parcasters - How do you delegitimize a queen? Ensnare her in a diamond heist, of course! Tune in to GONE this week to hear about the plot to steal Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace. Listen to GONE on Spotify or wherever you get your Parcast Originals! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Start selling on Deepop, where Taste recognizes taste. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, Listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. The moon rises over rural Louisiana. Its light gleams on the murky swamp water and spills onto dirt roads. On one of these roads, a young drifter pedals an old bike.

For a while, he's completely alone. Eventually, a lone car rattles down the road behind him. It passes by, stops, and then backs up. The driver leans out of the window. He's a frail, balding man. He strikes up a conversation with the drifter and quickly steers the discussion to sacks. He offers money for the drifter to come back to his place.

A lot of money. The drifter knows it's risky, but he needs cash. Job opportunities are few and far between in the area. Even if he only gets a ride out of it, it would still save hours of biking. Besides, the small, meek driver doesn't seem to pose much of a threat. Four days later, the drifter will be found lying face down in the Louisiana swamp, another victim of the Bayou Strangler. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson.

This is serial killers, a parkast original. Every Monday, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we're going to explore the shocking crimes of Ronald Dominique, the Bayou Strangler. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing.

Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. And if you enjoy today's episode, the best way to help us is to leave a five-star review wherever you're listening. It really does help. We also now have merchandise. Head to parkast.com slash merch for more information. Ronald Dominique killed 23 men and boys in and around the small town of Homa, Louisiana, between 1997 and 2006. each victim was restrained, raped, and strangled before being dumped in the swamp. This week, we'll cover Ronald Dominique's early life, early crimes, and his first murders.

Next week, we'll cover his later murders and eventual arrest, as well as the lurid confession that led to his conviction in 2007. Ronald Joseph Dominique was born on January 9, 1964, in Tibado, Louisiana, about 90s. minutes southwest of New Orleans. He had an older sister who was often his only source of support. His father largely ignored Ronald, so his mother and sister played significant roles in his upbringing. Ronald grew to be a painfully shy young boy. He was short and chubby and preferred choir to sports. He never got particularly good grades or stood out in class. His introversion and appearance made him a frequent target of bullies at his school, who picked on him and beat him up regularly.

He later told a sociologist the ridicule made him feel so powerless that he often skipped school so he wouldn't have to face his classmates. With few friends his own age to talk to, Ronald gravitated to his extended family instead. Several of his aunts on his mother's side lived nearby. Ronald often spent afternoons drinking tea with them instead of going outside to play with his cousins. Relatives who were close to him later said Ronald was a kind boy and always went out of his way to help them when he could. He tried in his own way to make friends, but his social awkwardness made it difficult for him to connect with kids his own age. On top of that, Ronald rarely received

positive encouragement from the men in his life. His uncles and male cousins often bullied him as badly as the kids at school. They called him effeminate and weak in attempts to to toughen him up, their words hurt Ronald deeply and only worsened his self-esteem issues. He faced further adversity during his early years due to his family's financial status. He never spoke about his childhood in great detail, but it's likely Ronald had to contend with extreme poverty until he was at least 18. Tibadoe is a small city with a population well under 15,000 and a median income that is only half the statewide median income. Between 20 and 25% of families in Tibado live below the poverty

line. Like many of the residents in town, it's probable the Dominique struggled to make ends meet. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. In a study entitled Childhood Poverty and Adult Psychological well-being. Gary W. Evans points out the correlation between childhood poverty and a pervasive sense of helplessness that follows these children into adulthood. Ronald grew up feeling totally helpless and afraid. He was at the mercy of bullies, lacked self-esteem, and felt the stress of his family's financial hardships. Disadvantaged children grow up feeling their circumstances

are beyond their control. Without the security of a comfortable upbringing, Evans' studies. concludes, Ronald may not have formed a sense of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their own ability to achieve goals. It's possible his murders were motivated by a desire for the control he never felt during his childhood and a lack of confidence that he could achieve anything else. In his early years, Ronald's family was his only source of comfort when he felt things were out of his control. But the connection was suddenly severed in his teens. One day, Ronald was out in the front yard playing with a ball by himself. He accidentally threw the ball onto the roof of the small house and climbed up the side

