Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: [Louisiana] Sierra Bouzigard

Transcript

A Little Less Mess: [Louisiana] Sierra Bouzigard · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to Bless This Mess, this other drug
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Grum podcast. I'm Kara, just Kara. This is a little
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Less Mess. It's our regular episodes that I normally do
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: with my husband Stewart, but this is just me and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I read the cases as opposed to us taking turns
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and talking about them and giving our opinion and saying
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: cuss words and all that inappropriate goodness, this is just
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: straight the case. And so we have started adding these
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: into our weekly releases. So we'll do Me and stew
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: will record the one where we talk and laugh and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: all that those kinds of things, and then I record
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: this one where I just do the case. So that's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: why it's called a little Less Mess. So if you
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: like this, I've been trying to do these on top
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of the other cases. Sometimes I fel I felt quite
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: a bit. Actually, it's been a long time since I've
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: done one, but we do try to put them out
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and you can also if you want a little more humor,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: you can check out our regular episodes. You can check
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: us out on Instagram, Facebook. We do a book club
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: there and I share little things about my family and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: different things that I'm trying to do to get my
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: life together, and then you can also write review, subscribe.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: We appreciate that. And then we also have a patron
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: if you'd like to do just you get ad free
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: early access and just general support. All right, So this
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: is our case out of Louisiana this week. Sierra gil
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Bouseguard was born August tenth, nineteen ninety in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Sierra did not have the best upbringing. There is not
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a lot known about her childhood, but her mother, Dana,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: admitted to not being there for Sierra while she was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: growing up. Eventually, Sierra would end up in the Late
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Charles area. She fell into drugs and began supporting her
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: habit through prostitution. She would move from place to place
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: each night wherever she could find somewhere to sleep. As
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: you can imagine, this caused her to be in vulnerable
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: situations with dangerous people. On a secluded road just outside
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: of Lake Charles, someone spotted the body of a woman
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: lying bloodied and lifeless. They immediately called nine one one.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: PLEA showed up on the scene and could tell that
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the woman had already passed away. It was a brutal murder.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: The woman was covered in blood, and her face was
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: beaten beyond the point of recognition. She was wearing a
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: blue jing skirt that looked like it had been twisted
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to the side of her waist during a struggle. Her
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: underwear had been removed and were found near one of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: her flip flops. Her shoes were in two different places.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: It appeared she had lost them while she was running
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: away from her attacker. Her brawl was undone and her
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: shirt was ripped off of her and hanging around her waist.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: She had been beaten severely and had scratch marks on
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: her hands, implying she had tried to defend herself. They
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: canvassed the scene and found a candy wrapper as well
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: as a rock with blood drippings on them. There was
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: no murder weapon found at the scene. The victim also
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: had no idea on her. However, she did have a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: unique tattoo of a name. This tattoo would give police
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: a starting point to id the body. It was clearer
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to police that the motive was rape and the victim
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: was killed in the process. Please keep a database of
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: all the tattoos found on people who are booked into jail.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: This is where they are hoping to find the idea
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of the woman. While police are running the tattoo photo
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: through their database, and autopsy was performed, confirming that she
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: had been raped and that the manner of death was
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: bludgeoning to the head. They were unable to obtain a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: DNA sample of the attacker from the rape. However, Sierra
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: fought back against her attacker and scratched him in the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: process of their struggle. This allowed the medical examiner to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: obtain a DNA profile from under her fingernails. With this
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: DNA profile, they were able to compare it to other
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: items at the scene, including a candy wrapper. The candy
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: wrapper actually had a full DNA profile. This was a
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: big break in this case. They finally get a match
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to their victim through the tattoo. It was nineteen year
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: old Sierra Bouseguard. Police began looking into Sierra's background. She
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: had been arrested before on drug charges. One of those
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: arrests was just three days before her murder. She was
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: known around town to use prostitution to support her drug habit.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Her whereabouts leading up to her murder would be difficult
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to track as she did not really have a home address.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: She just kind of crashed wherever she could find for
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the night. They were at least able to narrow down
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that they would only need the last seventy two hours,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: as she was safe and in jail just a few
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: days ago. While they are piecing together her whereabouts in
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the days leading up to her murder, they are hoping
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that this case can just be solved quickly with the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: DNA match in codis. However, they had no such luck.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: The DNA profile was not located in any of the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: federal or state databases. They continued to interview friends and
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: family in find that Sierra was at a house party
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: just before the murder, and she seemed to like some
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of the guys at the party. This house was located
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: not too far from the crime scene. When speaking to partygoers,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: they found that the house was being occupied by a
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: dozen or so Hispanic men that were illegal immigrants. They
