The date of January 14th, 2002 will always stick in my mind. It is the day that Derrick Todd Lee killed my next door neighbor, Geralyn DeSoto. She was the sixth victim of the man who came to be known as the Baton Rouge Serial Killer.
I was sitting in my living room, reading a book that evening when my dog (a yellow lab named Kilo—he flunked out of drug dog training for the state because he refused to sit when he ‘hit’ on drugs) began barking at the window. I looked up from my book and noticed that red and blue flashing lights were reflecting through the window. I put Kilo on his leash and we walked outside to find numerous police cars, a fire truck, and two ambulances in the street. I did not know how I didn’t hear sirens at the time, but I later found that out as I will tell you.
I walked to my neighbors driveway, and there I asked another neighbor what was wrong. I asked if Darrin and Geralyn were ok. He told me simply “She’s gone.” I knew that the marriage was rocky at best, since Darrin had recently began spending more and more nights away from home. When I asked what he meant, he told me she was dead. Darrin was sitting in his driveway crying, and looking at his hands. I later found out they were covered in his wife’s blood. Everyone, including the police first thought that Darrin had killed her. He was later arrested for the crime. The state police crime lab came for days on end and tore the house apart. Pieces of walls were put on a flat bed truck, with the dried blood visible when the breeze blew the tarp around that was supposed to cover them. Furniture, ceiling, fixtures…taken away piece by piece.
Of course, the crime scene tape went up…and stayed up for the summer. It was as one police officer I spoke to put it “The first and most shocking murder the area has seen in a LONG time.” It’s West Baton Rouge Parish, the smallest parish in Louisiana, and the most we usually see is a death from a DUI. Now my neighbor is brutally murdered in her home?
As information began to flow, I was sickened. It was released that she had died sometime that afternoon. That meant that when I came home from work about 4:30pm she was already gone. Inside her home, dead…right next door. After her husband was released on bond, each time he came to the house he was escorted by police. That was not fun to see when I can home.
I had messages from police on my machine, I had notes on my door, I had business cards from detectives and even the FBI. I was working for the state as a Correctional Officer at the time, so I had to report the crime that happened next door. What if the guilty party was sent to the prison where I worked? It was a roller coaster to say the least.
I talked to the prosecution, I talked to the defense, I talked to the task force and even had to shoo some reporters away from my home.
Darrin was eventually cleared of the crime, but he moved back to whatever small town he was originally from, and what left of Gerlayn’s trailer was towed away. The area stayed empty for a good while, a blank spot where a lovely and wonderful woman once lived.
Many months later, as I was watching the nightly news a report threw my life back into turmoil. A photo was shown and the anchor reported that Derrick Todd Lee had been matched by DNA to the murder of numerous women, one of whom was Geralyn. I almost pissed myself. Not because she was the victim of a serial killer……but because I HAD SEEN HIM. I COULD PLACE HIM THERE THE OCTOBER BEFORE.
That was a sunny and warm October afternoon, and I had put Kilo outside on his tie out to play, and I was preparing to plant some flowers. I had gone inside to change from my uniform to something else, when I heard him go crazy. Thankfully, I had only taken off my shoes, the rest of the uniform was still on. I opened the door, and there was a large slightly out of it looking black man a few feet from my door wearing khaki pants and a blue button down shirt. Kilo was doing everything in his power to get off of that tie out and from the looks of things, kill that black man. This is the dog who thought everyone was his best friend, and I had never even heard him BARK before that day. But here he was looking like a vicious mad dog. The black man told me he was selling alarm systems, and was I interested. I pointed at the dog and told him “That is my alarm system. I think you should leave now.” And thankfully, he did. I didn’t realize it at the time, by why would someone selling alarm systems be going door to door, on foot, with no briefcase, folder, or other paperwork????
The night I saw the news report, I realized that Derrick Todd Lee stood on my front yard. He came close to knocking on my door. Could it have been me????
I dug up the pile of old business cards and called the FBI office in Baton Rouge, and as calmly as I could, informed them that I live next door to where Geralyn was killed, I just saw the report about Derrick Todd Lee’s DNA match……..and he was here last October. The next day, the FBI was back. I had to look at photos, go through the deposition process……and was subpoenaed to testify at the trial.
Through the whole process I learned that Lee most likely had stalked Geralyn from LSU, where she was taking a few classes the fall before. He had been allegedly working at plant not far away, and as of about 1pm the afternoon she died, he was at a fast food place down the highway. I think that Geralyn being the nice person she is, most likely opened the door and let him in. She would have been one of few people home that day, she was neither working nor going to school at the time. But she and I lived toward the back of the street…..so once again….why her?
I watched with the rest of the State as the verdict came back guilty, after less than 2 hours of deliberation. I cheered when the Warden of Angola (the State Maximum Security Prison) was on hand to take custody of Lee after the proceedings were over.
Kilo died that winter. I was home early and sick, and when I took him out for a walk….something caught his attention and I was not strong enough to hold on to the leash. He got loose and was hit by an 18 wheeler on the river road. I buried him that afternoon where he lay in the ditch. To this day, I credit him with possibly saving my life. What did he know about what took place on January 14th, 2002????
Why write this now? I have finally gotten a new dog, another yellow lab. I hope she never has to protect me. But it brings back memories of the dog who KNEW without a doubt, that the man in the blue shirt was EVIL.
Derrick Todd Lee sits in a cell on death row, awaiting his execution. I have included a link to a great site about him and the case.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/derrick_todd_lee/index.html
Jamye
Associate Program in Paralegal Studies Student
Ashworth University
Subscribe to Feed
