Louisiana Task Force Arrests Ronald Dominique at a Houma Homeless Shelter in a String of Stranglings
Dominique was booked in the deaths of two men in Jefferson Parish. Days later, the Terrebonne Parish sheriff said he had confessed to killing 23.
Published
For years, the bodies of strangled men had turned up in remote spots across south Louisiana. On December 1, 2006, a task force arrested Ronald J. Dominique, 42, at a homeless shelter in Houma.
Dominique was booked on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated rape in the May 1999 strangling death of Manuel Reed, 20, and second-degree murder in the October 1998 death of Oliver Lebanks, 27. Both men were killed in Jefferson Parish, in suburban New Orleans. The office of state Attorney General Charles Foti announced the arrest and said more charges were possible. The task force had been investigating the deaths of about 22 men killed in similar ways since the late 1990s. Many were poor, and they had been strangled without the bruises or broken bones that would point to a struggle.
On Monday, December 4, authorities filed nine more counts against Dominique. Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said that once investigators began questioning him, Dominique claimed credit for the killings of 23 men and teenage boys between 1997 and 2005. "We'd been talking to him just a short period of time and he just started giving it up," Larpenter said. Investigators said the victims were homeless males aged 16 to 46, and their bodies were left in seven parishes. Terrebonne District Attorney Joseph Waitz said he would seek the death penalty.
According to Larpenter, the break came when an ex-convict told his parole agent about getting away from a man who wanted to tie him up. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said Dominique gave investigators a DNA sample voluntarily, which connected him to the two Jefferson Parish killings.
The attorney general's office said forensic evidence led authorities to Dominique, while The Houma Times reported that authorities said his name came from leads and "old-fashioned police work," without forensic evidence like that in other Louisiana cases.
Sources
- Arrest Made in Louisiana Serial-Killer Probe, Fox News (Associated Press)
- From a meek 'nobody' to a serial killer?, The Seattle Times (Associated Press)
- Suspected serial killer arrested, The Houma Times
Related News
- September 23, 2008: Ronald Dominique Pleads Guilty to Eight Murders in Terrebonne Parish and Gets Eight Consecutive Life Terms