Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 43-The Baton Rouge Serial Killer: Derrick Todd Lee PT.1
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The chilling story of Derrick Todd Lee shatters our expectations of what a serial killer looks like. Known as the Baton Rouge Serial Killer, Lee eluded capture for years while law enforcement hunted for a white man in a white truck—the complete opposite of who they should have been seeking.
Born in 1968 to a teenage mother and a father with severe mental health issues, Lee's childhood was marked by warning signs that went unheeded. By age 11, he was caught peeping into windows of homes where young girls lived. At 13, he was arrested for burglary. By 16, he pulled a knife during a fight, resulting in an attempted second-degree murder charge. Despite recurring brushes with the law for voyeurism and other offenses, he never served significant time—a pattern that would continue into adulthood.
What makes this case particularly fascinating is how Lee defied the FBI profilers' expectations. Based on crime scenes and witness reports, investigators spent years searching for a white man between 25-35 with financial struggles and awkward social skills. This massive misdirection allowed Lee to continue his killing spree undetected. Only when DNA analysis revealed the killer's ethnicity did the investigation pivot, eventually connecting Lee to seven murders spanning from 1998 to 2003.
Perhaps most disturbing was Lee's chameleon-like ability to blend in. After fleeing to Atlanta with his family when asked for a DNA sample, neighbors described him as charming and gentle—he even started a Bible study at the motel where they stayed. This stark contrast between his public persona and the brutality of his crimes highlights how predators hide in plain sight, appearing harmless while harboring deadly intentions.
The ripple effects of Lee's crimes continue to impact not just the victims' families but his own, demonstrating how violence creates generations of trauma. Listen now to understand how this case changed law enforcement approaches to serial killer investigations and shattered perceptions about who these predators really are.
Source Material:
KATC news, Nov 28, 2018, Son of Baton Rouge Serial Killer Derrick Todd Lee arrested in fatal shooting, https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/2018/11/28/son-of-baton-rouge-serial-killer-derrick-todd-lee-arrested-in-fatal-shooting/
Dupuy, Kevin, January 21, 2016, Timeline of Events: Serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, https://www.wbrz.com/news/timeline-of-events-serial-killer-derrick-todd-lee/
Gast, Phil, January, 22, 2016, Convicted serial killer on Louisiana death row dies at hospital,https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/us/louisiana-serial-killer-dies
Gremillion, Nick, Jan 22, 2016, Acadiana woman recalls surviving attack by Derrick Todd Lee to KLFY in 2014, https://www.klfy.com/local/acadiana-woman-recalls-surviving-attack-by-derrick-todd-lee-to-klfy-in-2014/
CNN, May 29, 2003, Serial Killings suspect described as charming, https://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/28/serial.suspect/index.html
The Baton Rouge Serial Killer
Speaker 1Continuing this week's serial killer saga with THE Baton Rouge serial killer, Derek Todd Lee. This is Hold my Sweet Tea. Good day I'm Pearl and.
Speaker 3I'm Holly.
Speaker 1I got old. On Monday you did.
Speaker 3Mm-hmm. She aged, I aged on Monday A whole year. It's BS. Don't recommend it.
Speaker 1No, but happy birthday yesterday. Zero out of ten. I do love the gift bag my pretend adult daughter gave me my presents in. Yeah, it was pretty cute, it was glittery and it's so. That part I don't love, because then you know I open my present and by the time I'm done I look like a stripper.
Speaker 3Yeah, just covered in glitter. Just call me sparkly.
Speaker 1But it said another. I won't say the word effing birthday, but it said the actual word, Right, she's like I got it at spencer's.
Speaker 3Oh cute of course spencer's would put glitter on everything I was like thank you, that's my favorite gift bag ever and then you drove all the way to Alabama to go eat.
Speaker 1I did. Because, that's what old people do, right? Three hour road trip for dinner. You're like, yeah, look at me being spontaneous or dumb, I don't know. It was raining all day too, oh my gosh, but I was like, took two seconds to walk through some sand and put my feet in the very hot water of the Gulf of effing America, mexico.
Speaker 3Thank you. And or, as we call it down here in the South, the Gulf.
Speaker 1Yeah, because nobody says anything, nobody ever says the rest yeah, but yeah, really warm, which is ominous. I don't like it.
Speaker 3Yeah, especially with hurricane season. Yeah, I don't like it either. I was like this bad.
Speaker 1Yeah. Everybody else around there is like, oh, the water feels so great because it's warm. I'm like, oh, the water feels so great because it's warm.
