December Theatre
December 12, 2006
Wetland tours offer a close-up view of Bayou Lafourche
December 14, 2006
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Bayou Blue man with nine counts of first-degree murder in connection with a series of deaths dating back to 1997.
Ronald Joseph Dominique, 42, allegedly confessed to raping and suffocating 23 men whose bodies were dumped in remote areas n mostly sugar cane fields and ditches n in six parishes.
Authorities have said nine of those alleged murders took place in Terrebonne Parish, and those are the cases a grand jury returned indictments for Tuesday, according to court records.
Earlier this month, state District Judge Randall L. Bethancourt issued a gag order covering the Terrebonne Parish cases. It prevents all law enforcement officials and prosecutors in the parish from publicly discussing the case, records show.
Dominique was initially jailed Dec. 1 on two counts of murder in Jefferson Parish. Since then, he was booked with the nine counts in Terrebonne.
He remains at the Terrebonne Parish jail in lieu of a $9 million bond. No bail has been set on the Jefferson Parish charges.
A Jan. 16 arraignment date has been scheduled.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Dominique faces the death penalty.
