Ronald Dominique

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.

Ronald Joseph Dominique was born on January 9, 1964, in Thibodaux, Louisiana, the youngest of six children.

His parents were poor laborers who lived in a trailer park located on the outskirts of the city.

However, he quickly lost interest and dropped out in the mid-1980s.

During his school years, Dominique was known for his melancholic temperament, lack of communication skills and weight problems.

These, coupled with low self-esteem and poor health, made him the target of bullying.

Despite singing in the school choir, Dominique was considered an unpopular social outcast since he didn't play sports, didn't do drugs or drink alcohol.

Shortly before leaving school, Dominique discovered that he was gay, and visited a local gay bar several times.

However, some of his classmates had seen him there, resulting in harassment.

Dominique vehemently denied accusations of being homosexual.

Because of his family's financial circumstances, Dominique lived out his childhood and adolescence in poverty, but still managed to attend the local Thibodaux High School, from which he graduated in 1983.

After leaving school, he entered the Nicholls State University, where he studied computer science.

On June 12, 1985, Dominique was arrested on charges of sexual harassment committed via telephone, for which he had to pay a $75 fine.

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.

Unwilling to keep a steady job for a long period of time, he survived by living off relatives and other people's income, most notably his mother and older sister, living with each of them for a time.

He was arrested for drunk driving in May 1994 and was fined for the offense.

Two years later, on August 25, 1996, a partially naked male youth jumped out of the window of the residence of Dominique's sister, where he lived at the time, and told neighbors that Dominique had raped and attempted to kill him.

Dominique was arrested and his bail set at $100,000.

When the case was transferred to the court, the prosecutor's office was unable to locate the alleged victim or establish his identity, eventually resulting in the case's dismissal in November of that year.

The murders began in July 1997, with Dominique's first confirmed victim being a 19-year-old African American man named David Mitchell.

He was picked up while hitchhiking alone from his grandmother's house after attending a relative's birthday party.

His body was found on July 14 in a ditch along a highway, near a wooded area in St. Charles Parish, two days after he was last seen.

Forensic research showed that there was ditch water in David's lungs but no trace of physical trauma, drugs or alcohol.

His death was initially ruled as accidental drowning.

However, Mitchell's father insisted that his son was an excellent swimmer and that he had been murdered, since the water level was low and the fact that Mitchell's trousers had been lowered to his ankles when found.

After Dominique's later confessions, the deceased's relatives denied that he was gay, used drugs or had financial troubles.

On February 10, 2002, Dominique was arrested again, this time for assaulting a woman in Terrebonne Parish during a Mardi Gras festival.

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.

After the woman apologized, he punched her in the face.

He was charged, but the case was later dropped, after an agreement of reconciliation was reached between him and the woman, with whom he had made amends.

As a gay man, Dominique was unmarried and had no children, preferring to spend most of his free time in gay bars, often dressed as singer Patti LaBelle, of whom he was a great fan.

Dominique was unable to establish a serious relationship and was often looked down upon by the local gay community.

Dominique's victims tended to be teenagers and men aged between 16 and 46, but not all of them were homosexual.

Most of the victims were African-American.

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.

After successfully convincing potential victims, Dominique would lure them to his trailer where he would overpower them, bind them, and subsequently rape them.

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.

On September 23, 2008, Dominique was found guilty and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment without parole for his crimes.

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.

Despite the number of victims, Dominique's arrest received little publicity outside of the state media.