All language subtitles for 1djhoigbriogberog

[fan whirring]

♪ quiet, atmospheric music ♪

♪♪♪

[Jessica] I let the shit
with the girls eat me up daily.

They didn't deserve
what the hell they got.

The girls has...

pretty much been forgotten
in this town.

You don't really ever hear
anybody speak of 'em.

It's like...
they never existed.

Like they never mattered.

Killer could be sitting
in front of our face

all day, every day.

'Cause...

...they can kill in this town
and get away with it.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

This is
the Devil's playground...

and they runnin'
right along him.

They do what they want
when they want, how they want,

and nobody tries...

to stop 'em.

[crickets chirping]

[birds chirping]

♪ soft piano music ♪

♪♪♪

[man] Well, I came out here
that morning to go fishing.

And I looked down, and I seen
something in the water.

It looked like a mannequin.

Then I seen the flies
alighting on it.

And I said, "Flies wouldn't be
alighting on a mannequin."

Then I realized
it had to be a body.

[Cormier] Loretta Chaisson's
body was found on May 20

of 2005.

When deputies first arrived
at the scene, the body was

more toward the north side
of the bridge,

closer to where the pylons were.

'Cause the body was too far

from the bank to be retrieved,

they brought the body over
underneath the bridge

to the south side.

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

The reaction to the discovery
of the body was

very shocking to the community.

It's not something
you find every day.

You have homicides--
people are found dead--

but a body in a canal

found dumped,

it's a very tragic,
horrible situation,

and people were upset.

They want... they want answers.

But our-our main concern,
obviously, is to the victim...

...'cause they need justice.

[knuckles cracking]

[sniffs] Sheriff Ricky Edwards
comes knocking on my door,

saying that they found
my daughter under the bridge.

That was the worst feeling
that I ever had.

Yeah, it's been 13 years

since they found
my daughter's body,

and, uh...

I miss her so much, you know.

And it still hurts.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[Nick]
We couldn't...

start a funeral until
after they did the autopsy.

It was a closed casket.

She had been in there,
in the water for a few days,

and the body
had started decomposing.

None of us wanted
to see her like that.

[Chad]
Loretta was married.

Had two kids.

She was always about her kids.

Always had a smile

on her face and would
never hurt nobody.

She'd always try to help
somebody before she'd hurt you.

Between me, Loretta and Nick,

me and her were the first two,

and my mom's
first two kids, so...

we was close.

I just miss her.

[Jessica]
She was living with us,

'because...
there were some days

she would be sober,

and some days she'll do
her little binges.

Her and her husband
were split up.

She felt safe with us.

Safeness at my house,

away from everything
she was doing out here.

So whatever she did out here,
she didn't bring to my house,

because she was there
spending time with her kids.

And when she left there,
she did... whatever she did.

[Chad]
She might've did her drugs

and this and that,

but everybody got
some kind of...

weakness, you know?

And that was hers.

Couple of days
before she went missing,

Loretta asked me
to walk to the bar with her.

She looked at the bar.

She-- it looked like
she noticed something.

And she looked back at me
and she gave me her purse.

She don't ever give me
her purse.

She gave me her purse
and told me to put her purse

at the top of my mom's closet,

just in case
if anything happens.

And that's the last time
I seen her.

'Cause she turned me around
and made me go home.

[Roxanne]
One day Loretta

came to the door,
and she said, "Roxanne,

I'm tired of living this life.

I want to raise my children.

I'm so tired of this life."

She said, "I'm gonna leave,
and I'm not coming back."

Three days later, she was dead.

[Chad]
Before they found

Loretta's body in the canal,

I was walking
on the main highway,

and I've seen Loretta at 66.

We sat there and we talked,

and this guy, Frankie Richard,

pulls up in a big, tan car.

She gets in the car with him.

And that was the last time
I ever seen her.

I didn't...
I didn't know Frankie,

but I heard rumors
from my uncles

that he used to supply drugs,

used to go pick up
a lot of drugs.

