Jeff Davis 8 Victims

Case background and investigation

Between May 2005 and August 2009, the bodies of eight women were discovered in the canals, drainage ditches, wooded areas, and along back roads in and around Jennings, a town of roughly 10,000 people in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. Collectively they became known as the 'Jeff Davis 8.' The victims were Loretta Lynn Chaisson Lewis, 28; Ernestine Marie Daniels Patterson, 30; Kristen Gary Lopez, 21; Whitnei Dubois, 26; Laconia 'Muggy' Brown, 23; Crystal Shay Benoit Zeno, 24; Brittney Gary, 17; and Necole Guillory, 26.

According to reporting, the women knew one another and moved in the same circles. Many struggled with poverty, addiction, and involvement in the local sex and drug trade, and several were said to have served as police informants. Some were related: Kristen Lopez and Brittney Gary were cousins. Because most of the bodies were recovered in advanced states of decomposition, often after being submerged in water, determining cause of death was difficult; in at least two cases (Patterson and Brown) the throat had been cut.

The first victim, Loretta Lewis, was found floating in a canal on the outskirts of Jennings on May 20, 2005. A month later, on June 18, 2005, Ernestine Patterson was found in a canal south of town. After a gap, Kristen Lopez was recovered from a canal in March 2007, followed over the next year and a half by Dubois, Brown, Zeno, and Gary. The last, Necole Guillory, was found off Interstate 10 in Acadia Parish in August 2009.

The investigation drew sustained criticism. In December 2008, Sheriff Ricky Edwards announced a multi-agency task force, and authorities publicly acknowledged the possibility of a 'common offender.' Yet, as documented in journalist Ethan Brown's 2016 book 'Murder in the Bayou' and related reporting, the inquiry was plagued by alleged mishandling of evidence, poor interviews, and conflicts of interest. Brown's reporting argues the deaths may not have been the work of a single serial killer but rather violent fallout from the parish's drug and sex trade.

Among the reported allegations: two female inmates claimed in 2007 that Sheriff's Office personnel had disposed of evidence connected to the Lopez case; the sergeant, Jesse Ewing, who documented their statements and forwarded material to the FBI was later removed from his position. The sheriff's chief criminal investigator, Warren Gary, was reported to have purchased a truck suspected of having been used to transport a victim's body. In 2009, DNA swabs were reportedly taken from investigators, but results were never publicly disclosed. These are attributed claims and allegations reported by Brown and other outlets; they have not been established in court.

Several men were linked to the case at various points. Frankie Richard, a strip-club owner and self-described crack addict who admitted having had sex with several of the victims and was reportedly among the last to see Kristen Lopez, was briefly charged but never prosecuted for the killings; he died in 2020. Byron Chad Jones and Lawrence Nixon were charged in Patterson's death but released after evidence problems. No individual has been convicted of guilt in any of the eight deaths.

As of 2026, all eight murders remain officially unsolved. No one has been convicted, and the families of several victims have continued to press for answers, with some publicly alleging law-enforcement involvement or cover-up. Those allegations remain unproven, and the identity of whoever killed the women has never been established.