Officials have said they believe he went from Baton Rouge to Chicago, Illinois, and then to Atlanta.Īuthorities issued an arrest warrant for Lee on Monday, saying his DNA matched samples found at the scenes of five killings in the Baton Rouge area. Lee, a father of two, disappeared from Louisiana shortly after he voluntarily submitted to DNA testing May 5. The investigation then quickly intensified. Serial killer task force investigators had driven from Louisiana overnight Monday, arriving in Atlanta on Tuesday morning and bringing the case file on Lee. "The bottom line on this, it was a cooperative effort by all," Richards said. They also applauded the cooperation of the public and news media. Marshals Service, said, "He was actually sitting behind the tire store talking to a young lady when they arrested him."Īuthorities praised the cooperation among law enforcement agencies - a multi-agency Louisiana task force, Atlanta police, the Marshals and the FBI. Mike Richards, a supervisory deputy with the U.S. "Sure enough, he was the person," Pennington said. Officers went to the location and found a man fitting his description at the rear of the tire shop. Minutes before the arrest, Pennington said police had received a call from "an informant" who might have spotted Lee. "I know now that we have taken a very dangerous person that's a serial murder suspect off the streets of Atlanta, and I'm sure the citizens of Louisiana are proud as well that we've taken this very dangerous person off our streets," he said. Lee "hasn't said much" to investigators since his arrest, Pennington said. Lee will appear in court in Atlanta on Wednesday morning for extradition proceedings, he said. Lee will be booked on first degree murder and aggravated rape charges, said Pat Englade, the police chief of Baton Rouge. He is expected to be taken to Fulton County Jail overnight. Pennington said Lee has been taken to Atlanta police headquarters and booked. "He just said he was the person," Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington told CNN. He did not resist and was carrying his Louisiana identification. Members of the Atlanta Police Department's Fugitive Squad apprehended Lee about 8:45 p.m. Derrick Todd Lee (FindLaw, PDF)ĪTLANTA, Georgia (CNN) - Late Tuesday, acting on a tip from the public, Atlanta police arrested Derrick Todd Lee, the suspect in five serial killings in Louisiana, authorities said. Because the vote was not unanimous, he was convicted of the lesser charge. Warrant: State of Louisiana vs. Jurors voted 11-1 to convict him of first-degree murder, which can bring a death sentence. Lee was convicted of second-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence, in DeSoto’s death.
The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld that conviction and sentence in September, rejecting claims that his lawyer should have brought up evidence of mental illness.ĭNA evidence linked Lee to five additional killings from 1998 to 2003 Diane Alexander survived to testify against him in both the Pace trial and for the murder in 2002 of Gerilyn DeSoto. Lee was sentenced to life for one murder and to death for killing 22-year-old Charlotte Murray Pace, who was stabbed 81 times and bludgeoned with an iron in May 2002. She said an autopsy will determine cause of death. Thursday, Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokeswoman Pam Laborde said in an emailed statement.
Lee went to the hospital early Saturday and died shortly before 9 a.m. NEW ORLEANS: Serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, who was convicted of murdering two women and was sentenced to death, has died at a hospital where he was taken for emergency treatment, state corrections officials said.