Part 2 | The Storyville Slayer

0:05 Hm, I walk straight line shackle change, Oh weesome, gird it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three. Come in by me to die.

0:49 Inside these walls, inside the wild. Hadn't went no girl as I'm.

1:30 Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Bloody Anga, a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and I'm back with this second part of the story of the Storyville Slayer who absolutely terrorized the city of New Orleans in the mid nineteen nineties. Now, when I left you last, it was May nineteen ninety five, and the task force had finally been formed to capture the person or persons responsible for the killing of at least twenty three people. All was strangulation being used as the cause of death in the police they're investigating, But at some point NOPD realizes they need more resources and outside help to solve this case, and in August of nineteen ninety five, a regional task force has formed that included the FBI. Now, on August eleventh of nineteen ninety five, an FBI agent by the name of Neil Gallagher made the official announcement of a regional task force and noted they were searching for a serial killer. The task force included Saint John the Baptist parish officials who believed the man had killed at least twenty four people and had been dumping them in places like the River parishes since nineteen nine two.

3:00 Gallagher pointed to a map dotted with orange stickers and it marked dozens of bodies were covered in Saint john the Parish and Saint Charles parishes, as well as Orleans Parish. Officials went public with the serial killer theory at a press conference at FBI headquarters in New Orleans. Now it had been about three months since the killer struck and they hoped to capture him before he killed again. In regards to the police connecting those murders together, Gallagher said the quality of the earlier investigations were not up to standard. The nineteen ninety two investigations were crippled by not acknowledging the killer could be one person praying on sex workers.

3:45 There were claims made that the investigation was put on the back burner in that the coroner's office neglected to perform certain tests on a parent victims, so much so that detectives began to attend autopsies to make sure pathologists checked for clues. For example, when you are strangled, there's a tiny bone in the back of your neck and it often snaps, and it's a sign that if you're not looking for it, it can easily be missed. Now that's called the highly bone, and basically pathologists they were content to deem certain deaths as overdoses instead of strangulation by not looking for the highly bone. The director of the New Orleans Metro Crime Commission was even quoted as saying that it's not surprising a string of dead prostitutes failed to animate the department or the public. I'm sure the background of the victims means law enforcement didn't give them the scrutiny another class of victims might have had.

4:47 And I totally agree with that quote. I said back in episode one that when it's people who live high risk lifestyles, they're just not the urgency there. Bob Keppel, an investigator with the Washington State Attorney General's Office who tracked Ted Bundy. He tracked the Green River killer in the Pacific Northwest. He said, somebody has to be missed, and somebody has to care that they're missed. But usually no one cares, and there isn't any clamoring at all. If it was your daughter or the mayor's daughter in the mix, it would be a whole different story. In the budget to catch the killer would be practically unlimited.

5:30 So the FBI, they come out with a profile of the killer, and they identified him as a black man in his thirties with a muscular build. Now remember in part one of this story, I told you that one of the suspects in the killings is New Orleans Police officer Victor Gant, who was dating the last victim, Sharon Robinson, at the time of heard death in nineteen ninety five. Well NOPD Chief Richard Pennington said in a press conference that Gant is considered a suspect in at least two of those killings and had cooperated with the investigation. And he was still on duty at the time in an office position with the seventh District station in New Orleans.

6:16 And I want to reiterate that Gant was considered a suspect in the murders of only Sharon Robinson and Karen Ivester, and authorities had not named him a suspect in the other twenty two murders by this point, and some would say Gant fifth bill and the profile as a young man. He was a boxer, and he regularly went to the gym, he did weight lifting, and he closely matched the nineteen ninety one sketch that Brenda had given that very first victim. But again he was only a suspect in two of the murders. So the investigation continued and no bodies for a while. That is until December twentieth of nineteen ninety five, when the body of Sheryl Cackagen, who was forty six, is found on a New Orleans road. Her cause of death was undetermined, and police at this point decided not to link it to the Storyville slayer. Then, five months later, and eleven months after the final body was found that was directly linked to the slayer, police discovered additional skeletal remains.

7:26 She was identified as thirty nine year old Lola Porter, who had gone missing from New Orleans in nineteen ninety two. Police later interviewed her friends and her acquaintances, who stated she had been cohabitating with a white male who vanished shortly after Porter went missing. Four months after that, in August of nineteen ninety six, Victor gant Is dismissed from the New Orleans Police Department. Remember that cab driver I told you about in episode one that got caught masturbating in his car. I told you keep his name in the back of your mind. Russell Elwood Well. On July twenty third of nineteen ninety seven, the pass Force traveled to Seabring, Florida, so they could question Elwood, who at this point was living with his elderly father. Once located, Elwood was informed of his rights and within three days gave several statements recorded on tape. It was tape back in these days. During the interrogations, he admitted to seeing black prostitutes throughout his life. He claimed that he knew more than one hundred girls, and in addition to that, he frequently took drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD for years now. Investigators became increasingly suspicious when Elwood started speaking about having a dream in which he was being