Speaker 3I'm like no dummy. You want it to be cold, Right. You don't want it, especially this early. It does not need to be warm, no, it doesn't. But everybody's having unseasonably warm weather, so it sucks.
Speaker 1Yeah, hopefully nothing too serious comes our way. I do not. I'm not in the mood for Katrina.
Speaker 3Oh, me either, Not again.
Speaker 1You know that's when my pretend adult daughter was born between Katrina and Tropical Storm Rita.
Speaker 3Katrina and Rita. Yeah, sounds like a margarita, katrina Rita, katrina Rita. Oh gosh, somebody's going to make that drink. Somebody's about to make it. Yeah, katrina Rita, katrina Rita. Oh gosh, somebody's going to make that drink. Somebody's about to make it.
Speaker 1Yep, katrina Rita, but yeah, I don't want to be in that again because that was terrible and gross and my poor baby had jaundice when she was born and they're like sit outside in the sun with her, Take all her clothes off, you know, like 30 minutes at a time, a couple of times a day, so she doesn't have to come back and be in the hospital and sit lay under the light and I'm like what sun.
Speaker 3Right. Also, do you want my baby to get sunburned?
Speaker 1I was like there is no sun Right, and then I had to feed her like once every two hours, whether she was asleep or not, so I'm like having to wake up all night long every two hours to force feed this baby who kept falling asleep, and I'm like wake up Right Rubbing underneath her chin like you have to eat so that you poop out the jaundice Now that we've had jaundice talk.
Speaker 3So good morning, good morning. Yes, we're doing this in the morning because we we seem to have a better podcast experience in the morning instead of the evening when we're dead tired yeah, work kills us yeah. I don't know what that was, but did you hear it? I heard it, and there's nobody else in this building. I think we just had a paranormal experience. I'm pretty sure the audio picked that up. It was a clank.
Speaker 1I don't know, but it sounded like through my, my headphones.
Childhood and Early Warning Signs
Speaker 3It sounded like a grumble than a clank. Yeah, a little bit clink and then clank yeah I hope our air conditioner didn't just do the ac unit or I would rather it be a paranormal apparition me too, than our ac breaking. Please don't break air conditioner. Air condition is way more important. I can deal with a ghost Right. Oh, my goodness so we're traveling to Baton Rouge again today.
Speaker 1I see yes, back to Baton Rouge for the Baton Rouge serial killer, derek Todd Lee, the OG. Mine is actually going to be two parts, so you get half of it today, half of it next Thursday, so stay tuned. Yeah, so today we're just going to talk about him. We'll finish off with who his victims were and then next week I'll actually talk about them, because I didn't want to just say their names and how they were murdered or anything. I want to make sure that we talk about the ones that have stories. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1Absolutely, derek Todd Lee the unicorn. The unicorn Because you know they were looking for a white man the whole time. Yep, they sure were, because typically serial killers are white. But here we are. He was born november 5th 1968 in saint francisville. He grew up in a largely still segregated Louisiana, so that in itself would have a negative effect on a young black male. His mother, florence Lee, was only 17 years old when she had him. His father, samuel, was said to have had a very serious mental health issues much like your guy.
Speaker 3Yeah, Colonel.
Speaker 1Sean Gillis yeah, and at one point he even attempted to murder his ex-wife, oh wow. So he obviously would be institutionalized and wouldn't have any part in his children's lives post that. But I was like when you were talking about yours last week. I was sitting over here like be quiet, Be quiet.
Speaker 3Do I say a word, but I was like, apparently both of them went through the same thing with their dads having mental health issues like on a serious level and out of their life.
Speaker 1yeah, and then dipping Mm-hmm, health issues like, and on a serious level, yeah, and then dipping. So florence would actually marry coleman barrow and they would raise lee and his sisters. Now this guy, his stepdad, actually, like some of the detectives, knew him, so when all this stuff started going down they would call him and be like Mr Coleman, do you know where your stepson is? Right, lee's IQ they talk a lot about it and some sources say it was even under 65, but most places it said it was below 75. But most places it said it was below 75. And so he was in special ed. In school it said that he did face a lot of bullying as a child because of this and, honestly, by the time Lee was 11 years old, he had already been caught peeping, so he had like a big peeping Tom issue. Okay, he would peep in the windows of his neighbor's houses where he knew that little girls lived.
Speaker 3Oh no.
