In the fall of 2002, the disappearance of 23-year-old Trineisha Dene Colomb cast a dark shadow over the community of Scott, Louisiana. A young Black female, Trineisha was reported missing by her family on November 22nd of that year. A sense of unease settled over the area as law enforcement began their search for the young woman, a search that would come to a tragic end just two days later.
On November 24th, the grim discovery of Trineisha's body was made by a rabbit hunter in a wooded area in Scott. The location was approximately 20 miles from where her abandoned car had been found in Grand Coteau. The initial investigation into her death revealed that she had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. As the authorities delved deeper into the circumstances surrounding her murder, a chilling connection began to emerge, linking her case to a string of other unsolved homicides in the region.
Investigators, through the use of DNA evidence, were able to connect Trineisha's murder to the deaths of at least three other women: Gina Wilson Green, Pam Kinamore, and Charlotte Murray Pace. This revelation pointed to the terrifying reality that a serial killer was active in southern Louisiana. In the early stages of the investigation, the Baton Rouge Homicide Task Force released a sketch of a 'person of interest,' a 30- to 40-year-old white male who was seen near Scott around the time of Trineisha's disappearance. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit also developed a profile of the offender, describing him as a white or possibly Hispanic male, between 25 and 35 years old, with significant physical strength.
The breakthrough in the case came with the identification of a suspect, Derrick Todd Lee. DNA evidence ultimately linked Lee to the murders of Trineisha and several other women. In September 2003, a grand jury in Lafayette indicted Derrick Todd Lee on first-degree murder charges for the death of Trineisha Dene Colomb. He was subsequently accused of killing a total of seven women across southern Louisiana. Following his trials, Lee was convicted of the murders of Geralyn DeSoto and Charlotte Murray Pace and was sentenced to death. He remained on death row until he died of heart disease in 2016, bringing a close to the reign of terror that had held the region in its grip.