8:56 questioned about a series of murders, and later admitting to frequenting the locations where the body was found, but continued to say he was innocent, but he would share that dream with the police, So they interrogate him over the course of about a week. Every day he'd come in and they'd talked to him for a little while, but they didn't have enough to hold him, so just days after the interrogation was completed, Elwood was arrested for buying cocaine from an undercover police officer at his home in Florida. This was on August fourth of nineteen ninety seven, and as a result, he was convicted and sentenced to eighty five days in county jail with three years of probation.

9:42 But while incarcerated, according to his cellmates, Elwood implicated himself in the prostitute killings back in New Orleans and the various suburbs that surround New Orleans. One cell mate, Stan Hill, he contacted the CA Prosecutor's office and claimed that Elwood had described to him in detail how he had driven the women to outlying areas of the city, offering them large amounts of drugs that cost overdoses, then strangled and dumped their bodies. The exact identical mo to the Storyville Slayer.

10:22 A number of other inmates witnessed a fight between Elwood and another inmate, during which he allegedly said, yeah, I killed that in word, bitch, and I'll kill you too. Another inmate, Stephen Michael Busser, he told the police that Elwood bragged of being wanted for more than sixty murders within the state of Louisiana, and it even described to him in detail one of those murders. Then a little over a week later, on August thirteenth of nineteen ninety seven, the very popular at this time Howard Stern Show, they received a call from a man who identified himself as Clay, and during an over the year conversation with Howard Stern himself, which was broadcast live, Clay described details for more than twelve murders and gave some details about his background, indicating that he was a white resident of New Orleans. And it's widely believed that this was the actual Storyville Slayer calling this show. I have the actual clip, and here's what that sounded like. But I want to warn you it's a very chilling call and it may be disturbing to some lesseners.

11:43 Here it is get a guy on the phone who claims he's been killing prostitutes and he's wondering why he's doing it. So maybe he thinks I have an answer? Is his ed? Ed? No, this isn't d H. You haven't killed any presidents? No, I never said my name was said? Sorry, that's okay. What's your what name do you use? You can call me Clay Clay, yes. Clay, Okay Clay. So what happened? How many prostitutes have you be killed? Twelve? And you're wondering why you do it? I have a pretty good idea. Why did your mom beat you? Did your mom spank it? Where's your mama prostitute? No? Actually, nothing like that.

12:24 What is it? Then? I think I just do it for the sense of the power? Right? Do you have sex with them first? Yes? And then what you strangle them? Once? How else did you kill him? Well? A few times, actually most times with a hammer? H And where do you do this? Primarily? Uh? I've done it twice in the parking garage and the direct of the times on the side of the road. And you're from the New Orleans area. Yes, I mean what are you? You beat him to death with a hammer. That usually takes once. Then, dude, you got to have a lot of anger in you. Yeah, and that meets your heartless Do you used to kill small animals?

13:13 No, I've killed a rat? Yeah, dude, you're a serial killer? Yeah yeah, wow, and you get away with it, I guess because they're hookers and so far nobody what. Is this how Yeah? Hello? Hello? I didn't know this was Howard? Yeah? Powered? Yeah, yeah, not never killed a kitten. So how old were you when you killed your first woman? Sixteen? And you must be a powerful kind of guy, big guy. I wasn't then, right, And when you killed your first one, did you go in there know one you were going to kill her? Or it just sort of happened?

13:58 I knew I had. I really had. Planned out m you know, I wanted to do the whole sending clues right, oh yeah. Are you in baffle people? But it turned out no one noticed for. A long time, right, Like, like, you killed her on the side of the road. Her that was the parking garage, Okay, And. Then what did you do with the body? You dumped that somewhere? Yeah? Actually I think, gosh, she's probably one of the ones that they found. Yeah, but let me ask you. Say you were sending clues that you were going to do this. No, I was. I was going to like doing that. He was gonna leave like a note for the newspapers and you know, but she decided not to. He didn't want to be famous or grow attention to himself. But my problem is that's what I wanted to do, but you.

14:39 Did, but no one noticed the clues. I don't know. I never sent the clues. I never left anything. You know. I wanted to have my little signature, right. I wanted to thumb paint. Oh really, what do. You want to do? Some paint with their thumbs? Some paint what though? I don't know, oh anything. It was an a comic book a couple of years ago with it just seemed like a good idea. But like you take the girl you killed, you do different thumbs and paint and then you do like a thumb painting on a piece of paper. Yeah. Now, when you after you kill somebody, do you play with the body? Actually, the closest I've ever done of that is I always make sure I pay them and I make sure they keep their money, really when they're still alive. But uh, with one of them. I did put the money in a compromising place, but that was this one.