Speaker 1This would be something he continued to do as an adult. In his instance, he did also torture animals, which doesn't always mean they're gonna be a serial killer, right, but more often than not yeah they are.
Speaker 3That's their first phase experimental getting their.
Speaker 1Yeah, their fix right learning, learning what they like. Basically, by age 13, lee had already been arrested for simple burglary. He would be known to the local police for his voyeuristic tendencies. He literally had gotten in trouble in Zachary Louisiana several times over peeping Tom stuff. Yeah, and Zachary's like a really hometown kind of little town yeah, it's pretty rural out there most most of it is anyway, so it's like they have really nice neighborhoods but, those neighborhoods are like in the middle of a big ass field, right they're not like right next to the store, or you know whatever.
Marriage, Affairs, and Legal Troubles
Speaker 1It's just like you still got a little drive to town. Yes, he would pull a knife on a boy when he was 16. He was in a fight with him and he would be charged with attempted second-degree murder. Holy crap At 16. 16. Right. Attempted second degree murder Holy crap At 16. 16. Right. The next year he would be arrested for his peeping, but despite the continuous complaints and multiple arrests, he would never be incarcerated. Obviously, lee did not complete high school. He just was like nope end with that. In 1988, lee would marry Jacqueline Sims and they would have three kids together Derek Jr, a daughter, doris, and another son, dedrick. Not long after getting married, lee would plead guilty to unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling. So like he didn't take anything, but he like got caught by the people who were living there inside their house.
Speaker 3Oh, okay.
Speaker 1So they were home at the time. Um, the wife was home, oh, and the husband walked in. He's like what the hell are you doing in my house. Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, but he could have been there to. Start what he started much later.
Speaker 1Yeah, so Derek would work his construction job and spend weekends with his family, but all was not well. He also spent a lot of time drinking and having affairs. Oh, so their theory is like that people just he was very unassuming, like no one thought he was dangerous. He seemed really nice, very charming, didn't look scary, yeah, any of that. So in February of 2000, one of those relationships would prove volatile. And when the woman he was having an affair with filed for a protective order, lee would assault her in a bar parking lot. Dang.
Speaker 1What she got a protective order, and you decide Right.
Speaker 3I can't see you, so now I'm going to assault you Right Like how smart was that?
Speaker 1Like there's a lot of weird things he's done that I am like I think they are attributing to his low IQ, because it seems like everything he does is completely emotionally driven, like he's not thinking about it. He just goes into a rage and that's that. So he spent the following year incarcerated for that, but he was released in 2001 on house arrest. Lee would lose several jobs and even at one point filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was filed like during his spree. So they say they feel like that was kind of those stressors of losing the job and filing bankruptcy were contributors to his unhinging.
Speaker 1Obviously, like we know, he went on a killing spree and became known as the Batner serial killer. Basically, like we know, he went on a killing spree and became known as the Batner serial killer. It's believed that some of his crimes occurred very close to the stressful situations we just talked about, and profilers with the FBI would say that the person they were looking for was probably white, between the ages of 25 and 35, tight finances, low IQ and, while awkward with women, he would seem innocent and harmless. This was all derived from the crime scenes. There was never any forced entry, so it was believed that he was let in.
Speaker 3Yeah, to everyone I love a good fbi profile. Yeah like how they come to all these conclusions.
The Wrong Profile: Looking for a White Man
Speaker 1It's so great yeah, so we'll talk about that a little bit. He I mean, like I said, they obviously expect it to be white because most of them are Right.
Speaker 3The majority yeah.
Speaker 1But here's what happened that led to them believing that this had to be a white man. Okay, so one of the bodies well, two of the bodies were dumped at Whiskey Bay. Yes, yes, there was a truck driver who reported to police that he saw a white truck with a white man driving it and a naked lady in the passenger seat, a naked white woman. So they assume white, white, white. Yeah, he's white. So that whole time like they're running around checking all these white guys in white trucks, yeah, and, and you know like I can't imagine being a white man in a white truck, big like white truck at that time.
Speaker 3And I remember joking to him. I was like they coming for you, daddy. Yeah, they coming for you, daddy, you been out killing people and my dad's like I ain't got time for that.
Speaker 1Right, it's like I'm too busy working. Girl.
Speaker 3Shut up Right my dad was a workaholic, but he had the same type of truck, though it was crazy. I mean, there was a lot. I had a lot of friends who drove white Chevy trucks and they're like, oh, God Yep, it was like an older model truck, you know, and one of those big gas guzzlers and a lot of teenagers driving those, and younger adults because they were like, oh, this was my first car my dad gave it to me, or whatever.