[Nick] The only thing
I'd ever knew was his name,

until all this
really started happening.

Then I started hearing

about how he was a pimp
in Lafayette

and he liked telling stories
about what he did,

and, you know, as far
as when it came to violence.

But, you know, Loretta
never talked bad about Frankie.

When she got in the car
with him, she got in the car

happy with Frankie.

Frankie Richard? Yeah, I heard
he had a lot to do with it,

but... that was
just hearsay, you know.

[Cormier] Frankie Richard
was somebody that was known

to associate with, uh,
known prostitutes in the area,

was known to be involved
in the drug world

in the Jennings area,

and also had a violent past.

The investigation
into Loretta Chaisson's death

was led by
then-Sheriff Ricky Edwards.

The investigators were able to
discover a lot of information

about Loretta Chaisson's
whereabouts

prior to the time
she was found.

But unfortunately, the...
the critical time of...

exactly when
this incident happened

and how she got to the canal
were still questions.

There have been no arrests made

in the death
of Loretta Chaisson.

It's an open investigation.

♪ quiet, atmospheric music ♪

♪♪♪

[Scott]
Day after the story breaks

in the Jennings Daily News
that a body's been found,

the Jennings Daily News

and the Jeff Davis Parish
Sheriff's Office

start getting bombarded
with phone calls,

and it's people asking...

if there's a serial killer
on the loose.

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

Now, only one body's
been found,

and it-it's being treated
as a homicide,

but there's not even a cause
of death that's been announced

or anything like that.

It's a very weird situation

to suddenly be getting
all these phone calls,

and the sheriff, at this point,

has to issue
a statement, saying:

We don't have any information
on anything like that.

It's never really known
where that rumor came from.

[insects chittering]

♪ somber music continues ♪

♪♪♪

[motor idling]

There's one.

[Cormier] Loretta's body
was found on May 20, 2005.

June 17...

a group of froggers goes out.

[man]
To the right.

[man 2]
Got him.

It's nighttime.

They are out there
trying to catch frogs.

Then suddenly...

they start to smell something.

Find another body

six miles away from
where Loretta was found.

[dog yapping in distance]

[TV playing indistinctly]

A man can lose an awful lot
of friends in a rainstorm.

[TV show continues indistinctly]

[whispers]
Oh, God.

[sniffs]

The police came here.

Come through that door right...
through that door right there,

knocking on the door,
and he said, "Ms. Daniels,

some frog...
some froggers found a body."

So, he says, he says,
"That's Jeff... that's Jeff...

that's Jeff Daniels' daughter."

And I say, "What?"

He told me. He said,

"They were frog...
frog fishing,

and they found a body."

They said, "That's Jeff
Daniels' daughter."

And I said,

"Oh, Lord Jesus."

He said, "The body must
have been in there

three or four days."

The coroner came
over here saying

that we couldn't see the body

'cause the body was
too decomposed.

She was cut in the throat,

and her hand was all
bruised right there.

And her face.

And her face... They say,
it ain't essentially her face.

Well, not being able
to recognize her.

Wouldn't, um, wouldn't
be able to recognize her.

-[mutters]
-Took three months before

they find out it was
Ernestine Patterson.

Mm-hmm.

You know... it-it's been hard.

This photo is photo from the...

the sheriff's office.

It's the only photo
I have of Ernestine.

And I got...

It's the only thing
I have of her...

of a... picture.

[sniffles]

I don't have nothing else
but this.

♪ somber music ♪

[crying]

[takes deep breath]

[Scott]
When the second body is found,

it's in an advanced state
of decomposition.

It takes about two months

before they can
identify this body,

and they've got to use

bone samples to do it,

before they announce
that the second body is

Ernestine Marie
Daniels Patterson.

[Cormier]
When the investigation began

with Ernestine,
the second female,

there was some concern
in law enforcement,

because you had
two female bodies

that were basically
found dumped,

you know, in-in a waterway,

which is unusual.

There's always a thought.
I mean,

it-it'd be a legitimate thought

that it could be
a serial killer.