15:29 It had a p s. Oh was a guy? Yeah yeah, I didn't know at first. So do you ever get Do you think the reason you're so angry is because you were abused or something? No? I wasn't abused, Howard? Where's your family? And you got a mom and dad or wife? Children? You got any of that. I've got a couple of kids, but I no wife, not married to the mother. You're a white guy, yeah, or that's pretty funny because the only suspect they had when they started finding the bodies of a black police officers out, one of them was associated with them.

16:14 Oh really, are you on drugs? I've done acid a few times, so so nothing happen. So if you killed after you killed the first sixty year old, like, uh, you finished? You finished sixteen? Oh that's right, I'm sorry. He was right, So you finished with your sexual gratification and then you always no, not always, you don't even want to get laid sometimes no, I just you just want to kill. I'm just bored, right, But does the killing sexually satisfy. You in some way? I can't believe that mcmaon'son laughing. I'm pretty lucky off thinking about it later. Yeah, what are you saying? He's pleasured himself thinking about it later?

16:55 Oh yeah, Okay, Now how far a part of these murders? Like do you murder and then like you feel satisfied for a while. I don't even understand why I do it, Howard. I don't know if I ever get any satisfaction. But how often or anywhere was the same night you killed two people in the same night? Yeah, but I went to Mississippi for the second one. Mm, So there's no pattern to how many weeks or days between murders. Are these mostly white chicks or black chicks? It's a fair fair number. Of them have been black. The transstate with black. Does he do some racial motivation here?

17:36 No, Howard, they were just let's just say, had Jimmy Swaggertown? Mm hmm. Jimmy Swaggertown. That's pretty much. The area around here where the prostitute thaw hangout. And it's just whoever comes up to you. You don't pick a certain type. I don't even approach them. I wait for them to approach me. Robin, do you ever like them asking for it. Do you ever like look into their eyes and go, you know, gee, these these people were just children at one. Point, and maybe they just had a tough life. And where the couple go? Yeah, like what happened in the middle of killing them? And then and then they what do they say? Why would you let one go and kill the other? There was this one go ahead. I think she was probably really new to it. Yeah, there was just something about her and maybe she reminded me why fiance?

18:22 But right, you somehow relate. More of an innocent quality. I just you somehow felt bad for him. Yeah, hmm you so okay, So you killed your first woman. When was the last time. You killed. It's been a few months, right, actually, and it's been going on a year. So what do you think you're gonna do? Do you think you're gonna kill yourself? Do you think that you think you're gonna kill again? Can you stop this? Show myself? I missed the next Batman movie? Right, you don't want to do that? No? No, But in all seriousness, I mean, do you think that you can control this? Do you think you can? I think I have been Oh you have been. To the last couple of months a year you haven't killed for a year.

19:02 Yeah, almost. So why do you think he stopped killing all of a sudden. I really don't know Howard. I just part of it had to do with my car broke down. No transportation, seriously, that's the reason. Well that was the reason for a month. But after that, I guess with all self control mile. So you don't want to do this anymore? No, he wants to do it, but he's controlling himself. But you want to kill women, right? Sure? Yeah? And what and do you like it? Do you enjoy seeing them struggle as. You kill them? Uh? Actually none of them really struggle. Do you hit them from behind? Or do they see it coming?

19:43 I can't get inside their minds, but let's if I hit them. But I mean, are you facing them? Yeah? So you can see their face and everything when they do it. Yeah. Yeah. The worst I've ever got was one tried to grab my knack. I've never gotten any of the qualm marks or anything that are uh that giveaway. No, you must be very powerful. I wouldn't always alf powerful. Maybe uh intimidating. Why did you use a hammer? Do you think it? Uh? Because it wasn't a book I read? Oh, everything's coming from cartoons. Yeah, when's the last time you got laid? Last week? Howard? Oh yeah, so you didn't kill that girl? No, because she wasn't a hooker? No, right, it's only hookers, though, a.

20:25 Lot of serial killers are only into hookers because they know A probably won't get caught, and B they have some kind of anger toward hookers. So there's no way I'm going to talk into giving yourself up or anything right now. I shouldn't even waste my time. I don't many get calls after Some people are gonna go, Howard, how can we even catch him? Has anybody ever been close to catching you? No? No, actually someone when it was in the newspaper, someone joked to you. I know it was you, but uh. Well they were joking. Right, do you have a lot of tattoos? I don't have any tattoos. I wouldn't do that to myself, right. And do you get high before you do that? I've gotten pretty drunk before. I'm the only guy you can I'm the only guy you ever told about this. Yeah, wow, I guess that's sort of an honor.