Speaker 1And then you're like I wish he never would have.
Speaker 3Right.
Speaker 1Because now you're a suspect. Like every white man in a white Chevy truck you're a suspect and like, literally, they were just like pulling people. That's a lot of people.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot of trucks.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot of trucks, yeah, so basically, like you know, they had like in your case, they had some DNA that wasn't really linked to a person because, hello he hasn't been incarcerated for very much.
Speaker 1He was in one thing, but it wasn't like they didn't automatically take it back then, so they did not have his dna on file. Um, there was a big disconnect about what was happening in baton rouge with and what had previously happened in zachary, because one of the women actually that was killed was killed in a house across the street from the house that he was caught peeping in like literally across the street, wow and so, but she had just like disappeared. Her body wasn't even there.
Speaker 1I'm not even sure that they ever found. I'll figure it out before we get to the next one, Right? Because that was something that's on my list to find Research yeah.
Speaker 1But literally this finally connects up after the task force is created and the profile and everything else. And then, uh, zachary, police gets to go deliver a subpoena for some dna and that dna obviously connects to the others. But before all of that, they used the DNA they were finding at the crime scene to send off and have it analyzed, because they had the ability to use that DNA profile to tell you ethnicity and stuff like that of the person that it came from. So literally, that's how they realized.
Speaker 1Wait a minute it's a black man, it's not a white man. We've been looking for the wrong guy the whole time, and so that's that was a game changer.
Speaker 3Yeah, that was a game changer.
Speaker 1And that's why I feel like at that point the Zachary police were able to go hey, we have this guy. He looks like the sketch of the lady who he attacked but ended up her son. He heard her son coming down the gravel driveway and he took off. So she was alive and she got to tell them what he looked like and that sketch looked very close to him. So I mean, all those things combined is what kind of led to the downfall, but that's a whole other episode, that's episode two.
Speaker 3So y'all have to stay tuned for that yeah.
Speaker 1Now he would only be found guilty of two murders but would ultimately be linked via DNA to seven victims total. There was also a living victim, like I was saying of an attack.
On the Run to Atlanta
Speaker 1And then there was that lady who I told you he stalked in Zachary, which she's still a victim. Right, she's still a victim. Her personal space was intruded. It could have been a fatality. My thing is is like could there be more? Possibly just nobody knows about, I don't know the police would eventually provide lee with a subpoena for his dna. Lee and his family, though, when all that happened, literally pulled their kids out of school and took off to atlanta after he gave his dna. Oh wow, so he's like they swabbed him and he ran after they left guilty much right, so he would actually be arrested in atlanta and returned to louisiana for his crimes.
Speaker 1He would be found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection. But the craziest parts of all of this is like people who had come in contact with Lee in Atlanta it was like a few weeks long that he was there they would say he was charming. He had started a Bible study class in a motel in southwest Atlanta, he was working cash jobs in the construction field and would barbecue for his neighbors and liked to pursue and court women, despite the fact that his wife and his children are with him. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy children are with him.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, that's crazy Residents of the Lakewood Motor Lodge were shocked when Lee was arrested, all telling stories of a gentle man who was easy to get along with. He was telling people in Atlanta that he was from Mississippi and that he was just having some marital problems.
Speaker 3But your wife's there. Are you kidding me? Your wife is in the room Right. I'm just having some marital problems. I came out here. Who is that?
The Victims and Aftermath
Speaker 1I came out here with my wife and kids. I'm having marital problems. That's why I'm flirting with all these ladies. Oh my gosh, there was a lady that he actually flirted with first out there and he kept trying to get her to let him come over and she was like he just freaked me out. Yeah, she got the ick. Good thing. Yeah, good thing because she could have been his first atlanta victim. Yeah for sure. So on january 21st 2016, der Derek Todd Lee would die of heart disease, so he never made it to be executed. The victims of Derek Todd Lee were Randy Meebrewer in April of 1998. Gina Wilson Green in September of 2001. In January 2002. Charlotte Murray Pace in May of 2002. Pam Kinnamore in July of 2002. Trenisha Danae Colombe in November 2002. And Carrie Lynn Yoder in March of 2003. 2003, like you see, he did like 98, skipped a couple years. 2001, skip was whatever for a year. Then 2002, he went wild, he got bold and he was like he's like, well, I got away with those other ones.
Speaker 3I got away with them and let me just go on a killing spree now yeah.
