Ronald Joseph Dominique (born January 9, 1964), known as The Bayou Strangler, is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 23 men and boys in the state of Louisiana between 1997 and 2006.
Following his conviction, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated that Dominique's was the most significant serial homicide case in the country over the past two decades in terms of both death toll and duration.
Because of his lack of education, Dominique was forced to engage in low-skilled labor for the following years, and struggled to hold down jobs due to disciplinary issues.
Ronald claimed that the woman had hit a baby stroller in one of the parking lots due to her dangerous driving, after which he began an argument with her, demanding an apology.
He often met them during walks or drives in his pickup truck, as well as in gay bars, luring them with offers of alcohol, drugs, housing, or group sex with his supposed girlfriend.
According to the investigators, Dominique then strangled them, loaded their bodies into the back of his truck, and dumped them in remote rural areas in one of six nearby parishes.
[6][7] The murders began in July 1997, with Dominique's first confirmed victim being a 19-year-old African American man named David Mitchell.
After his arrest, he claimed that the drug-addicted LeBanks offered him sexual services in exchange for money, after which Dominique had sex with him, then beat and strangled him.
Agreeing to the offer, Dominique let him into his truck, where he raped and then strangled Reed, later dumping his corpse in a dumpster in the city's industrial zone, about a mile from where Brown's body was found.
On October 12, 2002, in the late evening, Dominique met 26-year-old Anoka Jones, a financially strained petty criminal, on the streets in Houma.
The cause of death was deemed as asphyxiation; however, until Dominique's arrest, it was considered to be accidental in nature, since the victim was known to suffer from asthma.
Two months later, in April, Dominique met 31-year-old August Watkins, a homeless man who he lured to his truck with promises of an overnight stay.
After Watkins ended up in his trailer, Dominique gave him alcohol and offered him to have sex with a supposed female acquaintance, before tying up, raping, and strangling the victim.
After Watkins's corpse was discovered, police began to consider for the first time that a serial killer was active in Kenner and Houma, since the murders in both areas demonstrated a strikingly similar modus operandi.
Hogan had been raped by Dominique pre-mortem, while no traces of semen were found on Smith's corpse since his body had been disposed of in a canal, where it had severely decomposed when discovered only a few days later.
On October 14, while on a date together in Iberville Parish, Dominique hit Sutterfield on the head with a heavy object, causing him to lose consciousness.
After finding his body, police interviewed Sutterfield's relatives, friends, and acquaintances, all of whom confirmed they had last seen him with a man driving a black SUV, but they were unable to describe his companion's appearance.
[21][3] Over the next week, DNA testing matched Dominique's profile with that of the elusive killer who had left behind semen traces on the bodies of Oliver LeBanks and Manuel Reed, resulting in an arrest warrant.
[22][23] Once at the police station, Dominique expressed his desire to cooperate with investigators and readily confessed to 23 murders, describing them with details known to only officers.
He stated that most of his victims, due to their addictions and other factors, had voluntarily agreed to be tied, handcuffed, and treated similarly since they wanted to earn money.
According to him, after his 1996 arrest for rape, he was strongly impacted, allegedly remaining in constantly negative emotional states, and even began to show symptoms of a mental disorder.
[28] After accepting a plea bargain from prosecutors, on September 24, 2008, the court found Dominique guilty on all charges and sentenced him to eight life imprisonment terms without parole.
[29][30] Dominique had avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to all charges and is incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.