to retrieve it. He ended up right in front of the window to his mother's bedroom. When he looked inside, he saw his uncle on top of his mother in the midst of intercourse. Though he tried, Ronald could never make himself forget what he saw. Witnessing incest at such a young age could have had a profound impact on the boy's developing sexuality. According to a study on sexual development in people from childhood to adulthood, aberrant erotic development, such as paraphylia, can be traced to traumatic family and social experiences. The trauma of witnessing such a disturbing act likely

reinforced his feelings of helplessness. He felt betrayed by the only people he trusted. Afterward, he withdrew into himself for the rest of his life. He moved out of his parents' home and into a camper trailer they kept in the backyard. Ronald attended high school from 1978 until 1982. He was so quiet in class, other students hardly remembered him years later. Glee Club was the only place where he came out of his shell. Ronald loved performing and sang in the school chorus, but only connected with a few students this way. For most of his classmates, it was just another reason to bully him.

They called him short, overweight, and gay. At the time, Ronald had not yet come out as gay, and the constant mockery left him with a long-lasting shame about his sexuality, compounding the shame already imposed on him by uncles and cousins. After high school, Dominique worked a series of odd jobs and lived a transient life. He migrated from his parents' house to his own trailer, to a trailer he shared with his sister, depending on the year and his finances. He also developed a chronic heart condition in his 20s that gave him attacks of severe chest pains and trouble breathing.

He relied on his sister to care for him when he was sick. She was the closest thing he had to a confidant, but even she rarely spent much time with him outside of her home. Ronald's love life remains a mystery, but he did come out as gay at some point in his late 20s. He was known to be part of the small gay community in Homa, but had trouble making romantic connections. It seemed to him that he didn't fit in anywhere. Ronald still maintained a love of performance. He dressed in drag as Patty LaBelle at the local gay bar for several years in his mid-20s, but did not receive rave reviews.

Spectators felt he had no stage presence and made a terrible LaBelle. Ronald continued singing anyway. He enjoyed being in the limelight. It reminded him of his days in the high school Glee Club. Aplause, even if it was sparse, provided him with the validation he spent his whole life seeking. In 1993, when Ronald was 29, he moved into his own trailer in Tibido. His neighbors across the road described him as, okay. They exchanged pleasantries with him in the mornings, but like most people, didn't pay him much attention.

At the time, Ronald worked as a truck driver for a vending company. he spent long nights traveling across the state, alone with his thoughts. It seemed he had nothing to strive for. He had no romantic or financial prospects. He didn't even really have friends other than his sister. One night, while driving through East Homa and trying to distract himself from these unpleasant thoughts, he spotted a young man walking on the side of the road. He had a long drive ahead of him and thought talking to someone would help the time go by faster.

He decided to see if the man needed a ride. Ronald pulled over and struck up a conversation through his cracked window. The man was tall and thin and lived down the street. During their brief conversation, he opened up to Ronald about his struggles with drug addiction and homelessness. Something about the stranger attracted Ronald. His vulnerability made Ronald feel powerful by comparison. For once, he felt in control. But he could tell the man wasn't interested in.

another man, or at least wasn't interested in Ronald. Not knowing what to do, but wanting to see the stranger again, Ronald formed a plan. Instead of hitting on him or asking if he needed a ride, Ronald offered to sell the stranger some marijuana. They agreed to meet in a couple of days, just enough time for Ronald to decide what to do next. They met on the same road two days later. Ronald offered the young man a ride to his house so he could get the weed. Desperate and tired from living on the streets, the man agreed. Even though it seemed strange, Ronald hadn't just brought the weed with him in the first place. When they arrived at Ronald's house, he asked the man to step into the bathroom so he could grab the drugs.

