Sounak Sengupta
Investigation Disocvery’s ‘Murder by Numbers: Monster Among Us’ chronicles how the Baton Rouge Police Department arrested Jeffery Lee Guillory, a serial killer responsible for at least three women’s death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Apprehending him took over a decade since his first victim’s body was discovered in September 1999.
Who Were Jeffery Lee Guillory’s Victims?
The Baton Rouge Police Department received a 911 call on September 3, 1999, with the caller claiming a woman’s body was found in the old Dynasty Lounge on the corner of 11th and North Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yet, the operator found it strange when the individual offered the victim’s name — Florida Douglas. When the emergency responders arrived at the crime scene, they found the building had been abandoned for years and riddled with debris. It was a haven for drug users, alcohol consumption, and other illegal activities.
The officers entered the dilapidated building to find a woman’s body laid out on a box on her back in an unnatural position. It seemed the perpetrator took their time to place her that way to shock people walking in on the corpse. She was pretty stiff because rigor had set in one the body, indicating she had been dead between 18 to 20 hours. According to reports, she was, for the most part, nude, suggesting she had been raped and murdered. Moreover, her body had several injuries, including abrasions and scratches on her neck.
The investigators noted the visible fingernail marks on the groove of the victim’s neck. Her head was tilted back in a way where somebody had appeared to strangle her, with the body’s position indicating the killer wanted to draw attention to their handiwork. In addition, she had marks around her neck and blunt force trauma from her head being slammed against something like a solid wall. She had blood on her skull and the back of her head, with the official cause of death being ruled as manual strangulation.
The police identified the victim as Florida Douglas Edwards with the help of her fingerprints and dental records. Her friend, Elizabeth Glasper, described her as a “very reserved person who was quiet, sweet, and intelligent.” While looking into Florida’s homicide, the Baton Rouge police received another distressing 911 call — one individual had discovered another woman’s body on North Acadian Thruway around 12:30 PM on July 25, 2001. The first responders arrived to find another decomposed corpse in a semi-seated position.
According to reports, the body exhibited a very advanced stage of decomposition, and the officers noticed some striking similarities with Florida’s murder. Both bodies were in semi-seated positions in dilapidated buildings and were victims of violent attacks. The victim had bruising on her neck and chest and blunt force trauma on different body parts. However, the authorities could not determine the cause of death due to the extreme state of decomposition. Eventually, they used her fingerprints to identify her as 37-year-old Sylvia Cobb.
The episode stated that Sylvia lived with her mother and her sister, Luella, and was reported missing the same day she was discovered. Exactly eight months and 19 days after her murder, the police found Renee J Newman’s body in the flower bed of an abandoned department store in Baton Rouge on April 10, 2002. Born on May 22, 1955, the 46-year-old was a single mother, and her brother was a police officer at the Baton Rouge Police Department. A small tree separated her legs, and she died of strangulation. The investigators hypothesized Renee’s white tee, pulled upwards to her neck area, had served as the murder weapon.
Jeffery Lee Guillory is Serving His Sentence Today
After Florida’s body was discovered, the investigators questioned several witnesses to learn about a black male using a pay phone in the area. He was deemed suspicious since he had a plastic bag wrapped around his hands. The police processed the phone’s receiver and found no fingerprints. Nevertheless, he had used the victim’s maiden name, and the officers hypothesized he knew the victim. The forensics team lifted DNA from underneath her fingernails that belonged to an unidentified male perpetrator.
The investigators questioned Florida’s friends and family to learn about an allegedly abusive boyfriend named Jimmy Bowers, who had some criminal history. Hence, they detained him, and he voluntarily agreed to a buccal swap. The officers sent Jimmy’s DNA sample to the crime lab to be checked against the DNA sample retrieved from under Florida’s fingernails. As they waited for the DNA report, the detectives received another possible lead when a woman stated Donald Andrews harassed and raped her.
Donald also had a considerable criminal history, with the police sending his DNA sample for analysis. Meanwhile, they discovered the bodies of Sylvia and Renee, and the DNA samples collected from their bodies matched the one found under Florida’s fingernails. When the DNA analysis reports finally arrived, Donald and Jimmy were ruled out as suspects. As the police actively searched for the supposed serial killer, they had a breakthrough when a LaFayette woman reported an incident that fitted the same M.O. in late 2009.
A man had savagely thrashed Johnnie Martinez, and the quick-witted woman faked death to escape. However, he stole her First National Bank debit atm card that was used four times in Baton Rouge. The police identified the perpetrator with the help of bank surveillance footage as Jeffery Lee Guillory, then 45. He was a Louisiana native from Lake Charles who had moved to Baton Rouge when he was 12. According to police reports, he had a considerably long criminal history that included burglary, first-degree robbery, drugs, and forgery convictions.
Jeffery was arrested for first-degree attempted murder after Johnnie picked him from a line-up. He was convicted of attempted second-degree murder on March 15, 2010, and sentenced to 50 years. Jeffery had also been tied to the murders of the three Baton Rouge women after his DNA matched the sample retrieved from Renee’s body. On top of it, his fingerprints matched a beer can found near Sylvia’s body. Jeffery was sentenced to life in his September 2011 trial for the 2002 murder of Renee Newman. He is serving his sentence at the David Wade Correctional Center.
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