Chris Anthony Deville was 40 and living in Houma, Louisiana, when he vanished in the late summer of 2005 amid the displacement and chaos after Hurricane Katrina. His family endured weeks of uncertainty before skeletal remains were found the following month in a desolate reed field; identification was possible only through personal items recovered with the body. The discovery confirmed a violent end and heightened fears that a predator was operating in the region.

Investigators later connected Deville’s death to a series of killings blamed on a man who became known as the Bayou Strangler. The case record states that the suspect was arrested in December 2006 and confessed to multiple murders, including Deville’s. In a plea to avoid the death penalty, the suspect pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder and received eight consecutive life sentences.

If anyone knew Chris, saw him hitchhiking after the hurricane, or has information about his final movements, please come forward.