But the injuries

to the bodies were different.

In the case with Loretta
Chaisson, there is not

obvious type injuries
that you would sometimes find

that lead you to determine
that a homicide occurred.

With Ernestine Daniels--
she had sustained

some incised wounds.

The type of injuries that
you'd find in some homicides.

[Evelyn]
One day,

Sheriff Ricky Edwards
came over here wanting...

wanting me to go
up there and talk.

I'm not going up there
and talk... talk to nobody

'cause they ain't found out
who murdered her.

[sniffles]

They ain't found out nothing.

I feel like they don't care.

They don't care.

I don't have
no closure, no peace.

I can't rest at night.

I don't have
no closure, no peace.

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

[birds chirping]

[Ivey]
Jennings is

just your typical small town.

Lot of the families
here are second,

third, fourth generation.

They, uh...

Lot of hardworking people.

Just, uh, good, old
country folks mostly.

Lot of farmers, ranchers

that, uh, grow rice, soybeans,

uh, raise cattle.

Everybody over here's
related to somebody.

That's how usually
they start off a conversation

is trying to identify
what family you're related to

or... or married into.

[Cormier]
People like to live

in the area
because it's away

from the... lot of hustle
and bustle of a bigger city.

Here it's a little quieter,
little slower pace,

and people tend to enjoy that.

[Ivey]
Any town...

has, uh, you know,
their issues.

We have a lot
of issues with, uh,

burglaries and thefts.

[Scott]
Unfortunately,

for better or for worse,

you're a small Southern town
whose economy is tied

to volatile sources--
agriculture and oil--

so that, when you get a crash,
it just wipes everything out.

Then, on top of all that,

there's a pronounced
economic split in Jennings

that runs along the railroad
tracks which bisects the town.

[Ivey]
This area here in North

Jennings-- they're,
you know, doctors

and lawyers and rich people.

This is one of the newest
and probably the most expensive

neighborhoods in the parish.

From, uh...

from the railroad tracks south,
it's mostly of lower income--

people that are unemployed,
or...

individuals involved in...

drug activity.

Where our job comes in is,
we have a lot of issues

where, you know,

addicts take things
to try to...

get money to... to buy
more drugs, you know?

[Jessica]
North side is more like...

upper-class snobs.

South side?

The fucking ghetto.

You got the white ghetto,
and you got the black ghetto.

Then you got Zoo Street,
where everything pops off.

When I mean everything,
everything.

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

[Jessica]
The cops look

at the south side like...

[dog barking]

...trash.

Like we don't matter.

[insects chittering]

[Scott]
Two years goes by,

and the sheriff's department
was still investigating

Loretta and Ernestine's
murders.

I think a lot of people think,

these first two murders
were this unrelated thing,

and now they're-they're done.

Things kind of
get back to normal,

and people just
think it's over.

And they were wrong.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

[Scott]
March 18, 2007,

a third body is found.

This time, a lot further out.

We're-we're now
south of Welsh

and the Petitjean Canal,

and it's such similar
circumstances.

I think everybody
in town is just like,

"What on earth
is going on here?"

Police find
very similar hallmarks

to the first two girls,

but this body has been in the
water for much longer, however,

and has had more

trauma from marine predators.

And she's found

mostly nude.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

The sheriff's office had

to use dental records
to identify the third body...

Kristen Gary Lopez.

Age 21.

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

[Hannah]
Before they had found her,

Kristen was officially
reported missing,

which was so odd.

Everybody that I knew just
thought she was on a bender.

You know, it wasn't uncommon
for her to... be gone

for a couple of days at a time,
a week at a time.

Maybe that's why it rubbed...

it was so odd to me
that there was an actual

missing persons report
out on her

when this wasn't uncommon
for her to be gone.

First thing I did
when I found that out--

I went to the cops.

I wanted to be a part of it.
You know, I wanted to help.

You know, this is a friend
of mine, my childhood friend.

I wanted to... help find her.

So, I threw myself...
kinda in the middle.

You know, calling
the detectives,

asking, "Is there
anything I can do?"

