John Peter Malveaux: The Opelousas Serial Killer
Background
John Peter Malveaux is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered four women in and around Opelousas, Louisiana, between February 1996 and October 1997. His crimes were concentrated in St. Landry Parish and neighboring Evangeline Parish. Malveaux sexually assaulted his victims and killed them by strangulation, often abandoning their bodies in secluded or poorly traveled locations.
Born in Opelousas in 1964, Malveaux later lived with his wife and six sons in a trailer park near Lafayette. People who knew him described him as friendly and generally well liked, although he reportedly struggled with alcohol and had experienced conflict with members of a local church. His outwardly ordinary life allowed him to move through the community without attracting the suspicion normally associated with a violent predator.
Malveaux's confirmed series of murders began with the death of Diane Sam in February 1996. More than a year later, he murdered Carolyn Breaux Nichols and Tamika Blake Wilson during the summer of 1997. His final known victim, Tammy Duplechin Smith, was killed in October 1997. Malveaux was arrested less than a week after Smith's disappearance when police found him sleeping inside her automobile.
The Murder of Diane Sam
On February 20, 1996, Malveaux encountered 38-year-old Diane Sam in Opelousas. According to his later confession, Sam refused to have sex with him. Malveaux responded by sexually assaulting and strangling her. He then abandoned her partially unclothed body outside an apartment complex in Opelousas, where she was discovered later that day.
Sam's death was initially attributed to natural causes rather than homicide. Because the true circumstances were not recognized, her case was not immediately connected to Malveaux or to any broader pattern of attacks against women. After Malveaux was arrested in 1997, however, he confessed to killing Sam and reportedly provided information that investigators believed only the killer could have known.
The confession caused authorities to reconsider the original findings concerning Sam's death. Officials discussed exhuming her body in an effort to gather additional evidence and confirm that she had been strangled. Her case demonstrated how Malveaux's crimes could remain hidden when a suspicious death was initially classified incorrectly.
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