Welcome to Lawton

In this episode I interview a person from the Jefferson Davis Parish area. We talk about the cases and the long standing reputation of local law enforcement.

On August 19, 2009, less than two weeks before her 27th birthday, Necole Jean Guillory’s body was found along busy Interstate 10 in Acadia Parish. She had become the 8th victim in a series of unsolved murders that began in May, 2005. Newly released records show a half-dozen women told authorities they were raped and trafficked to male inmates inside a rural Louisiana jail. The last Jeff Davis 8 victim, Necole Jean Guillory, had been a witness in the 2002 jail case.

Brittney Ann Gary is the youngest woman in the Jeff Davis 8. She was last seen on a Family Dollar store's surveillance camera at 6:22 PM on November 2, 2008. Her mother reported her missing 24 hours later. On November 15th, searchers found Brittney's body. Her cause of death was asphyxiation.

On September 11, 2008, around 3 pm, hunters discovered her body on a levee in a wooded area just south of Jennings, LA. The area is located on LaCour Road just off LA 1126 a couple of miles southeast of Jennings. She had become the 6th of what would eventually be seven mysterious female deaths over a period of three and a half years in Jeff Davis Parish.

23 year old LaConia “Muggy” Brown was last seen on May 27, 2008. Around 2 am on the morning of May 29th, a Jennings police officer discovered her body lying on Racca Road which leads to the police firing range. Although in a rural area, Brown’s body was the first found within the city limits of Jennings. She would become the 5th victim in a series of unsolved female deaths in Jeff Davis Parish Louisiana.

On March 18, 2007, a third victim with a similar profile to the others, 21-year-old Kristen Gary Lopez, was found in yet another canal. Again, two suspects were arrested – Jennings pimp Frankie Richard and his niece Hannah Conner – but were released due to lack of conclusive evidence. Then, a connection pops up between law enforcement and possible crucial evidence.

Thirty year old Ernestine Patterson was last seen on June 16, 2005. On June 18th her body was discovered in a canal off LA Highway 102 just south of Jennings. She was partially clothed and her throat had been slit. The death was ruled a homicide and two people were arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder but were later released due to "lack of evidence."

Our guest speaker today is Mr. Christopher Lehman, originally from Jennings, Louisiana; from 2013-2015 he served as a Commissioned Reserve Law Enforcement Officer for the Jennings Police Department (JDP).

•He was a Louisiana Army National Guardsman.

•He served in the Navy as an engineer on several Nuclear Submarines, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E-7) and retired after 21 years of service.

•He served as a Federal Government Civil Servant, Naval Sea Systems Command, Director of Logistics, retiring for a second time as a (GS-15), for combined public service of over 32 years.

•He earned a Bachelor Science from Excelsior University, Albany New York.

•He earned an Advanced Management Program Certification from, The Tench Francis School of Business, US Navy Supply Corps School, Athens Georgia.

•He holds Professional Certifications in Program Management, Logistics and as an Acquisition Professional.

•Currently he’s staffed as a Program Manager for a Defense Contractor located in Washington, DC.

•He is happily married to Angela Lehman of Columbia Maryland.

•He has six adult children residing in New York, Virginia, California and Alabama.

•He’s already authored one book called Mother, “Watching Me Grow From Heaven” and been published in several national Newspapers to include The Washington Post, with a featured essay titled, A Submariner’s Tale, “Terror At Sea”.

- He is currently authoring a book called "Neighborhood Watch in the Bayou."

May 20th, 2005 - Loretta Chaisson Lewis' body was pulled out of the Grand Marais Canal. She is victim number one in the case known as the Jennings 8.

There’s a theory that the 'Jennings 8' cases start back at Leonard Crochet, a drug dealer who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by an officer during a raid. Some of these women were at this raid. Was his death the reason some of these women ended up murdered?