21:09 I've told a couple of women, Howard, but they're dead. Yeah, can you tell him first and then you kill him? Yeah? What do you say to him? Let me hit on? All right, let's seat now, and then you can play the running game. If you're out in the middle of nowhere. We got a lot in the middle of nowhere. Down here, right. So in other words, let's say you're with a woman, right hooker, yeah, Howard, and you say to her, okay, honey, you know you just had sex and everything. What do you say to ords a tormentor how do you break the news or that she's gonna die? I it really depends on my mood. Just give us an example. Well, if I wanted to, I. Could just say baba boowie, but that would be pretty uh No, come on, be serious. What do you say to him?

21:54 I can say you're gonna die? And then what do they do? I like to articulate a little more than that. Sometimes I ask them if they think it's dangerous doing what they're doing, if they're worried about things, and they'll laugh it off, and that just pisses me off, right. And then you go ahead and you kill them. Yeah hmm, all right, Well there you go. Now, as you can imagine this interview with the potential serial killer caused a massive media frenzy, and FBI agents allegedly went to the Stern studio and seized audio recordings of the call to establish the caller's location and possible identity.

22:41 In the following years, the credibility of this incident it was in question. Stern Show often received numerous calls from people who claim to have done terrible things, with some people even alleging that Stern himself faked the call to boost his writings for the record. I don't leave that. It's worth noting that Russell Elwood was still incarcerated on August thirteenth of nineteen ninety seven, so he may have been incarcerated at the time of the phone call. Now. After his release, Elwood returned to Canton to live with his brother, who offered him a pretty high pan job. For Elwood's standards. Based on Hill's testimony in the trial, the task Force tracked him down and reinterviewed him in the presence of a guy by the name of Ron Camden, a twenty seven year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department.

23:33 During interrogation Elwood, he initially denied making any such statements to inmates in Florida on these killings, but after an audio tape of Hill's testimony was played, he admitted that he indeed said those things to Hill. Camden actually later testified that Elwood also confessed to him that he had killed a black girl whose corpse he had dumped near Canal. No recordings of this confession, unfortunately, were taken, and Elwood later denied ever confessing to such a murder. Now later on, Elwood would claim that a mental illness had caused him to brag, demanding that the interrogation stop and that he is allowed to return to New Orleans to seize attorney and be provided with treatment. That request was denied, and Elwood confessed to killing Lewis and Mack, but refused to be audiotaped, and then soon after began denying that he had confessed.

24:34 So. In October of nineteen ninety seven, an inmate who had served time with Elwood in Florida, he tells the Jefferson and Saint Charles Parish officers that Elwood had told him that he liked to have sex with both men and women, and enjoyed the fun of having sex with people who were not in control of their bodies. He said, if they were high on cocaine or heroin, the heroine would with them in a state of mind as if they were paralyzed and he could take advantage of their body, which was part of the Storyville slayers mo right most of these people that they found they were not only strangled, but they had a insane amount of drugs in their system.

25:18 At the time. Elwood also told the inmate that if a person didn't wake up, he would dump them out of his cab. His later defense attorney stated that Elwood only made up these stories to appear tough to the other inmates. So on November fourteenth of nineteen ninety seven, Elwood actually files a police report complaining that he had been beaten up in front of a fast food restaurant. He apparently had not met a scheduled probation appointment at the time when the police showed up, so they arrested him. Then, in December of nineteen ninety seven, a bunch of movement in the case. Russell Elwood's father, New Orleans detectives visited him at his home in Sea Bring, Florida, and he told police that his son was a drifter, saying that he was a slender man and was not sure if he was capable of killing. He just didn't think he was big enough to control these people. He even said, I asked Russell if he had done it, and he said no. It was also in December of nineteen ninety seven that police announced they now had three suspects and claimed to be close to an arrest. Task Force members announced that they interviewed a suspect who was out of state who may have been responsible for at least five of the murders. The task force said the suspect was interested in the occult and had turned up mysteriously at a murder scene and may have been connected to similar

26:49 murders in Ohio and Florida. So on January sixteenth of nineteen ninety eight, Elwood is finally released from jail on that probation violation, and he returns to New Orleans, which totally blew my mind. You have all this heat on you in New Orleans and you return to the place where that heat is the hottest. Well, I'm sure he regretted that because he was immediately arrested on unrelated misdemeanor charges. He was actually taken into custody on traffic tickets, speeding, and some other misdemeanor charges that authorities used to keep him in jail for as long as six months. Now, remember this, the police believe this guy is a serial killer.