I don't know.

Like, everything surrounding
her death just seemed odd.

[Jessica]
I knew Kristen.

My mom basically
pretty much raised her.

She was always at the house.

Kristen and I were walking

to her grandmother's
house one day.

And you can look on her face
and look in her eyes--

something was wrong.

She's doing like this.

Every time she hear
a car, she turned.

I never seen her
that paranoid before.

I said, "Kristen,
you can talk to me."

She said, "But you're not
gonna understand."

The closer it came
to her coming up missing,

the less she started
coming around.

The last time I seen her,

she was in her room sleeping.

I woke her up,
handed her some food.

She said,
"I'll be back, tootie,"

and I ain't seen her since.

Next time I seen...

her face was on the news.

Dead.

Just gone.

[crying] Something
I can't never replace.

Something I can't ever get back.

[Andrew]
Kristen was a beautiful girl.

You know?

I don't know exactly

who started her...

her on... on-on the crack.

Now, towards the end,

I smoked crack
with her, you know?

I know it's not really...

It's a shame that
I-I... you know?

But they were telling me,

"Why you don't
tell her to quit?"

You know?

I said, "Well, it's kind of hard

for one crackhead to try
and tell another crackhead

not to smoke."

When I'm sitting here smoking.

She got murdered
when she was 21.

Of course at that time there,
I was already incarcerated.

I was locked up.

And she came to visit
with my mom and daddy

on a Saturday.

And...

I can remember telling her

before she left
the jail that day...

to s-slow her...

"You know, slow down, Kristen.

Do Daddy a favor.

Get off of that crack.

Quit it."

I can still see her...

waving in my daddy's...

You know, back seat
of the car, waving bye.

[Hannah]
I grew up with Kristen.

We were close as kids.

Our parents were
real good friends.

My father, he loved Kristen.

You know, Kristen called him
Uncle Billy.

[sighs]

We kinda grew apart
as we grew older.

She was in a...

drug scene and hanging out
with people

that I hadn't advanced to yet,
I guess you could say.

I was still just smoking weed
and drinking.

I didn't know until I was 18

that my dad and Kristen's
relationship

was more than just
her calling him "Uncle."

I walked into my dad's house
one day--

I was about 18 or 19--

and Kristen's running
from his bedroom

to the bathroom in a T-shirt
and underwear.

[interviewer]
Did that anger you

that your father
was having sex with Kristen?

No.

It was just-- they're
two consenting adults.

It didn't bother-- [chuckles]
You know, it didn't bother me

at all that
they were having sex.

That was just another thing.

I think she was
just embarrassed at it,

'cause I used to pick on her.

I used to tell her, uh...
"What do you call him?

Do you say
'Ooh, Uncle Billy'?"

[laughs]

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

Oh, my dad.

My dad was an amazing man.

Always happy, always trying
to make people laugh.

Always cutting up.

He was always my safe...
my safe spot.

You know,
I was a daddy's girl.

He was always a safe place
for me to go.

And I believe that

a lot of these girls that...

went to his house felt
the same way, too, you know.

I know many of the girls
were in and out of his camper,

partying, you know,

come and hang out,
getting free drugs,

because that's what
the camper was known for.

If you're a woman, you can go
sit in my dad's camper

and get all the free drugs
you wanted.

Just come and go as you please.

Hang out in my dad's camper
and Frankie'd be around.

Frankie is my uncle
and my godfather.

Uncle Frankie was, like,

the guy you didn't mess with.

You know,

he took care of business,

he was-- he was a badass
back in his day.

A lot of the times,

it was mostly family
in there: me, Frankie.

You know, we'd all be
hanging out in there.

People come and go.

[interviewer]
Did you ever think

that was odd that you were
smoking crack with your dad?

Yes, I did.

I always--
I thought it was...

It was odd that I was
smoking crack with my father.

He, um...

He was a good guy.

I'd like to think my father
was a good guy.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

[Scott]
So now we're dealing with

three unsolved murders.

