But what was really going on in the humid rooms of the Boudreaux Inn? Why were crimes going unsolved and police officers being indicted? What had the eight women known? And could anything be done do stop the bloodshed? Rumors of police corruption and evidence tampering, of collusion between street and shield, cast the serial killer theory into doubt. And their underworld activity frequently occurred at a decrepit no-tell motel called the Boudreaux Inn.Īs the cases went unsolved, the community began to look inward. They engaged in sex work as a means of survival. The Jeff Davis 8 had been among society’s most vulnerable-impoverished, abused, and mired with mental illness. The women came to be known as the Jeff Davis 8, and local law enforcement officials were quick to pursue a serial killer theory, opening a floodgate of media coverage and stirring a wave of panic across Jennings’ class-divided neighborhoods. “Part murder case, part corruption exposé, and part Louisiana noir” ( New York magazine), Murder in the Bayou chronicles the twists and turns of a high-stakes investigation into the murders of eight women in a troubled Louisiana parish.īetween 20, the bodies of eight women were discovered around the murky canals and crawfish ponds of Jennings, Louisiana, a bayou town of 10,000 in the heart of the Jefferson Davis parish.

A New York Times Bestseller & the Basis for the Hit Showtime Docuseries

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