Lee was linked by DNA tests to the deaths of seven women in the areas in Louisiana, and in 2004, he was convicted in separate trials of the murders of Geralyn DeSoto and Charlotte Murray Pace.

Newspapers suggested Lee was responsible for other unsolved murders in the area, but the police lacked DNA evidence to prove these connections.

Two of the victims' bodies were discovered at the Whiskey Bay boat launch, approximately 30 miles west of Baton Rouge, just off Interstate 10.

As a result of an inaccurate FBI offender profile and erroneous eyewitness accounts, police originally believed the killer to be white.

More specific analysis of the DNA evidence found under the fingernails of DeSoto linked Lee to the 21-year-old woman's death in Addis, Louisiana.

Police in the nearby town of Zachary, Louisiana recognized the man by a recent peeping tom incident it had investigated.

Alexander felt she deserved the Lafayette Crime Stoppers Inc. public reward offering of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Lee.

DeSoto's husband had been the primary suspect in her murder, but as the investigation progressed, DNA evidence linking Lee to the crime was discovered.

During the manhunt, John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted, added the Baton Rouge Serial Killer to his Top 10 Fugitives of 2002 at #3.

Lee was portrayed in an episode of the docudrama series Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired in March 2014 and centered on his stalking of surviving victim Collette Dwyer[11] whose tips to police about Todd were not fully followed up.

[13][14] In early 2003, an urban legend began to circulate that Lee was using the taped sounds of a crying baby to lure victims to the door.

Fueling the rumor were season 3 episodes of the television series Criminal Minds titled "Children of the Dark"[15] and "Tabula Rasa".