the first degree podcast

The River Parishes Serial Killer

On October 17, 1996, a 41 year old repair shop owner and father of three is bludgeoned to death at his home in St Amant, Louisiana, by an intruder. The killer leaves a bloody baseball bat in the victims’ bathtub, but there appears to be little forensic evidence indicating who’s responsible. For detectives, without any leads or solid direct evidence, it seems a confession will be the only way to solve the case. It won’t be until over a year later, in November 1997, that law enforcement would apprehend the killer. Tragically, by this stage he’d killed another five people. In episode 222, Jac and Alexis detail the chilling case of Daniel Blank, a violent offender who became known as the River Parishes Serial Killer, and had older residents of this small region of Louisiana living in fear.

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