Derrick Todd Lee
Derrick Todd Lee (November 5, 1968 – January 21, 2016), also known as The Baton Rouge Serial Killer, was an American serial killer. From 1992 to 2003, Lee murdered seven women in the Baton Rouge area.
Derrick Todd Lee | |
|---|---|
Mugshot | |
| Born | November 5, 1968 St. Francisville, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 21, 2016 (aged 47) Zachary, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Other names | The Baton Rouge Serial Killer |
| Conviction(s) | |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 7+ |
Span of crimes | August 23, 1992 – March 3, 2003 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Louisiana |
Date apprehended | May 27, 2003 |
Before his murder charges, Lee had been arrested for stalking women and watching them in their homes. Despite this arrest, he initially was overlooked by police because they incorrectly believed the killer was white. Lee was linked by DNA tests to the deaths of seven women in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette areas in Louisiana, and in 2004, he was convicted in separate trials of the murders of Geralyn DeSoto and Charlotte Murray Pace. The Pace trial resulted in a death sentence.
Newspapers suggested Lee was responsible for other unsolved murders in the area, but the police lacked DNA evidence to prove these connections. After Lee's arrest, it was discovered that another serial killer, Sean Vincent Gillis, was operating in the Baton Rouge area during the same time as Lee.
Lee died on January 21, 2016, of heart disease at a hospital in Louisiana, where he was transported for treatment from Louisiana State Penitentiary, where he had been awaiting execution.