Rumors of police corruption and evidence tampering, of collusion between street and shield, cast the serial killer theory into doubt. And their underworld activity frequently occurred at a decrepit no-tell motel called the Boudreaux Inn.Īs the cases went unsolved, the community began to look inward.

They engaged in sex work as a means of survival. The Jeff Davis 8 had been among society’s most vulnerable-impoverished, abused, and mired with mental illness.

The women came to be known as the Jeff Davis 8, and local law enforcement officials were quick to pursue a serial killer theory, opening a floodgate of media coverage and stirring a wave of panic across Jennings’ class-divided neighborhoods. “Part murder case, part corruption exposé, and part Louisiana noir” ( New York magazine), Murder in the Bayou chronicles the twists and turns of a high-stakes investigation into the murders of eight women in a troubled Louisiana parish.īetween 20, the bodies of eight women were discovered around the murky canals and crawfish ponds of Jennings, Louisiana, a bayou town of 10,000 in the heart of the Jefferson Davis parish.

A New York Times Bestseller & the Basis for the Hit Showtime Docuseries

Louisiana serial killer books