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: were in town working on a construction group. This was
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a huge problem for investigators as they had no official
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: information on the men except for what was told to them.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: They did all agree to a DNA test, except one.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: One of the men had left town just after the murder.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: They run the DNA of the samples they had, and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: none of them are a match, but they need to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: find that one that got away to confirm he did
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: not kill Sierra. They believe the man was probably headed
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: back to Mexico, which was only an eight or nine
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: hour drive. The man had a big head start and
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: would have had plenty of time to make it back
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: over the border. They continued to work the case and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: it quickly went cold. Years would go by without any
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: breaks in the case. Detectives would continue to try to
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: find new evidence with no luck. This case stuck out
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: to the department because it was not every day you
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: had a completely random murder. Stranger on stranger they mainly
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: dealt with domestic murders or drug deals gone bad. They
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: continued to revisit the case each year, hoping for new
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: breaks in either technology or new evidence. They believe the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: killer was in Mexico, but without a description of the man,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: they really had nothing to go on to track him down. Finally,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a new technology in DNA surfaced. This program took the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: DNA sample, which they had a very good profile from
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: their killer, and would actually create an image of a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: person based on the DNA. The program takes the DNA
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and sorts out eye color, hair color, face shape, etc.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: The company Paragon has taken pictures with a special camera
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: that takes photos from every angle of thousands of people.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: These volunteers also submitted their DNA with their photos. Now
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: this allows the program to have a vast database with
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: all of the matching DNA with physical characteristics. Once the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: unknown suspect's DNA is submitted into the program, it is
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: cross checked in the library billions of times a second
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to create a three D image of a person. With
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: new hope, they submitted the sample and waited for the results,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: not sure of how great of an image this new
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: technology would create. When they got the results back, they
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: were shocked. The image and description that came back was
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: of a white male with blue eyes. They had been
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: looking for the wrong person the entire time. With this information,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: they completely started their investigation over the first thing they
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: did was release the image to the public to see
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: if anyone recognized the man. They received several calls, but
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the most interesting one was from a woman claiming that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: her now ex husband had called her out of the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: blue and said, remember we were together that night, the
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: night Sierra was killed. The woman found this strange, but
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: began thinking back and realized that he had actually not
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: been with her the whole evening. He said he was
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: headed out to get cigarettes from the convenience store around
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the corner. It should have only taken him about ten minutes,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: but he was gone several hours. Police brought the woman
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: in to speak with her, and she said that when
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: her and her ex husband, Blake Russell, had sex, he
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: always treated it like it was a rape. That was
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the only way he could have sex. Please pull up
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Blake Russell's image and find he looks very similar to
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the DNA profile picture that was created. They look into
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: his past and find he has had run ins with
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the law for petty crimes. He also lived just down
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: the road from the home where the construction crew was living.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: While Blake was looking like their best suspect, they did
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: not have enough to bring him in and get a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: DNA sample. The DNA technology was not tested enough to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: be a legal reason for a warrant. Not wanting to
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: frighten Blake off, they decided instead to do some old
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: fashioned policing. They found out where Blake was going to
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: be a bar he was going to that he frequented.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: An undercover police officer sat down enchatted with him and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: had a few beers with him. Once Blake left, he
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: was able to confiscate the bottle and bring it into
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the lab to compare the DNA samples. Investigators waited, hoping
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: they finally got the guy. Results finally came back as
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a match. Blake Russell had killed Sierra several years earlier
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and almost got away with it. Police believed that Blake
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: did leave with the intention of getting cigarettes and coming
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: back that night. However, he must have come upon Sierra
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: when he was driving and possibly offered her a ride.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: When he tried to have sex with her, she either
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: asked for him for money or just refused. This angered Blake,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and he attacked her with the tire iron and raped her.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: In July of twenty seventeen, Blake was charged with second
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: degree murder. While awaiting trial, Blake hung himself in his
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: jail cell, avoiding a trial and ultimately several decades behind bars.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: All Right, that's our a little less mess for this
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: week out of Louisiana. I hope you guys enjoyed that.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: And again, if you want to hear more of our
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: thoughts on this in a little bit longer episode, check
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: out our regular ones. Those are the numbered ones in
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the feed and appreciate you guys being here. Check out Patreon, Instagram, Facebook,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: rate review, subscribe, buy us a coffee. Everything's in the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: show notes, so see you next time. Buy everyone.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Don't you know it's bad to be SUPERSTI shots by
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: mapping Elsin's working, it's learning. Say this worthy can