All of these murders
being very similar,

having a lot of
similar characteristics.

Ricky Edwards...

starts to-to link these girls

as-as having run with some
of the same crowd.

But something
kind of happens here

that-that goes a little further.

Where before Loretta
and Ernestine

were definitely linked
with drugs,

Ricky Edwards goes
a little bit further

to talk about prostitution.

This article comes out
in the Jennings Daily News.

And Ricky Edwards made
a statement saying

that these girls were living
a "high-risk" lifestyle

and that this lifestyle, uh,
contributed to their deaths.

And matter of fact, he said,

"If you're in this lifestyle,
it's time to get out."

And at the time,
when the, when the term

"high-risk lifestyle" comes out,

there's all
of these connotations

that suddenly spring to mind.

Uh, e-especially the idea
that-that these women

have chosen
this sort of lifestyle.

The connotation is that
they chose for this to happen.

[Barb Ann]
You know, I tried to take

Kristen off the street
several times.

But drugs controlled
this little girl.

Ricky Edwards telling
the news that it's...

their lifestyle's prostitution.

Well, yeah, let's just say that.

That way
the upper-scale people,

you know,
can look at you and say,

"Oh, well, it's their fault."

It's sad.

And that's no heart, you know,
that's-that's no heart,

except for-for yourself
and your people,

but who cares
about everybody else?

There were girls again,
south side of the track.

Whores and prostitutes
and crackheads.

Mm. That's how they look at us.

What did they do so wrong,
so bad,

for them to be murdered?

We used to, on Sundays,
we used to come right here

while my mom and Loretta
and them was passed out,

and I used to sneak
my little sister

and them to church right here.

Come on, Sophia.
[kissing]

This is the house
we was living in

the night I walked Loretta
to the bar

and she gave me her purse
and she--

I never seen her again.

[sighs]

She knew something
was about to happen.

You know,
something wasn't right.

You know.

Every one of these houses
right here,

I guarantee you,
the girls partied

in every single one of them.

I dream about
the girls sometimes.

Mainly Kristen.

Just them telling me
that they're okay.

The girls telling me
that they're okay.

Kristen came to me in a dream,
told me she was okay,

that everything was fine,
and not to worry.

It's hard not to worry.

You don't know what to do
in this town.

[dog barking in distance]

[train horn blows]

♪ dramatic music ♪

Jennings...

...basically,
puts a curse on you.

[chuckles]
You can't never leave.

Y-You leave, and when you leave,

you come back.

I always said
I wasn't coming back.

I done came back 12 times.

For real.

Either you're gonna make it,

or you're gonna fall
into that grave.

♪ percussive music ♪

♪♪♪

[indistinct police
radio chatter]

[Cormier]
On May the 12th of 2007,

another body was located
within Jeff Davis Parish.

That victim was later
identified as Whitnei Dubois.

Whitnei's body was located
in this general area

on Earl Duhon Road, which is
just south of Bobby Road.

The difference
that was noticed at first

was the fact that,
with the other victims,

they had been placed

in water,

and Whitnei had been placed
on a roadway,

totally nude and in a location

that obviously
would be located by somebody.

Whitnei Dubois was like
the other victims.

Also somebody known
to the area and was local,

also had association

with other girls
in this circle.

Also known to some degree

to have some connection to
prostitution and drug usage.

[Sonya]
The day...

that we found out

Whitnei was dead,

I guess I thought, um,
maybe it's not true.

Uh, maybe...

um, maybe it's a mistake.

And I said,

"We-we need to find out
what's going on."

Um, where was she?

Um, who did this?

W-We don't know a whole lot.

I think I knew

that Whitnei...

would have sold her body,
I guess.

But...

she was a kid to me.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

She was my little cousin.

She wa-- I don't want

to think of her that way.

Whitnei was...

beat up.

Her face wasn't recognizable.

She was found nude
in the middle of the road.

It was s-some drug head
that found her.

Jamie Trahan.

The day Whitnei was found,
I remember

him being here,
and him hugging me.

