Bayou Strangler

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Voices, Past, Present, and Future is taking a look at the Bayou Strangler. Despite the number of victims of this serial killer, her received little publicity outside of the state of Louisiana because it took place shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history.

Born January 9, 1964 to two poor laborers; the youngest of two children. Ronald Joseph Dominique lived in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in a trailor park, located on the outskirts of the city. Because of the family financial circumstances, he lived out his childhood and adolescence in poverty but still managed to graduate high school in 1983. He studied Computer Science at Nicholls State University, but quickly lost interest and dropped out in the mid 1980’s.

As we dive into Ronald Dominique’s psyche when he was younger we will find that he was known for his melancholic temperament, a lack of communication skills and a weight of problems. These couples with his low self-esteem and poor heath made him a target for bullying. He sand in the school choir but despite this he was still considered an unpopular social outcast since he didn’t play sports, didn’t do drugs or drink alcohol. Shortly before he left school, he discovered he was gay, and visited a local gay bar several times. Several of his classmateshad seen him there and this resulted in harrassmen, and he vehemently denied these accusations of being homosexual.

FIST OFFENSES:

JUNE 12,1985, Dominique was arrested on charges of sexual harrassment via telephone. He had to pay a $75 fine.

Because of his lack of education, he was forced to engage in low-skilled labor for many years, and struggled to hold down jobs due to his disciplinary issues. He was unwilling to keep a job for a long period of time, so he survived by living off relatives and other people’s income, mainly his mother and older sister, living with each of them for a period of time.

MAY 1994, he was arrested for drunk driving, but again was only charged a fine for these offenses.

AUGUST 25, 1996, Dominque was arrested when a young, partially naked, youth male, jumped out of the window of Dominique’s sister’s home window, where Dominique was living at the time. This young male told a neighbor that Dominique had raped and attempted to kill him. Bail was set at $100,000, but when the case was transferred to the court, the prosecutors were unable to locate the young male or establish his identity which eventually resulted in the case’s dismissal in November of that year.

FEBRUARY 10, 2002, Dominique was arrested again for assaulting a woman in Terrebonne Parish during a Mardi Gras Festival. He claimed that the woman had hit a baby stroller in one of the parking lots due to her dangerous driving, after which he had began an argument with her, demanding an apology. After she apologized, he punched her in the face. He was charged, but the case was again dropped, after an agreement of reconcilliation was reached between him and the woman.

Due to various circumstances, Dominique was often looked down upon even by the local gay community. He used to frequent the gay bars, spending most of his time there, often dressing as singer Patti LaBelle, whom he was a great fan of.

MURDERS:

Most victims tended to be teenagers and men between 16 and 46, not all of them being homosexual. Most of them were African American. He would often meet them during his walks oves in his pick up truck, as well as in gay bars, luring them with offers of alcohol, drugs, housing, or group sex with his supposed girlfriend. After convincing them, he would lure them to his trailer where he would overpower them, bind them, and rape them. When he was finished with them, he strangled them to death, loaded them in the back of his truck and dumped them in a remote rural area in one of six nearby parishes.

I could continue with the details of each murder, while I find it gruesome in nature, I don’t feel the need to do that. What I do want to tell you is that this man killed AT LEAST 23 men and boys in the state of Louisiana between the years of 1997 and 2006. On September 23, 2008, THANKFULLY, Dominique was found guilty an sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment without parole for his crimes. Following his conviction, the FBI stated that Dominique was the most significant serial homicide case in the country over the past decades in terms of both death toll and duration.

Thank You for joining me! Join me next time on our journey through the past, present, and future!