Laconia Muggy Brown, 23, was found dead on May 12, 2007, on a rural road near Jennings, Louisiana. A Jefferson Davis Parish sheriff’s deputy on patrol discovered her body, which had been doused with bleach. An autopsy showed her throat had been slit.

Brown’s death is one of eight similar murders in and around Jennings between 2005 and 2009, commonly referred to as the Jeff Davis 8 or Jennings 8. The victims shared ties to drugs and prostitution and many knew one another; Brown had been questioned about the 2005 killing of Ernestine Patterson and was rumored to have been among the last to see Loretta Lewis alive. Her grandmother said Brown feared she would be next.

Investigators later explored theories ranging from a single serial killer to multiple perpetrators, and allegations of corruption and links to local figures surfaced. Several people have been investigated or briefly charged in related cases, but no one has been convicted in Brown’s death. Did anyone who knew Laconia notice people she trusted or feared in the weeks before May 12, 2007?