He claimed he wanted to make sure his stash remained a secret. His new friend obliged. Ronald had been thinking about this moment nonstop since meeting the young man. He could hardly believe it was all going. as he'd hoped. As soon as the man stepped into the bathroom, Ronald grabbed a gun he'd hidden nearby. He called the man back out of the bathroom and pointed the gun. Then he pulled out something else, a pair of handcuffs. Ronald forced the man to lie down on the bed and cuff himself. Then he undressed, assaulted, and raped his first victim. The book Men Who Rape, the Psychology of the Offender, explores common motivations for male rape. It addresses the idea of rape as a pseudo-sexual rather than a sexual act.

Instead of being an expression of sexual desire, the book states that rape generally satisfies primarily non-sexual needs for the perpetrator, like power, control, and anger. As we discussed earlier, Dominique grew up with a pervasive sense of helplessness. Even as an adult, the feeling never went away. And thanks to his bullies in high school, the helplessness was mixed with shame he felt about his sexual orientation. The combination of repressed anger and shame finally erupted. Ronald took out his rage on the first person he felt he could control, the young homeless man he found on the side of the road in 1993.

After Ronald raped the stranger, he unlocked the handcuffs and released him. The man immediately ran to the police, but they weren't interested in his story. Though he had marks on his wrists from the handcuffs, they claimed there was no conclusive evidence of rape. Ronald wasn't investigated or arrested. Because Ronald's crimes began with sexual violence, he may have experienced parapheria. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, Paraphilia is a blanket term referring to when a person's sexual arousal and gratification relies on a specific act that is atypical or extreme.

This act can be harmless, but it becomes a disorder when the desire causes distress or harm to somebody else. In Ronald's case, he seems to have enjoyed rendering his victims helpless and causing them pain. Ronald was tense for a few days following the rape, but afterward was euphoric. Knowing that he'd broken the law without suffering any repercussions made him feel more powerful than he'd ever felt before. It was everything he fantasized about, and he decided he needed to do it again. But he knew he had to be careful. Finding the young man on the side of the road had been a fluke. He wasn't going to push his luck without another perfect opportunity.

He worked out a scheme based on his first success. He decided he would lure his victims in with promises of drugs or money. He would only select individuals he thought would be most vulnerable, like the homeless or the drug addicted. His caution meant severely limiting his opportunities, though. He lived in a small town filled with people he knew and grew up with. He had to be sure he wasn't recognized. Ronald wouldn't get the opportunity he hoped for until three years later.

In the meantime, he scraped by as best he could. He worked temporary jobs when they were available and tried but failed to make social connections. He reached an emotional low point in 1994, only a year after his initial attack. He had taken to going to the single gay bar around Homa more frequently in an attempt to be accepted in the local gay community. Unfortunately, he found little success.

He was even bullied there, which brought back grim memories of high school. Ronald remained extremely insecure about his physical appearance, and after repeatedly facing rejection at the bar, he took to drinking heavily. One night in 1994, Ronald had too much to drink and drove home. He was pulled over by police for speeding. The officer smelled liquor on his breath

and arrested him for driving while intoxicated. His brush with the law convinced him to lay low for over a year. By 1996, when he was 32, he was eager to feel the rush and gratification he'd felt three years prior. It was all he had thought about since then. That year, a second man came to Tibadoe police with a story that was nearly identical to that of Ronald's first victim. Like the first man, he had also met Ronald while walking along a secluded road. Ronald offered him drugs and he accepted a ride back to Ronald's trailer. There, Ronald held him at gunpoint, restrained, and raped him. The second victim happened to give his report to the same officer

who had spoken to the first, Officer Harrelson. After the second man confirmed Ronald's identity, Harrelented. Ronald was brought in for questioning. Ronald was nervous and embarrassed throughout the interrogation. He never maintained eye contact for more than a second. Almost immediately, he admitted to the gun, the restraints, and the sex. Yet he told a very different story than the men who accused him. He claimed he had picked up both men for sex, but got cold feet when they got back to his home. According to Ronald, when he told the men he was nervous, they both separately volunteered to be restrained to make him more comfortable. After sex, Ronald said things got tense.

