The Bayou Strangler by Fred Rosen

Author:Fred Rosen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2017-08-09T16:42:55+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The White Van

Lafourche, Jefferson, and Terrebonne Parishes, April 2005

In his mug shot, August Watkins looked like a real tough guy.

He glared at the camera, his expression stony and defiant. In death, his expression was totally passive. His fully clothed body lay in a wooded area near the Lafourche Work Release Center in Lafourche Parish, discovered by a passing motorist who immediately called the sheriff’s office.

The response of detectives was immediate. But once again, there was no identification on the victim. The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office put out a BOLO bulletin containing information describing the victim, seeking help from other parishes in identifying him. Two days later, on April 11, Fryman’s lieutenant handed him a copy of the BOLO.

Looking it over, he saw the similarity to the victims in his parish and theorized it was the same killer. Fryman then called the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office with the news of the serial killer he was trailing.

“Detective John Walker is currently investigating the incident,” Fryman was told by a receptionist who was authorized to speak. “He is currently at the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office attending the victim’s autopsy.”

“Have you made an identification yet on the body?” Fryman asked.

“Not at the moment,” the receptionist stated. “I’ll have him call you during the day with particulars on the investigation.”

Ty Hutchins, a tall, lanky detective, got back to Fryman later in the day. The coroner had ruled that the victim’s manner of death was strangulation. The victim’s identity would be shared with Fryman as soon as Hutchins got it. A few more hours went by. Toward the end of the day, Hutchins took a drive and walked in the door of the Houma Police Department.

He met with Fryman and told him that they had gotten prints off the corpse. Run through the AFIS database, August Terrell Watkins was finally identified as the victim. Watkins was a thirty-two-year-old black man. He had brown eyes, was five feet six inches tall, and weighed 130 pounds.

“We have a possible address for him,” Hutchins told Fryman. “Also, a next of kin. An aunt Pearl Nixon’s address.”

Fryman filled him in on his investigation. On the basis of the choice of victim and the MO, Fryman suspected they were hunting the same man—the Southern Louisiana serial killer. The two detectives drove to Watkins’s last known address on Isabel Street. It was possible he had been abducted from that location or near there; there might be some clues. Maybe something left behind.

Arriving, they knocked at the door. It was opened by an attractive woman in her thirties. After the detectives showed her their shields, she volunteered information.

“My name is Sandra Hooten,” she said.

When Hooten was told whom they were looking for, she motioned behind her.

“August lived behind me. It’s the last house on the left,” she said. “But I don’t think he’s there.”

“Why?” Hutchins asked.

“He was evicted a couple of months ago. I think he was sent to live with some relatives,” Hooten answered.

Fryman walked to the rear of the residence. There were two other houses behind the one Hooten lived in.

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