I don't want to criticise the police or the task force because I don't know what went on behind the scenes of their investigation but in the beggining they said that the suspected killer was a white man. How many people out there might have thought that Lee was weird and might have called in to the Task Force tip line but didn't because they thought the police were looking for a white suspect? Could they have fingered Lee as the prime suspect earlier? We'll never know. It was an independent investigation not related to the serial killer investigation of the 1992 murder of a Zachary woman that led police to get a DNA sample from Lee early this month. If he committed his first murder in 1992 or earlier how many murders in the last 11 years since then has he really done? I hope he breaks down and confesses to everything. From what I read of his financial situation I don't think he can afford a high priced attorney. If DNA evidence is ironclad proof in a courtroom Lee already knows he is headed to the Death Chamber so he has nothing to lose by helping the police to clear up the other crimes he has done and leading them to the bodies.
I think the general school of thought on serial killers is that they're usually white men. I think it's amazing that they caught the guy (assuming he's guilty) at all. There are probably many serial killers that never get caught. There are probably many out there right now. This case could have gone on for years without people even knowing there was a serial killer. In about a year and a half after identifying the fact that there was a serial killer, he's been arrested. It's probably best for the case to go to trial and let all of the evidence speak for itself before we crucify the PD.
Even though Lee may have commited his first murders as long as 11 years ago it was not until the last couple of years when white women from respectable middle class families starting turning up as victims that the police even started focusing on a single serial killer. There are 35 or 40 unsolved murders of black prostitutes and crackheads in the Baton Rouge area during that time frame. I think that if Lee breaks down and tells all we will find out that he is as prolific a serial killer as Ted Bundy. The body of the woman whose body was found in Iberville Parish was too decomposed to yield DNA evidence. Mari Fowler was abducted right before Christmas and her body hasn't been found yet. Lee lived in Lake Charles for a period of time. Who knows how many women are missing during that time in that area that we don't know about because it wasn't covered in the local media? He probably won't be able to afford a Johnny Cochran to play the race card or a Mark Geragos to blame the killings on a Satanic Cult. He will be tried and then fried after 10 or 12 years of appeals. We can only hope that he will confess to all the killings he has dine and give some closure tio his victims families.
Check out his criminal record. He's been convicted of burglary (he was caught in the house), assault, stealing and domestic abuse. The culprit here is the system. Put these guys in prison after the 2nd conviction and leave them there.
I don't think he's the one who got Fowler. She fought so hard her acrylic nails came off--you'd think her attacker's skin would have been under them. They had reasons other than just the usual serial killer profile to be looking for a white guy. There were a few foiled attacks by white perps, as well as the "person of interest" who'd been hanging around the locations of some of the crimes.
Speaking of Fowler. Just saw on WAFB that law enforcement expects tests being conducted now to link Fowler to the serial killer. They won't say why they think so but that's what is being reported.
Hmmm...what do they have that they didn't have before? There's no body, and if the killer's DNA was at the scene they would have known it all along.
I was in Baton Rouge at one point, and I thought they came out and said Fowler was not linked to the serial killer because of the DNA underneath her acrylic nails at the scene did not match the killers.
Here is the link to the WAFB story. WAFB Link A friend of mine told me that one of his wife's clients (maybe client's daughter) was near where Fowler was abducted. She was leaning into her car, looking for something, and then a male came up and knocked on her window saying she dropped this $5 bill. She said she did not and they guy kept saying she did. The guy got frustated and banged on the window a little, so she took off. Later Fowler was taken. She told her story to the police. I wonder if her decription(and the store's video tape) matches Lee now, and they discounted it before as the serial killer because he was not white.
I do believe that Mike Foster and the "task force" have done enough back slapping and self congratulations, especially in the face of the victims families. Comparing Derek Lee to the Unabomber - please!
