The Baton Rouge police department told Reuters there was no factual basis for the allegations of a serial killer in Baton Rouge on social media.
The reports (here, here) claim: ‘Serial killer in Baton Rouge. Police say he bumps women’s cars and then you pull a gun when you pull over and say you have to get in his car. Three women were found in the Mississippi River. ”
The day before many of these posts appeared, the trial began over a man who was killed in 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (here) or attempted to kill several people.
Sgt. Don Coppola Jr., a Baton Rouge police spokesman, said in an email that this was not true: “It was a viral message on social media with no factual basis.”
The body of Louisiana University student Kori Gauthier was found in the Mississippi River on April 13, but police concluded that “no criminal activity or foul play was involved” (here, here) .
In March 2021, police recovered the body of another woman, Raemel Richardson, from the Mississippi River, but detectives believe the woman was shot in the Baton Rouge area by her boyfriend who has since been arrested (here, here).
There were two active serial killers who killed several women in Baton Rouge in the 1990s and early 2000s (here, here, here).
VERDICT
Untrue. Baton Rouge police said there was no factual basis for the claims of a serial killer in Baton Rouge.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.