27:37 The last place they want him is on the street. And he does get eventually released from jail. You can only hold somebody so long on misdemeanors. And he gets released, he's got a coordinate scheduled, and of course Elwood, he fails to appear in court on time for that scheduled appearance. He was then arrested for contempt to court and he was convicted and he was ordered to spend one hundred and twenty days behind bars. In the meantime, officers sought a confession for Elwood regarding the murders. Even though a confession may not be necessary to gain a conviction, they wanted it. They felt like they didn't need it, but they you know, it makes things a lot easier if somebody confesses to it and you get it on recording.

28:31 He had confessed to these murders before, but for whatever reason, he wouldn't do it on recording, and then he denied ever doing that. An investigator was quoted even as saying that evidence keeps building up. His picture's been out somewhat, and some witnesses have come forward with some information, and I hope they continue to do so. But this case could be made without a confession. However, on January twenty sixth of nineteen ninety eight, a big break in the case. A former girlfriend of Elwoods comes forward, and she reported that she had witnessed him kill someone in months, which is about thirty minutes from New Orleans. She also said she witnessed him burn the body. Ellwood told Times pickying reporters quote, she said, I beat a body to death and set it on fire. She's giving false witness I am an innocent man unquote. Elwood told the newspaper that he learned of the woman's statement when detective shot him a transcript. Elwood pointed out to the reporter that the details the woman gave do not match any of the twenty plus deaths that the task force is now investigating, and he somewhat right on that there was no bodies burned in any of those other cases. Elwood did not remember the woman's full name and said that he was involved with her for about a month, possibly in nineteen ninety three. He said that she told police the relationship

30:02 lasted four years. Ellwood commented, quote, that's a lie. Unquote. Elwood said the woman was a former prostitute who helped him get drugs. He said he did not pay women for sex, although he did give her money for groceries. Throughout the investigation, detectives were able to place Elwood at several sites in Saint Charles and Saint John, the Baptist parishes near where bodies were found. So on March fourth of nineteen ninety eight, finally Elwood is charged with the murders of Lewis and Mack. Officially, sheriffs from three other parishes claimed there are four more suspects in the murders.

30:47 Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said we never thought from the beginning that this was the work of one person. Lee would not identify the other suspects to reporters, but did say in October of nineteen teen ninety seven that former NOPD policeman Victor Gant he was a suspect in two of the killings. As a told you, Gan has never been charged and he denied any involvement Lee in the Saint Charles Paris Sheriff Grade Champagne said that Elwood's many contradictory statements had yielded enough information to convince a judge to sign a warren accusing him of second degree murder in the deaths of Sheer Lewis and Dolores Mack.

31:29 And I've said that many times, the truth never changes. You're not going to have contradictory stories if you're telling the truth. So when those come up, when you contradict yourself, usually means you're lying. Elwood was also a suspect in eight other murders. Champagne said, a few short years ago people were saying the police did not care about the victims because they were poor, black and had questionable reputations, as shown by hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands and thousands of investigator mayon hours. We do care. We continue to care, he was quoted as saying. Now, after being charged with the murders, Elwood was moved from Jefferson Parish to Saint Charles Parish, and Elwood claimed he was innocent and he wanted to go before a grand jury.

32:19 Saint John the Baptist Pairs. Sheriff Wayne Jones said, we'll extend him the opportunity of a grand jury if he wants it. Sheriff Lee commented on the many appearance changes in Elwood. He had changed his identity dramatically over the years for whatever reason, Lee said. Sheriff Champagne stated that since Elwood's arrest, the murder case had gotten stronger. Multiple witness had come forward, including an ex prostitute girlfriend of Elwood's and of Florida inmate who befriended Elwood when he was incarcerated there. And Elwood is held on a one million dollar bond which he for sure can't make now.

33:00 March ninth of nineteen ninety eight, Lieutenant Sue Rushing, lead investigator for JPSO the Jefferson Pearis Sheriff's office, She said that one lead is promising and is from a witness who actually saw one of the victims with Elwood before her death. Then, on March thirteenth of nineteen ninety eight, an AP news report claimed that a former girlfriend of Elwood said he took her to a swamp and showed her two bodies protruding in the water. In the affidavit for arrest. Investigators said the timing and details the woman provided match those of the nineteen ninety three deaths of Sheril Lewis and Delores back So. According to the affid David Elwood told his then girlfriend that he had a quote surprise for her. The incident allegedly took place after she and Elwood smoked crack cocaine in his cab in a desolate of Saint Charles Parish. The two walked to where Elwood pointed out a body in a canal with just an arm and a hand sticking out. Elwood then pulled her over to a second body that was almost submerged.

