Murder in the Bayou

Interesting and sad true story but very slow and a little scattered in my opinion. Kind of takes a long loop to get to each detail. Also repeats same info. Just wish it had been produced better.

What a tragic story - 8 unsolved murders whose investigation was epically bungled by this small town's stereotypical hillbilly police department. The families of these women have had to live with not knowing the truth about how and why their loved ones died. The level of sheer incompetence of law enforcement in this town would be amusing if there weren't real people suffering because of it. Bring in some outside investigators, the homegrown yahoo cops aren't capable of getting the job done.

"Murder In the Bayou" (2019 release; 5 episodes of about 55 min. each) is a documentary TV series about the mysterious murders of a number of women in a small Louisiana town called Jennings. As Episode 1 "A Body In the Canal" opens, it is May 20, 2005, and a guy fishing in one of the local canals finds the body of a woman, later identified as Loretta, age 28, and mother to 2 young kids. Then we go to June 17, 2005 when, believe it or not, another body is recovered from another nearby canal, this time a woman named Ernestine, age 30. Who could've done this? Meanwhile we are introduced to the Jennings Daily News reporter who covered these stories for the local newspaper... At this point we are less than 15 min. into Episode 1 but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this documentary series is produced and directed by veteran documentarian Matthew Galkin. Here he adapts for the screen the non-fiction book of the same name by Ethan Brown (who appears extensively in the second half of this TV series). I didn't know much about these cases when I started watching this, and I really don't want to give away any thing that might spoil your viewing experience. So let me just say that this series is like an onion: you peel away, only to discover that there is more than meets the eye. And then you peel away some more, and before you know it, by the time we are in Episode 4, we find ourselves miles away from what we could or might have anticipated. Some might say that the series is moving too slowly, and it's true that this series probably didn't need the full 275 min., but I didn't mind the slow pace at all. Galkin does a good job giving us a true sense of what this small community was like (with a stark difference between the well-off north part of town and the trashy south part of town, both sides neatly separated by railroad tracks. The other thing that is so striking is how this small town was overrun by drugs, literally from all sides.

Bottom line: I found this to be a compelling true crime documentary series, with some twists that will blow you away, I mean, you can't make this stuff up! Kudos to both Galkin and Brown for their painstaking work on this. This series premiered on Showtime in the Fall, 2019, and I caught it recently on SHO On Demand. If you like true crime documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

This "Showtime" doc series based on a real life case and from a best selling book this series "Murder in the Bayou" takes a raw and haunting look which is revealing and painful at the 8 unsolved murders in small rural Jennings, Louisiana that all spanned during early to mid 2000's. In fact many thought the "HBO" series "True Detective" was based on this real life case. However watching the real life cases shown is interesting, and compelling as interviews with family members of the victims and reporters covering the case sheds light on a haunting and painful case of sorrow and injustice. Also shown and highlighted is interviews and revealing info on possible suspects and it looks into police corruption and cover up as connections may be linked to the women's death, even though all lived high risk lives of drugs and sex. The news footage and clips of finding their bodies on back rural roads that have swamps and canals is very scary and telling that evil lurks in a small town. Overall well done engrossing series that seeks justice and sheds life on memory of victims all while showing how evil and corruption is tied together.

I loved this series. True crime is my jam, and I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to it. Everyone thinks they have a story, and sadly most stories are a Dateline Exclusive at best. This story had me hooked from the first episode and after a bit of additional research seems to have told all angles adequately. I'm not sure who is responsible for the death of the 8 women, but that's not the point. The point is some shady stuff went down and no one is investigating it. I will definitely continue to follow this story. You won't be disappointed for investing 5 hours of your life on this series, but you'll definitely be irritated by the lack of energy spent looking for the killer(s). Shady, y'all