The men demanded money from him. He got scared, threatened them with his gun, and kicked them out. He told Officer Harrelson, quote, I would never hurt nobody. I'm not that type of person. But the police didn't buy it. Ronald was a terrible liar, and his story was unconvincing when compared to the two identical accusations made years apart.

He was charged with forcible rape and jailed on August 15, 1996 at the age of 32. It should be noted, however, that while we only know about these two assaults, it's statistically likely that Dominique raped or assaulted someone else before 1993. According to an analysis of data on rape and sexual assault compiled by Lawrence Greenfeld, 60% of sexual assault murderers are under the age of 30. In addition, offenders in sexual assault cases, which ended in murder, were found to be on average six years younger than cases without murder. murder. Given the frequency of his later offenses, it's possible Ronald regularly abducted and

raped men, but this was the first time he was caught. Ronald's first experience in jail terrified him. The adrenaline rush and feeling of total control he'd experienced after restraining and assaulting his victims vanished. Instead, he only felt fear. To make matters worse, the jail where he was sent to await his trial was rough and poorly supervised. During his first months there, he was raped and assaulted so badly he was sent to the hospital. The experience had a profound effect on Ronald. But while it might make sense that after experiencing rape himself, Ronald would think twice before committing that crime.

He felt no such empathy. Instead, he only grew angry. Luckily for Ronald, he didn't spend long stewing in prison. Forcible rape carries a penalty of five to... 40 years in jail, but three months after he was arrested, the charges against him were dropped. Ronald's second victim was homeless and erratic, much like his first. He skipped town before the trial and police couldn't hold Ronald without evidence. Ronald Dominique was released from jail on November 7, 1996, with plans to ensure nobody would ever be able to send him back to jail

again. Ronald blamed his victim for his jail time. He swore he'd never be that helpless again. He promised he would never return to jail, not because he was going to straighten out his life, but because he would no longer leave survivors to come forward. Coming up, Ronald begins a killing spree that, for better or for worse,

would finally garner the attention he had spent his life chasing. Now, back to the story. In 1997, several months after being released from prison on charges of forcible rape, Ronald Dominique, age 33, was ready to commit his first murder. He had been traumatized in jail and needed to reclaim a sense of control over his life. His first murder victim was a young man called David Levon Mitchell Jr., known by family and friends as Tweedy. David was dropped off at his grandmother's house. in the summer of 1997, after spending several days visiting Homa, Louisiana.

He told his mother that his uncle was going to give him a ride back home to Luling, about 45 minutes away. But that night, his uncle got delayed on his way to pick David up. David was eager to meet up with his friends back home, so he decided to hitchhike to Luling instead. He never made it back. His parents assumed he was with his friends when they didn't hear from him. But on Monday, when he didn't show up for work at St. Charles Parish Hospital,

his supervisor called his mother. She was shaken. David was never late, and he certainly never missed work. She called the police department, but by then it was too late. The following day, July 14, 1997, rumors spread through town that a body matching David's description had been found on River Road in Honville, about five miles. from his home. The body was floating in a ditch off of the main road.

The cause of death was officially listed as accidental drowning, which seemed impossible to David's parents. He knew how to swim, and the water was only chest deep. There were no drugs or alcohol in a system either. So how could he have drowned? For now, all detectives could do was shrug their shoulders. It's likely that Ronald picked David up while he was hitchhiking. In later confessions, Ronald said he generally seduced his victims by offering them money or drugs.

In this case, it's possible that he merely told David he'd give him a ride. Once the target was in his truck, Ronald held his victims at gunpoint and drove them back to his trailer. There, he tied them up, sexually assaulted them, and strangled them. In David Mitchell's case, investigators initially assumed he had drowned based on how they found the body. the cause of death was later changed to asphyxiation, lining up with strangling. The murder marked a dramatic escalation in Ronald's M.O. Previously, he was only looking to satisfy his sexual desires, but his disturbing experiences in prison had shaken him.

He couldn't risk survivors going to police. The fear of returning to prison drove him to kill. He couldn't face the consequences for his actions. In Dr. Eric Hickey's serial murderers and their victims, Hickey differentiates between two types of murderers who engage sexually with their victims. Lust murderers kill to satisfy a sexual urge or fantasy. Sex murderers kill merely to silence their victims. Ronald seems to fall into the latter camp. This is reflected in the yarn Ronald had tried to spin for police when he was arrested back in 1996.