34:15 When the woman asked who the bodies were, Elwood allegedly responded with a threat that the woman died just like she would. Elwood's attorney said that affidavit does not provide evidence that Elwood killed the women or even disposed of the victims. He also said the fact that she never reported the bodies to authorities race questions about her credibility. The affidavit also details Elwood's alleged remarks about the two drug overdose cases when investigators questioned him in Canton Ohio earlier in the year. The affidavit does not specifically connect the statements to the deaths of Lewis and Mack. The affidavit quoted Elwood as saying, I'm willing to confess to two cases and give you all the details when our return to Louisiana. Investigators said Elwood also told them he dumped the body of a black woman in water in Saint Charles Parish. An investigators said they never mentioned that the bodies had been dumped in water, so at that point, he knows something that they've never mentioned. People and these investigators they always hold something back. They want something in their back pocket so that when they get the guy they think did all these things, if he provides a detail they've never released, they know he did it right.

35:41 On March twenty third of nineteen ninety eight, in an attempt to find the bodies of two women who were strangled and left in the same area of Tangibajo Parish. In February of nineteen ninety four, investigators dug up about one hundred bodies from a Marshy paupers field, which a paupers field, y'all is a graveyard for indigent people. Jefferson Parish Chief Deputy Noel Norman said, every place they said they could possibly be the bodies weren't there. Now. One of the particular bodies that they found may have been patients pay Jupiter, a Waldorf, Maryland native, who disappeared four years before in New Orleans, and authorities were attempting to link the deaths to Russell Elwood. He maintained his innocence on that, and he maintained his innocence on the two women he was charged with killing. But guess what that grand jury he demanded, They indicted him on charges of killing two women. So on April ninth of nineteen ninety eight, Elwood goes to court and he enters a not guilty plea in the murders of Sheryl Lewis and Dolores mack And. On July eighth of nineteen ninety eight, during a hearing, in what can only be described as rambling statements, Elwood tells District Judge Kirk Grenier that he did not understand his rights when he was questioned by the task force who was investigating those murders, and defense

37:14 attorneys asked a judge to surprise all those statements that Elwood gave to authorities. Elwood claimed that his rights to an attorney were violated. During questioning in Florida in July of nineteen ninety seven and in Ohio in November of nineteen ninety seven, Elwood told the judge he was not surprised that investigators visited him in Florida because he had dreamed they would, just like I told you. Elwood said, yeah, I was surprised. No, I wasn't surprised. I had a dream that the Task Force was coming to see me. Assistant Attorney General Doug Frees, who was prosecuting the case, charged Elwood with perjury. During the hearing, Freeze provided documents showing Elwood agreed to talk with investigators he had actually signed a statement, and Freeze asked, Elwood, are you saying you didn't understand what you had signed? Did you ever tell any of the police officers that you did not understand your rights? And Elwood responded, no, but I did not fully understand my rights. I felt the task Force was untrustworthy, deceitful, and manipulated. Now, during the July nineteen ninety seven questioning in Sea Bring, Florida, the task Force was late picking up Elwood, and Elwood admitted to walking to the Sheriff's office to go talk to him. Later, Elwood told how Task Force officers saw him off on a bus to Ohio, where his brother had made living

38:45 arrangements for him. They just didn't have enough to hold him. In November of nineteen ninety eight, the Task Force had arrested Elwood for the murders, they come under investigation by the FBI. Federal agents were looking into allegations of witness tampering, destruction of evidence, and public corruption in the Elwood case. Two former members of the Task Force told the FBI that their leader, Lieutenant Sue Rushing of the Jefferson Pears Sheriff's Office, purposely hit evidence that could help clear Elwood and coach a key witness so her statements would corroborate what they had investigated. Detective Philip ramone of the Jefferson Pear Sheriff's Office, said that Rushing accepted claims by Sharon Jones of Boutet, a former living lover of Elwood, that Elwood had her nickname Rat tattooed on his penis, and that she knew for a fact that a friend, Misty Nicki Williams, had been murdered by Elwood. Williams was located alive in jail, so obviously she was lying about that, and not only that. Elwood does not have a tattoo on his deck of a rat. Ramon added, the evidence that was recovered from these two crime scenes cannot be located.

40:06 I believe the evidence was destroyed and that Rushing is intentionally not submitting exculpatory evidence that may indicate Elwood's innocence. Maria Chason said it's so rare for law enforcement to blow the whistle on colleagues, and Elwood feels somebody's finally listening to him. A statement from Rushing included in the pack of documents centered around her efforts to get a federal grant to maintain her Inner Agency task force that was investigating the murders. In her statement, Rushing said the task force has again disintegrated for the third time because of funding issues. I'm tired of fighting to hold something together, attempting to maintain an impossible morale, of these severe limitations associated with inadequate tools in order to simply do the job.

