By Chuck Hustmyre
December 6, 2006
Houma, La. (Crime Library) — Accused serial killer Ronald Joseph Dominique appeared in a Terrebonne Parish courtroom Tuesday via a video linkup and listened as a judge set his bond at $8 million.
State District Judge George Larke set a bond of $1 million for each of the eight murder and rape cases Dominique was formally charged with this week. Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said the paperwork for the ninth case will probably be filed Wednesday. Dominique will then be entitled to another bond hearing for that case and will likely have another million dollar bond tacked on to the other eight the judge already set.
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| Ronald Joseph Dominique |
Police arrested Dominique Friday at a homeless hostel and charged him with first-degree murder, aggravated rape, and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of two men whose bodies were found in 1998 and 1999 in neighboring Jefferson Parish.
Sheriff Larpenter said a DNA sample taken from Dominique matched DNA evidence recovered from the two bodies.
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| Sheriff Jerry Larpenter |
Monday, sheriff's deputies booked Dominique with eight additional counts of first-degree murder and aggravated rape for the strangulation slayings of nine Terrebonne Parish men whose bodies were found in Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assumption, and St. Charles parishes between October 2002 and November 2005, according to a document released by the Terrebonne Sheriff's Office.
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| Terrebonne Sheriff's Office |
During two days of police questioning, Dominique confessed to murdering and raping 23 men whose bodies have been found in Terrebonne and surrounding parishes, Larpenter said. All of the bodies showed signs of strangulation, suffocation, or some type of asphyxiation death, and most bore subtle indications of bondage.
Dominique preyed on men who were down on their luck and in need of money, investigators said at a Monday press conference. Many of his victims were homeless, jobless, and had no means of transportation other than shoe leather or peddle power. Many of the victims were homosexual, as was Dominique.
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