In the spring of 2007, the shadow of death that had been cast over Jennings, Louisiana, grew longer with the discovery of another young woman's body. Laconia "Muggy" Brown, a 23-year-old Black / African American female, became another name in a growing list of unsolved deaths that gripped the small town in fear and suspicion. On May 12, 2007, her body was found discarded on a rural road by a Jefferson Davis Parish sheriff's deputy on patrol.
The scene was grim; her body had been doused with bleach, a seeming attempt to erase any trace of her killer. An autopsy would later reveal that her throat had been slit.
Laconia's death was not an isolated incident but part of a string of eight murders of women in and around Jennings between 2005 and 2009, a group of victims collectively known as the "Jeff Davis 8" or the "Jennings 8". These women, including Laconia, shared a similar lifestyle, one that brought them to the dangerous edges of society, involved with drugs and prostitution. Many of them knew each other, creating a tangled web of relationships that investigators and journalists would later try to unravel. Laconia herself was connected to several of the other victims. Before her own death, she had been questioned by police about the 2005 murder of Ernestine Patterson, the second victim in the series. There were also rumors that Laconia was one of the last people to see the first victim, Loretta Lewis, alive. Her grandmother, Bessie Brown, recalled that Laconia was deeply afraid, convinced she would be the next to die.
The investigation into Laconia Brown's murder, like the others, has been fraught with complexities and has yet to lead to a conviction. The initial theory of a serial killer being responsible for the deaths has been challenged by evidence suggesting multiple perpetrators and even allegations of corruption and involvement by local law enforcement. Several individuals have been considered persons of interest in the broader case of the Jennings 8. One such figure was a local strip-club owner named Frankie Richard, who was known to associate with most of the victims. Although Richard was briefly charged in connection with the death of another victim, Kristen Lopez, those charges were later dropped.
In the case of Ernestine Patterson's death, two men, Byron Chad Jones and Lawrence Nixon, who was Laconia Brown's own cousin, were charged with second-degree murder, but these charges were also eventually dismissed. The lack of progress in solving Laconia's case and the other seven murders has left a lasting scar on the community of Jennings. Despite the formation of a multi-agency task force, no one has ever been held accountable for the death of Laconia Brown, and her case, like the others, remains a hauntingly open wound for her family and the town she once called home.