41:00 I have often been told, and have told subordinates. They would not have a problem with me if they would just do their job. It's chilling to realize that there are occasions where we are in fact prevented from doing our job. Defense attorneys said if the allegations were true, they could unravel the case against Elwood. Attorney Maria Chassan said, we need to find out what really happened so Russell Ellwood can go free like he should. The report basically says what Russell has been saying all along, that he was set up. Assistant District Attorney Doug Frees said he still had faith in the investigation. Quote, A look through the report will show you a lot of rank speculation contained in the statements. You have to ask yourself, where's the coroboration for those broad allegations. I will say I've never seen law enforcement officers conduct themselves in this manner before.

42:02 In December of nineteen ninety eight, Jefferson Pearish Sheriff Harry Lee publicly defended Lieutenant Sue Rushing, who is accused of destroying evidence that might clear Elwood. Lee told The Times peakyun I respect her personally and I respect her professionally, but as of now, I have no reason to discipline her. Lee said that the two former members of the task force made complaints about Rushing to the FBI because of grudges related to the investigation. Lee was quoted as saying, I think we've got a very good case. If we get a conviction, I will let the world know. It's mainly because of Sue Rushing's efforts. State District Judge Kirk Grenere ruled that the defense attorneys were not entitled to review personnel files of the case's leading investigator, Sue Rushing.

42:52 Rushing denied under oath that she destroyed evidence that would exonerate Elwood. She admitted to throwing away an envelope with an out of state postmark with Elwood's things because quote, my hand moved without my brain being engaged. She also claimed that she quickly fished the envelope out of the trash. Rushing also admitted to throwing away a piece of paper that had the word Texas scrawled on it, but insisted it would not have provided Elwood with an alibi because it was dated nineteen ninety. Maria Chaisian asked Rushing, did you think it was your place to be judge and jury on what evidence would be destroyed and what would be maintained, and Rushing responded by saying, in this case, I wish I would have saved it to show you.

43:41 Rushing denied throwing an out of state receipt that may have placed Elwood away from the murder scenes. She said, I wouldn't do that. And more shocking news came out on March first of nineteen ninety nine, when the AP published an article alluding that Elwood may be set free and that he was making plans for the future. Elwood said that he would move back to Ohio and may visit Louisiana occasionally to take part in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the serial Killer task Force that arrested him. Defense attorney Maria Chossingen said that Elwood's release is inevitable since authorities admitted that Elwood could not have killed Delores. Mack Chaussing said, do we have to wait for the trial or will the AG's office face the fact they don't have the evidence and drop it. Chase On added, common sense tells you the same person killed both Lewis and matt if Russell. Elwood could not have killed one of them. Then, obviously he could not have killed the other Lewis could have been out turning a trick, stumbling off into the canal and drown. Now, evidence collected showed that Elwood was visiting relatives in Ohio during the time Delores Mack was key. The evidence included documents that showed Elwood closed an account at an Ohio bank with his brother, and witnesses who saw Elwood at a fifties music community dance in the Canton, Ohio area. So, you know,

45:14 that's some pretty crazy evidence. To the contrary of what they're saying. Elwood spent most of the previous week making collect calls to reporters, predicting that he would soon walk out of jail, But he remains in prison until his trial, which starts on June eighth of nineteen ninety nine. Now, the trial took place in Lafeyette. It was a change of venue requests that was granted by the judge obviously because of the massive publicity at this time surrounding the case in New Orleans, and both martyrs were not tried at the same time. Sheryl Lewis's martyr was tried first. Now, during the proceedings, a number of ellwood Its former salmates and prostitutes testified as prosecution witnesses, with the former claiming that he had confessed to the killings, while the latter claimed that he had assaulted them. Diane Gillam, a former prostitute, till the court she had known Elwood since the early nineteen nineties and even dated him periodically. She testified that nineteen ninety two, during a date, Elwood, while under the influence of drugs, assaulted, beat and strangled her till she was unconscious. Gillim stated she woke up to find herself in a pull of blood in an unfamiliar wooded area, where a passing motorists found her by chance and sheltered her in a motel where he was staying. She said that she did not report the incident, did it being

46:47 a prostitute with a criminal record, and y'all that's a problem too. A lot of those things go unreported. Now, that's a Richmond, a former stripper in prostitute. In turn, she testified she had also been beaten and assaulted twice by a drug crazed Elwood, during which he also attempted to strangle her. Janie Stokes, a former prostitute, told the court that she first met him in either nineteen ninety two or nineteen ninety three at a gas station in Morrero, Louisiana, another outskirt of New Orleans, when he was working as a cab driver. Stokes stated that Elwood bought her lunch and treated her nicely before driving her to his home, where he suggested they use cocaine. After doing drugs together, Elwood beat her, but she did manage to flee. Stokes also did not report the crime because she was a drug addict. Antoinette Rainey, who worked as a drug dealer in New Orleans, also appeared as a witness for the prosecution and testified that Elwood was a regular customer. She recounted an incident in which Elwood forced her into his car at gunpoint, then drove her to an underpass where he beat, raped, and robbed her, threatening to kill her during the ordeal. Rannie was able to escape, but did not report the attack due obviously to her criminal lifestyle.