Speaker 1Then there was diane, a Alexander who survived the attack by Lee in July of 2002. So he actually attacked Diane. Alexander, cut her phone cord, was going to strangle her with it, left with a piece of it. When her son interrupted, the whole ordeal yeah, the whole ordeal. And Pam Kinnamore, who was also in July of 2002, when they found her she had that phone cord wrapped around her neck. So yeah, crazy stuff. But Diane was the one who was obviously instrumental in helping the police create a sketch. I'm going to include his entire damn family, because his children get to live their life as the child of the Baton Rouge serial killer, you know his widow Same thing, they're forever known for that Right and that sucks. And not to mention that. Now, just the mental ramifications of knowing my dad did all this to these people right, like how much therapy would you have to?
Speaker 1and then the worry, because you know, in a child's head they're like am I going to grow up and be just like him?
Speaker 3that's, that's got to be a scary right, because his father had mental issues and then him and then he did this.
Speaker 1Yeah, so it's like what to expect.
Speaker 3Yeah, you start to think about your thoughts and be like am I thinking things that you know? Are unnatural or that I shouldn't be thinking about Right.
Speaker 1But you know, I feel like it's important to point that out too, like the people he killed are not the only victims in this, like their families, their friends, just the whole world that's missing out on on what these brilliant women could have done, yes, what some of them had already did. You know that didn't get to continue, so it's just like this. This list is short compared to the shockwave that's sent out when it happens to one, but in 2018, dedrick Lee, one of his sons, was arrested for negligent homicide in the death of his friend, valentin Brooks, who was only 16. It is said sadly, I want to point out first, the article I read this in was titled Son of the Baton Rouge Serial Killer.
Speaker 3Like. Why do you have to link that to him Right? Because that makes it more Like, doesn't?
Speaker 1even put his name in the title. It's not anywhere until you get into the article and I'm just like why do you do this Right? I mean, obviously that's to catch the eyes of everybody else they're like oh what clickbait, yes, but I'm just like.
Generational Tragedy
Speaker 1That's exactly what I mean. You never live that down. No, you don't. But apparently the kids were like. The story is that the kids were making a music video in in a bedroom and the kid who died had a gun and he's like showing it to all his friends. They're passing it around. He's saying it's not loaded, blah, blah, blah. It goes off while it's in the hand of dead. Directly kills his friend.
Speaker 1Oh, that's awful yeah, so I can't find where this like continued. I'll try to look and see if I can dig a little harder. But in the time that we had in the nasty busy week we had, I uh could not find where there was some decision or anything else. It literally was just the article saying it happened. I have to wonder if anybody even took the time to find out, because in that point it was about just oh look, the serial killer's kid is killing people, right.
Speaker 3So you're like, oh my gosh, let me click on this and read all about it. Yeah, yeah, that's dirty of the media, right.
Speaker 1Media dirty of the media, right Media dirty, yeah, so that's where I end today, because I'm going to go into, like I said, all all the victims.
Speaker 3Yes, I can't wait to hear about all that.
Speaker 1Talk about who they were before Derek Todd Lee, and there's some like court stuff too that I can share. Star Theme Music by Patti Salzetta and share our podcast, share it everywhere. Share Links to the episodes.
Speaker 3I thought you were talking about share. Do you believe in life after love? Me. I don't know. Yes, I do, because love sucks.
Speaker 1Oh, my goodness, the compilation of songs that could arise in this moment. But I'm going to control myself.
Speaker 3That was my Cher impression. Sorry if I ruined anybody's uh all this on social media.
Speaker 1We're just as dumb there, yes absolutely we are on facebook, tiktok, instagram. We have a YouTube channel which, hopefully, once our work stops being so worky yeah, stops trying to murder us. This will be the next true crime story. Yeah, work kills two old ladies. Yes.
Speaker 3But we should be able to get some better YouTube videos out. I've been working on the shorts and stuff. Those have been coming out pretty good, so we'll get some better stuff.
Speaker 1Hopefully we can record us recording, yes, stuff like that. That way you can see our bright, shiny faces and all the funky faces we actually make. All the facial expressions. While the other one's talking, the other one's face is saying many, many things that no one can see. Yes, so yeah, we'll share that with you eventually, yep, but if you have an idea or a comment, you just want to say what up, email us steeped at.
Speaker 3Hold my sweet teacom and, as always, hold my sweet tea is a drunken bee production and you guys stay safe out there. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean you can't keep sipping. Thank you, hey.