And me thinking,
"W-W-Who is this guy?

And what does...
And why is he here?"

W-Why would I want him
at my house?

But at the time, you want
all the information you can.

But he didn't give us,

apparently, enough information,
and I don't think

he gave e-enough information
to the cops.

[wind whistling]

[Richard]
Jamie Trahan claimed

that he had found the body
that morning.

But Jamie didn't find
that body right when he did.

His-his story was false.

I saw Whitnei's body
that night.

My ex-wife and I

were celebrating
our anniversary.

We had rented a motel room
and we were doing drugs.

Jamie Trahan shows up

at-at the hotel,

which is my ex-wife's brother.

And we smoked some more
with him.

Jamie did a lot of things
for Frankie Richard

to get drugs, to get dope.

Later, we take a ride.

And Jamie started acting funny.
It's like he had

something on his mind,
and he had a mission.

As we're taking a ride, we turn

off of Highway 102
onto Bobby Road.

And when we turn, Jamie makes
a big, long, wide turn.

I looked out, and I could see
what appeared to be

a body in the road,
and I told him.

I said, "Jamie."
I said, "There's a body.

We need to stop."
He said, "Oh, no."

He said, "That's a deer."

The body shone

off the h-headlights
of the truck

as he turned.

It was in a...
in a curled up position.

Like, her back was up,

and you could see, like,
a sheen of wet.

And that's why I knew
it wasn't a deer,

'cause a deer has hair.

This was not a deer.
It-it was a shiny body.

And-and I argued with him
for quite some time,

and we just continued forward.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

Later, he went back
to the body,

called the law, and told them
he had just found it.

Which was-- this was false.

Jamie put that body there,

if you ask me.

Now, I don't know that
for a fact,

but he automatically turned wide

and went almost into the ditch
to miss that body.

He knew that body was there

before he ever turned
on that road.

[Cormier]
We have been able to identify

through the investigation
over the years

a few people that...
we have concerns about

connected to this death.

And we would consider them
persons of interest,

but we haven't
publicly named anybody.

There have been no arrests made

connected to the death
of Whitnei Dubois.

[Scott] So,
with four bodies being found,

I mean, obviously, this is...

We'd never seen anything

like this sort of situation.

It's to the point now
where I'm-I'm in the store,

people are stopping me,
asking me questions about it.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

[Roxanne]
People were scared.

People were scared because

the girls were being killed.

They was just being thrown away
like they was nothing.

It was fucking crazy.

When the bodies started...

"Here's another one.

Okay, here's another body.

Oh, my God,
there's another body?"

It's fucking crazy.

It's like...

What the fuck is really going on
in this town?

Is there just one person
killing all these people?

[Sonya]
We didn't let our kids walk

to the grocery store anymore.

We didn't let our kids
ride around the block

on their bicycles anymore.

It got to where
you didn't trust anyone

because you didn't know

if-if the person sitting
next to you was a serial killer.

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

Nobody in law enforcement

wanted to say "serial killer"
at the time.

And we couldn't get callbacks
from the cops.

They-they wouldn't answer
our questions.

Did she get in a car
with somebody?

How was she killed?

We never...
we never saw her body.

It's like they didn't want us
to know anything.

At-at first,

I figured, you know,
they would do what was right

and that they were gonna do
the, you know, investigation.

Do everything
that they were supposed to do

the right way, you know.

And the people that we spoke to,

you know, they sounded...

like they were, you know,
headstrong on figuring this out.

But then they were all
already trying

to pass the buck off
on their lifestyles.

Well, every time
we'd try to call,

we'd call the-the sheriff,
Ricky Edwards.

He'd say,
"Oh, we working on it.

We working on it.
Don't have no answers yet."

[Cormier]
As a homicide investigator,

it's really hard not to have
answers for family members.

And they call you,

and you don't have answers
for 'em.

Lot of stuff
that people have no idea

how much work was done
and what was done.

We can't discuss all that.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[Andrew]
When I was incarcerated,

well, when they all come in,

they tell me to come
to the office back there,

I knew... they was there
to tell me somethin'.

