Alleged serial killer in Baton Rouge tried for 'four-day streak of terror'

“Serial killer” has a surprisingly specific definition. It shouldn’t be used loosely.

Three mighty thunderclaps shattered the tranquility of the Anderson house on placid Sandy Ridge Drive in the Hickory Ridge area of Baton Rouge. It was around midnight, September 11, 2017.

22-year-old Corey was watching Netflix in his room when he heard the gunshots.

BOOM…

Thinking they were from down the block, he peered through the hallway. What he saw shocked him to the core: someone was standing at the front door shooting into their house with a pistol.

BOOM…

The glass in the front door shattered, the pieces hitting the wood floor and shattering like icicles in winter as Corey’s adrenaline immediately accelerated to 100mph.

BOOM…

Corey’s first thought was for his 19-year-old brother Joshuwa who was in his bedroom. As Corey ran to check on him, he heard a car door open and then speed away. Whoever just tried to kill him and Joshuwa was off into the Baton Rouge night. The brothers immediately called their mother Tonya who worked as a night nurse.

The acrid smell of gun powder lingered in the air of the ivory-white subdivision. It was the scent of conflict; the scent of hatred; the scent of man-against-man; and in this case the scent of racial strife.

Someone shot up the house of the only black family on the block with a 9mm handgun. One of the rounds traveled through a couch, under a chair, out a window and through an exterior wall before embedding in a shed. This was sacred space to the boys as they often sat in that chair while playing video games.

This was but the beginning of a “four-day violent streak” perpetrated allegedly (if the state of Louisiana is to be believed) by another citizen of Sandy Ridge. A citizen who lived only two doors away from the Andersons: 27-year-old Kenneth Gleason.

Gleason was swiftly arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and felony damage to property in the terror he allegedly inflicted on the Andersons.

Kenneth Gleason mugshot. Source: East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff.

A smattering of locals saw a man fitting Gleason’s description that day. A neighbor saw a tall, lanky white male dressed in all black running from the house. A local Jiffy Lube employee alerted law enforcement when he saw the same man in a red car hiding a gun in the bushes by the store. Yet, the gun was never found. Another witness had surveillance video of the suspect in a red car — he removed the license plate and put a gun in the trunk.

This was but the start of a larger crime spree. Two African American men would be shot dead on the streets of Baton Rouge before it ended.

I. The Terror in Baton Rouge

The next day, Bruce Cofield, age 59, was gunned down at a bus stop. Witnesses reported a white male wearing tactical gear with a red car. They also testified that Cofield was a regular at the corner, often pan-handling to stopped cars there. Witnesses said that Cofield was in his regular spot there when he was killed by ten shots from a 9mm. 13 shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Bruce Cofield. Source: theadvocate.com

The very next night — September 13 — someone fatally shot Donald Smart — a beloved 49-year-old dishwasher at Louie’s Cafe — as he walked to work. The shooting occurred at a park near the northside of the LSU Campus. Witnesses testified to seeing someone in a red car shoot Smart then get out and shoot him again. Four slugs were taken from his body while investigators recovered ten shell casings from the scene.

The state alleges the suspect’s DNA as the forensic connecting thread in the three crimes in the series. While a weapon has not been found as of this writing, three different makes of 9mm shell casings were found at the three scenes. Authorities say the ballistics evidence shows they were all fired from the same weapon.

II. The Suspect: Kenneth Gleason

The suspect, 27-year-old Kenneth Gleason, lived with his parents only two doors down from the Andersons. He was an Eagle Scout and graduated with honors from his Baton Rouge high school in 2012. He did three semesters at LSU before dropping out.

Gleason only had a history of traffic citations in the state of Louisiana, yet he was criminally cited in Phoenix, AZ for shoplifting $31 of merchandise from a Target.

In a twist on the narrative of the Cofield murder at Gleason’s trial — which is still happening as of this writing — a local salon owner called by the prosecution testified that he was “very certain” Gleason did not kill Cofield. The assailant, he said, looked nothing like him. But his story was called into question when he told police he ran outside when he heard the gunshots, but his salon’s surveillance shows him running away from the shots and into the rear of the salon.

The weapon authorities hope to find was purchased from a Baton Rouge weapons store in 2016. In July of 2017, Gleason ordered a silencer for the 9mm but it allegedly never arrived. He also completed a concealed carry class, but his permit had not arrived before his 2017 arrest.

The Associated Press reported that law enforcement found a copy of one of Hitler’s speeches at Gleason’s home. The trial strategy will allegedly lean heavily on Gleason’s electronic communications in hammering home the racial nature of these crimes.

III. The Definition of ‘Serial Killer’

These crimes do not fit the more commonly accepted definition of “serial killer” as outlined by the FBI.

The term “serial killer” does not connote any particular motive. There have been serial killers who killed for money (Dr. Linda Hazzard as an example), serial killers who killed for a non-sexual thrill (The Zodiac Killer as an example), sexual thrills (the largest category — also called “lust murder”), and there have been serial killers who killed for racist/ethnic motives (Anthony and Nathaniel Cook as an example).

“Der Führer’s Ghost” original art by Dennis Rader. Source: The Author

The one commonality with all serial killers? Three victims, killed after a “cooling off period” between each murder. The cooling off period can be only a few days, weeks, months, or years. The author had the occasion to ask the BTK Killer Dennis Rader how he exercised the control necessary to wait years between kills — a rare thing in the annals of criminology. He replied that the desire to kill and sexually torture never left him, he just did not have the time to act on it.

These crimes, if they were all committed by one individual, fit the style and modus operandi of a spree killer. Not a serial killer, as such. A serial killer in the make? Perhaps. But a spree killer is much more likely considering how close together these crimes occurred.

IV. Conclusion

Gleason faces a life sentence if convicted. The state took the death penalty off the table after consulting with the family of Donald Smart. Watch this space for more on this long-delayed trial as it progresses.

Journalist and dogged student of all things forensic, Wess Haubrich, examines the nitty, gritty details you didn’t know about famous (and not so famous but equally weird) crimes and their unseen motivations. Thanks for reading!

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