According to him, he only resorted to violence because he felt threatened by the two victims, not the other way around. To him, violence was always a necessary evil rather than a motivation in itself. His plan to kill his victims worked. Even after David's body was discovered, nobody came looking for Ronald. Nobody even seemed interested in searching for a killer. Despite the fact that David was an excellent student, a hard worker, and had no drug habits. The press unfairly maligned him as homeless and high risk.

They made his gruesome death seem like the result of a risky lifestyle instead of a tragic murder that needed to be investigated. As the days passed and no police came knocking on Ronald's trailer door, he became more confident. The next time he saw the opportunity to snare another victim, he was sure he could seize it without being caught. Six months later, Ronald did just that. He claimed his second murder victim, 20-year-old Gary Pierre, on December 14, 1997.

Gary was homeless and known to be involved with drugs. Like David Mitchell, he hitchhiked frequently. Police found his body in a secluded, wooded area of months, about an hour away from Tibido. Forensics determined he was bound and strangled by an unknown assailant. In Philip Jenkins' book, Using Murder, the Social Construction of Serial Homicide, Jenkins writes that serial killers are driven by the availability of victims, much more than by any compulsion or desire to kill. This seems to be true of Ronald, who often went many months in between murders, although it's possible Ronald claimed additional victims that remain

undiscovered to this day. Though Ronald did not have an ingenious method for disposing of its victims' bodies. He merely hid in the wilderness. It worked perfectly for his environment. Hiding the bodies in ditches or a swamp land caused them to decay at a much faster rate than normal and destroyed evidence. Since he dumped the bodies in varying locations, catching him was a near impossible task for police who didn't have any leads. In addition, Ronald committed his crimes prior to the widespread use of DNA evidence, so law enforcement had to rely on more obvious physical clues, like clothing fibers. By the time the bodies were discovered, there wasn't much to go on. Finally, Ronald chose victims on the fringes of society. The majority were poor,

homeless, and drug addicted. He also preyed on black and gay men, so there may have been prejudice behind the lack of investigative progress as the body count grew. The more police struggled, the braver Ronald became. He patiently waited for the opportunity to make his move on the right man, the right night, all alone on the right road. Meanwhile, he didn't pay much attention to his personal life. He stopped going out to bars unless he was looking for a potential victim. The effort wasn't worth the prospect of rejection. His financial situation remained precarious as well. He continued to work short-term jobs, most often as a meter reader for an electric company or a truck driver. He didn't have much

interest in working full-time and spent his days off alone in his trailer, fantasizing about his murders and watching an old TV. He passed his days like this for six months after murdering Gary Pierre. Then, on July 31st, 1998, Ronald found another victim. 38-year-old Larry Ranson. According to one investigator, his corpse was found a mere 100 feet from where David Mitchell's was dumped. the previous attacks, Ranssen had been bound prior to being strangled. But unlike the first two

victims who had no defensive wounds whatsoever, Larry Ransom had been beaten savagely. The state of Ransom's body suggests that something went awry when Ronald attacked him. Either Ronald was forced to fight Ransom off prior to restraining him, or he thrashed the man in a spontaneous fit of rage. The severity of the beating suggests that Ronald was still dealing with trauma from being raped in prison. Reacting to later sexual situations with fear and violence is a common response to sexual abuse. According to the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Center, sexual assault victims may feel anger or disgust when engaging in sexual activity after experiencing trauma.

Some victims report an uncontrollable, automatic reaction to touch, like a flashback or panic attack. If Ronald didn't have the tools to recover after he was assaulted in prison, it's possible there was some truth to the story he later described to law enforcement. He claimed he pursued his victims just for sex, but upon becoming intimate, he panicked. Indeed, tapes of Ronald's accounts of his murders in the documentary Bayou Blue suggests that once he'd solicited a sexual encounter, he was instantly on his guard. If anything unexpected occurred, he reacted with violence. In the tapes, he seems to genuinely believe that he never meant to harm a fly. We might never know the true motivations of the man police began calling the Bayou Strangler. They wouldn't know his real name for years.