Well, it would happen

they think they know who did it.

Bam! Arrest her.

[Scott]
Suddenly,

right on the heels of Whitnei's
body being discovered,

the sheriff's department
arrests two people

for Kristen's murder.

[Hannah]
I remember that day.

It was...

the scariest...

most insane part of my life.

I called one of the detectives
to let him know,

"Hey, look,
I'm going out of state

to my boyfriend's
grandma's house.

We're going
on a little vacation.

May not have service up there,

but, uh, would it be okay
if I called y'all

when I get service to see
if y'all have any updates?"

And he was like,
"Yeah, that's fine. Whatever."

And next thing I knew,
that same night,

he calls me on my cell phone.

He's like, "Hannah, we're here.

Can you please come outside?"

-Sorry.
-[interviewer] That's okay.

It's okay.

[sighs]

They arrested me
for second-degree murder.

[Scott]
The sheriff's department

arrests Hannah Conner

and her uncle,

Frankie Richard.

[Cormier]
Frankie Richard was somebody

that most people knew
to be involved in drugs,

and had a very...

violent past.

[Richard]
Thirty years ago,

Frankie owned a lot
of strip joints.

He had all these strippers
working for him, uh,

prostitutes,
and he would bring them home

and brag about how he would
trick them out for dope.

Frankie took pleasure
in telling the stories

of the things that he did
to the people he did it to.

Oh, no,
there was no remorse in Frankie.

[Ivey]
H-He, at one time,

seemed to be involved

in harming people if they need,
you know, to be harmed.

He would do it for a fee.

He's a... he's a person

that we had dealings with a lot

in law enforcement.

Frankie said himself
in interviews that he was...

knew all of 'em, you know.

Partied with them.

[Jessica]
Basically,

Kristen, Loretta, Whitnei,
they all

hung around with Frankie.

Frankie sold drugs.

If they couldn't get it
from somebody,

they got it from him.

They would party together.

They would hit licks together.

Kristen would go with him
numerous times to hit licks.

As in tricks

at the Budget Inn.

Frankie's scary.

He's a very intimidating man.

Police didn't
immediately link Frankie

to the-- any of
the other murders,

though, even at that point,

you were starting to hear rumors
on the street

that Frankie had killed
all these girls.

[Nick] Guilty for-- if not
for all of them, for some.

My sister.
He put my sister in there.

I know he did.

I want to get him
to be locked up

in that pen, that cell

and let him do day
for day for day.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[Scott] I think the quick arrest
of Frankie and Hannah

went a long way
to sort of quelling

some of the fears in town.

People think that this is over,
and the general idea of fear,

whatever there was,

just sort of subsides.

[creatures chittering]

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪♪♪

And then, suddenly,
a couple of weeks later,

Frankie and Hannah are cleared

of any criminal charges
in the case.

But this is not something
that was publicly known.

It wasn't like
a press release came out.

Like, it happened very quietly.

[Nick] They arrested him,
had him in custody already,

pinned the charge on him
for murder,

and then all charges
are dropped.

No one could understand
why they did that.

It just looked real bad.

It doesn't make any sense.

[panting]

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done

on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day
our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

And lead us not
into temptation,

but deliver us
from evil. Amen.

[sniffles]

[Nick]
We want to see justice.

We want peace to be brought
to the families.

To finally know

that they do care about
what happens in this town.

Took my baby girl away.

He killed her like an animal.

Sheriff Ricky Edwards
didn't step up to the plate

when he should've
stepped up to the plate.

You had him locked up.

But they turned him loose.

But his name
keeps coming back.

Frankie Richard,
Frankie Richard.

To this day,
he's still a free man.

You still see him around town.

Head up, he-he don't look
like he's sorry for nothing,

but I know he's guilty.

Lord, promise me,
when they die,

they going to hell.

[Frankie]
I did not...

have anything to do

with any of them girls' death.

These girls lost their lives

because they seen something,

heard something,

knew something that they was
not supposed to know.

♪♪