48:11 Three witnesses testified they had also seen the defendant was shri Lewis shortly before her disappearance. Now according to the testimony, of Denise Sanders, who was Louis's best friend. She had seen her with Elwood three days prior to Louis's death, who at the time was out driving his cab. Sanders also admitted to withholding this information because she was a drug dealer. The second witness, Antoinette Holm, who lived near Lewis, testified seeing her at the Timesaver restaurant in Bridge City, Louisiana, two weeks before she was reported missing, standing between two part cars and talking to a cab driver. She then identified Elwood as that driver. Win War Henry, Lewis's cousin, stated that she at last saw her at a hotel in Avondale, another outskirted of New Orleans, with a man who she identified as Elwood. According to her, Lewis had told Henry that she and Elwood were on their way to a suburb of New Orleans where her body was later found. Henry testified that she did not give police this information because she was wanted for some petty offenses at that time. Now Elwood himself denied knowing any of these victims that testified against him. Chair Lewis's mother in turn, admitted her daughter was a drug addict and a prostitute, but said that she had never seen Elwood with her daughter before. It doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's

49:42 worth noting now. Elwood's attorney said that Elwood was not in New Orleans at the time of the murders, claiming that he had been in Ohio with some relatives. Elwood was known for keeping extensive amounts of documents and indicated his whereabouts, but the regarding where his supposed presence in Ohio was for February of nineteen ninety three had mysteriously disappeared. So on June tenth of nineteen ninety nine, Russell Elwood's trial concludes, and he is convicted of second degree murder by a state district court jury. And they only took about three hours to reach that verdict. Now was the defense attorney's belief because there was no physical evidence. It was all circumstantial stuff. That the reasons that Elwood was convicted was because he came across so nasty to the jurors.

50:44 That was their statement. Elwood denied knowing Lewis, even after witnesses testified they were together and had been seen together in the past. Elwood spoke in a very condescending voice from the witness stand. He actually took the stand his own defense and attorney Ross Scissia was quoted as saying his arrogance really came through and the jury got turned off. So on August seventeenth of nineteen ninety nine, Elwood is sentenced to life in prison without parole in Bloody and Gola, and a few notable events did take place after the conviction.

51:32 January of two thousand, the city of New Orleans wanted fired Victor gamt remember him to pay back the one hundred and nine thousand, five hundred dollars in back pay he actually got awarded in nineteen ninety six. Gant received the money in November of nineteen ninety six after the Civil Service Commission, which reinstated him, threatened the city with a contempt ruling. The commission ruled the gants firing was excessive, reduced his punishment to a thirty day suspension, and ordered the city to pay all of Gant's lost wages. Police Superintendent Richard Pennington said, I think he needs to repay every dime back to the city. He wasn't entitled to that money. We're trying to get the money back. We don't think he should have gotten it in the first place, because the case was still in the appeal process. Chief Administration Officer Marlon Gussman said, if he's going to stash it or send it away somewhere, he's probably already done that.

52:31 But it doesn't mean we won't try our best to come up with the money. Then, in March of two thousand and one, the Louisiana Supreme Court refuses to overturn Elwood's conviction after reviewing trial transcripts and written arguments. In two thoy fourteen, Elwood dies at Louisiana State Penitentiary and Angola. Two years later, in twenty sixteen, in an interview with The Huffington Post, Major CJ. Dorster of the Saint John the Baptist Pearis Sheriff's Office confirm mc gant is still on the suspect less for the murder of his ex girlfriend and her friend. Advances in DNA testing would be utilized to test that what of chewing tobacco that I told you about in episode one found near one of the crime scenes, and the initial review of that twenty one year old tobacco was inconclusive. When it was tested in nineteen ninety five, and they still held on to it, and they're hoping that DNA one day will get to the point they can pull something off of it. Sadly, as of today, all of the murders I told you about, aside from remain unsolved. Elwood remains a suspect in several of those killings, but no charges had been filed against him, and now I mean he's dead. As for Gant, he left New Orleans after his discharge from law enforcement and

54:04 moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where presumably he still lives today. And it's important to mention again he has never been charged in anyone's murder and has assumed innocent until proven guilty. So thanks so much for listening. Check out the Patreon at patreon dot com, slash Bloody and Goola Podcasts for commercial, free early releases and more. And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman for Bloody in Gola, a podcast one and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest present. Peace Lo straight.

55:00 Line, shackle, Change, Oh gluesome gird. It's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as the hill Stream game Rango, the three. I'm here, be by me, to die. Inside these walls, inside the wild. And when more girls I know it's soul.

55:49 Bloody angle, ohbody Angle And p