Even so, in 1998, Ronald made sure his actions were on everyone's mind. 1998 was a particularly violent year for Ronald. confident he could get away with murder, Ronald's appetite for death grew. During the day, he spent almost all of his time preparing for his next murder and searching for victims. He had the free time he needed because he still subsisted on short-term low-pay jobs. Around this time, he mostly did deliveries and construction work. He didn't have any particular ambitions outside of his rapes and murders. His dark secret was all he thought about. After years of irregular labor, 34-year-old Ronald saved up enough money to move into a new trailer in 1998.

His new home was in Bayou, Blue, Louisiana, not far from Homa. It was more isolated than his previous place. He often drove around the area looking for desperate young men he thought nobody would miss. In October of 1998, two months after killing Larry, Ronald found two such targets. He killed 27-year-old Oliver LeBanks and 16-year-old Joseph Brown two weeks apart. Neither of the victims had any connection to Ronald, but both made the fatal mistake of accepting whatever he offered them. The increasing frequency of Ronald's murders marked a surge in his confidence. For the first time in his life, he wasn't being humiliated by anyone else.

His secret empowered him. He no longer performed in drag at the local gay bar. He had other means of receiving validation now. Coming up, Ronald widens his search for vulnerable young victims. Now back to the story. In the span of a single year, between 1997 and 1998, 34-year-old Ronald Dominique had raped and murdered at least five men around the small town of Bayou Blue, Louisiana.

All five bodies were found by police, but they weren't any closer to catching the killer. Ronald wasn't even on their radar, and he wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. In November of 1998, Ronald took a risk. He expanded his search for his next victim. Instead of scouring the dark, desolate roads of the bayou, Ronald drove more than an hour north to bright, bustling New Orleans.

The streets were full of young men just waiting for him. Ronald first lured an inebriated 18-year-old named Bruce Williams to his car, promising to pay him for sex. He drove Bruce to a secluded location before restraining and suffocating him. Then he dumped the body along the highway out of New Orleans. It was found on November 27th. After killing four people in a single year, Ronald, tried to rein in his desires. He decided to wait a few months before he killed again,

unless, of course, another opportunity presented himself. By April of 1999, he was mad with lust. Now 35 years old, he returned to New Orleans and repeated his previous tactic to seduce 19-year-old Manuel Reed with the promise of money or drugs. Manuel's body was found soon afterward, bruised, mattered and bearing signs of sexual assault. Ronald killed two more young men in 1999, Angel Mejia and Mitchell Johnson.

Both were strangled and dumped in a small town just half an hour from his home. Clearly, his fears of getting caught were decreasing by the day. Ronald later offered ample insight into how he enticed victims back to his car or trailer, given his lackluster personality and unremarkable appearance. According to what he told police, his tactic varied depending on the target. If the men were young or desperate for money, Ronald would offer to pay them for sex. Once he got these men back to his trailer, he'd offer more money to restrain them as part of the sex. Then things would take a dark turn.

Sometimes Ronald carried a picture of a young, attractive woman with him. He would approach targets and tell them that he had a wife he was unable to pay. he was unable to please. He asked to pay his victim to have sex with her while he watched. Other times, he just claimed to be acting on the woman's behalf and tell the man she'd love to sleep with him. Once the victim was back at his trailer, he'd tie them up, supposedly to make the mystery woman feel safe, and then rape and murder them. If none of that worked, Ronald would offer prospective victims drugs instead of sex.

Whatever the excuse was, his victims followed him back. back to his trailer in Blue Bayou, were put into a vulnerable position, then met their terrible fate. Ronald's persuasiveness is more comprehensible when considering the level of poverty most of his victims faced. Many of them were desperate for any opportunity

to make a quick buck and gave little thought to their personal well-being. Ronald's 10th victim, 23-year-old Michael Vincent, was one such man. He was a drifter whose treacher who's struggled with drugs and alcohol. Ronald met him in 1999, just before the new millennium. After enticing Michael back to his trailer with the promise of drugs, Ronald raped and strangled him.

Police found his body on January 1, 2000, in a swamp outside of Homa. Ronald's 11th victim wouldn't be found for another two years. But before that, he ran into some other trouble with the law. On May 19, 2000, Ronald received a son. to appear in court for disturbing the peace. It's unclear what he did, but he pled guilty and paid a fine to avoid a court appearance. Like his first conviction for drunk driving, his brush with the law scared him. Ronald decided to stop killing for as long as he could to ensure there was no heat on him.

His killing sprees were highly variable. Sometimes he got an uncontrollable urge for violence and claimed multiple victims in the same month, while at other times he was able to suppress his desires for years at a time. In this case, Ronald managed to abstain from killing for two years. It's likely this hiatus was also influenced by his health and a subsequent lack of opportunity. At times, he was bedridden due to his heart condition and could hardly walk. He didn't always have a place to himself either. Because of his irregular work and finances, he sometimes had to move back in with his mother or sister to make ends meet.

meet. Considering how cautious he was with his murders, he likely wouldn't have gone searching for victims without absolute certainty that he would have time alone. Still, his caution didn't always win out over impulse. On February 10, 2002, at age 38, Ronald was arrested for slapping a woman during a Mardi Gras parade. Reports claimed that he accused the woman of hitting a baby stroller with her car in a parking lot. The woman apologized, but Ronald wouldn't let it go. He became enraged and screamed at her. When she yelled back, he slapped her across the cheek. He again avoided a court appearance and was released to a parish offenders program, which required him to take anger management and job training classes. Ronald was willing to do whatever it took to

finish the program and end the police supervision. After only eight months, by October 2002, he completed the classes and was free again. It seemed surprising that authorities never made the connection between Ronald and the Bayou Strangler. After all, Ronald was in a remote area and had already been accused of threatening, restraining, and raping two men in 1993. Due to his legal troubles in 2000 and 2002, his record must have been reviewed at least twice. Of course, it's easier to see connections in retrospect. But despite his criminal record, it seemed unlikely that frail 38-year-old, Ronald Dominique was physically capable of restraining and killing 10 able-bodied men.

Besides, it had been close to 10 years since he had been accused of his first crime, there was little reason for law enforcement to suspect him. Because Homa and the surrounding areas were so secluded, the police department struggled to get the resources to pursue the murders. Both local police and local press were frustrated by the prejudices of larger, more connected institutions. The same reporter pointed out another factor that made it difficult for the mainstream media to sympathize with the killings.

The low social status of Ronald's victims caused some around the state to refer to the killings as taking out the trash. No matter what contributed to most of Ronald's continued freedom, he took advantage of it. The same month he met the requirements for his release program after the Mardi Gras incident, October 2002, he claimed his 11th and 12th victims. 20-year-old Kenneth Randolph and 26-year-old Anoka-Torri Jones were found on the sides of dirt roads near Homa. Both men were known to hitchhike. Ronald dumped the bodies in St. Charles Parish about 40 miles from Homa. He wanted to make it look as if they had been killed in the St. Charles area rather than at his trailer.

He took the corpses back to the side of the road where he had picked them up. At first, police searched the woods nearby, hoping to at last find a crime scene, but came up with nothing. With the authorities confused once again, Ronald laid low for a few months. He didn't want to risk drawing too much attention to himself right after he completed the prison release program. He waited until the following spring in May of 2003. One evening he saw De Trell Woods riding his bike through Bayoum Blue. Ronald pulled his car over and began his practiced routine for sizing up the potential victim. Ronald struck up a conversation, being careful to remain subtle at first.

He learned DeTrell was only 18, but had already spent two years in a correctional facility. Woods had virtually no contact with his family and struggled with mental illness. He was riding his bike to Homa to meet up with some friends. The longer he spoke with Ronald, the more he looked like an ideal victim. Ronald steered the conversation towards sex and offered to pay Detrelle for it. With no support or financial prospects, and maybe even lacking the mental capacity to properly evaluate the situation, Detrel agreed. He put his bike in Ronald's trunk and climbed into the passenger seat.

Dominique drove DeTrell to the Evangeline mini storage facility in Bayouble. He knew from experience it would be deserted late at night, and it was isolated enough that nobody would hear them. Ronald told Detrell that he would pay for anal sex but was nervous about it. In order to keep himself safe, Ronald asked to restrain Detrel just so he could feel in control. He was paying after all. De Trell agreed, and Ronald tied him up.

After he was bound, undressed, and completely helpless, Ronald told him the truth. He wasn't going to pay Detrell at all. He was going to rape and kill him. Detrell struggled to no avail. His screams never made it out of the vast neighboring bayou. Ronald brought his total victim count to 13 that night. Afterward, he drove to a small nearby church surrounded by sugarcane fields.

He dropped De Trell's body amongst the cane and tall reeds and drove away. DeTrell Wood's body was a small tree. discovered on May 26, 2003. In his confession, Ronald seemed to remember the murder fondly. He provided authorities with more detail about Woods than he gave for any other victim. Apparently, he particularly enjoyed taking advantage of the mentally ill man. Local press was a buzz. The Bayou Strangler had struck again. Police were baffled, aggravated, and angry. Thirteen lives had been ended, and they had not. nothing to go on. The worst part was they had an annoying feeling that the killings would

only get worse. Luckily, the police were about to catch a break that would enable them to refocus their efforts to catch the killer. The day after Detrell's body was found, on May 27, 2003, Louisiana's state police apprehended another more notorious murderer, the Baton Rouge serial killer. State resources had been tied up in the hunt for the the Baton Rouge killer, who was ultimately responsible for seven deaths for the past few years. Though that killer's body count was much lower than the Bayou Strangler,

Baton Rouge was a much bigger city and had access to more funding and equipment than the police around Homa and Tibado. Law enforcement there monopolized local resources to focus on what was most important to residents of their own city. Another important factor that stalled the Bayou Strangler investigation was the type of victim Ronald typically targeted. Most of his victims were homeless, many were black, and some didn't have family or friends pushing police to look into their deaths. The Baton Rouge serial killer, on the other hand, was known for preying on white, affluent female coeds.

This highlighted a racial disparity in the priorities of the police, which delayed the strangler investigation while the hunt for the Baton Rouge killer. fired on all cylinders. Now, state police were free to investigate the crimes of the Strangler more thoroughly, but they had a lot of catching up to do. Ronald claimed two more victims in 2004, both in October. Larry Matthews, a 46-year-old homeless man, and 21-year-old Michael Barnett,

were found naked and disfixated in ditches near Homa. In March of 2005, after Ronald's 16th victim, Leon Paul Leret was found, Louisiana State Police and the FBI finally came together. They formed the Bayou Strangler Task Force in March of that year. Given the flurry of strangulation victims that had been discovered over the past nine years, police had known for a while they were probably dealing with an active serial killer. They even had a list of probable suspects, but it was a difficult case to crack. For one, none of the victims knew each other, and none of them knew Ronald prior to their murders.

For another, the humid Louisiana weather, combined with the inaccessibility of the region, meant many of the bodies were heavily decomposed when they were recovered. It was hard enough just to identify the victims after they spent days baking in a swamp under the sun. Finding evidence that might lead them to the killer was impossible. Because Ronald tended to kill his victims in his trailer or his car and dump them elsewhere, police didn't have a murder site. It was like searching for a needle in a 60-mile-wide haystack. It looked like the rain of the Bayou Strangler was just beginning.

Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back Monday with Part 2 of The Bayou Strangler. You can find more episodes of Serial Killers, as well as all the Parcast, other shows, on Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Several of you have asked how to help the show, and if you enjoy the show, the best way to help is to leave a five-star review. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, at Parcast, and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler

is a production of Cutler media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Carrie Murphy, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro and Paul Liebeskind. Additional production assistance by Carly Madden and Maggie Admire. Serial Killers is written by Alyssa Thorn

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