User Reviews

"Murder In the Bayou" (2019 release; 5 episodes of about 55 min. each) is a documentary TV series about the mysterious murders of a number of women in a small Louisiana town called Jennings. As Episode 1 "A Body In the Canal" opens, it is May 20, 2005, and a guy fishing in one of the local canals finds the body of a woman, later identified as Loretta, age 28, and mother to 2 young kids. Then we go to June 17, 2005 when, believe it or not, another body is recovered from another nearby canal, this time a woman named Ernestine, age 30. Who could've done this? Meanwhile we are introduced to the Jennings Daily News reporter who covered these stories for the local newspaper... At this point we are less than 15 min. into Episode 1 but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this documentary series is produced and directed by veteran documentarian Matthew Galkin. Here he adapts for the screen the non-fiction book of the same name by Ethan Brown (who appears extensively in the second half of this TV series). I didn't know much about these cases when I started watching this, and I really don't want to give away any thing that might spoil your viewing experience. So let me just say that this series is like an onion: you peel away, only to discover that there is more than meets the eye. And then you peel away some more, and before you know it, by the time we are in Episode 4, we find ourselves miles away from what we could or might have anticipated. Some might say that the series is moving too slowly, and it's true that this series probably didn't need the full 275 min., but I didn't mind the slow pace at all. Galkin does a good job giving us a true sense of what this small community was like (with a stark difference between the well-off north part of town and the trashy south part of town, both sides neatly separated by railroad tracks. The other thing that is so striking is how this small town was overrun by drugs, literally from all sides.

Bottom line: I found this to be a compelling true crime documentary series, with some twists that will blow you away, I mean, you can't make this stuff up! Kudos to both Galkin and Brown for their painstaking work on this. This series premiered on Showtime in the Fall, 2019, and I caught it recently on SHO On Demand. If you like true crime documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

This "Showtime" doc series based on a real life case and from a best selling book this series "Murder in the Bayou" takes a raw and haunting look which is revealing and painful at the 8 unsolved murders in small rural Jennings, Louisiana that all spanned during early to mid 2000's. In fact many thought the "HBO" series "True Detective" was based on this real life case. However watching the real life cases shown is interesting, and compelling as interviews with family members of the victims and reporters covering the case sheds light on a haunting and painful case of sorrow and injustice. Also shown and highlighted is interviews and revealing info on possible suspects and it looks into police corruption and cover up as connections may be linked to the women's death, even though all lived high risk lives of drugs and sex. The news footage and clips of finding their bodies on back rural roads that have swamps and canals is very scary and telling that evil lurks in a small town. Overall well done engrossing series that seeks justice and sheds life on memory of victims all while showing how evil and corruption is tied together.

This was a Showtime network presentation, I found it available as a 5-part series on a set of DVDs from my public library.

I grew up not far from Jennings, as college students we drove through Jennings on weekends to get to the night spots in Lake Arthur. Four of us even spent part of a night in the Jennings jail for mischief in 1965. So I have a natural curiosity for these yet unsolved murders over a 4-year time period 40 years later in the Jennings area. The area seems to have seriously gone downhill over the past 40+ years.

While the subject is always interesting 4.5 hours is a long time to spend watching more and more of what is basically the same result. So I watched the first and the last episodes completely. The gist is the Jennings locals, particularly family and friends of the eight victims, are frustrated by what they judge is lack of interest and lack of effort by law enforcement, including the FBI. Conversely law enforcement think they are doing everything they can to solve the crimes.

There definitely is a "power of the pen" at work here, the way the journalist put together the material for his book and ultimately the documentary. While he can't declare this without facing libel, he strongly suggests that more than one person in law enforcement are responsible for the murders, after each victim came to know too much and put the men in danger. The victims in general were young street ladies who were involved in the local drug and prostitution activities, and certain statements indicate certain law enforcement men were in on the action.

Overall a very interesting, if perhaps a bit too long, presentation of a yet unsolved crime spree. If nothing else it puts a face of reality on how difficult it is to investigate and solve crimes like these, it seldom works out quickly and neatly as we see on fictional movie and TV murder cases in small communities.

To the person who says he will avoid Jennings when traveling by highway east or west, I say don't worry, I-10 only passes on the extreme north boundary of Jennings, you'll not really see Jennings unless you head south on highway 26.

Lack of parental example led these 'kids' to believe a life of drugs and sex trafficking was okay. Instead of law enforcement trying to curb these societal ills, they decided to use the situation to their advantage, and dispose of the 'evidence' when things apparently got out of hand.

I saw the 6.8 rating and was so stunned at the low rating that I thought I'd do what I could to help the show and add my two cent.. I'll start by saying that I only started watching the show because I couldn't find anything else on and was looking for an hour to kill but after the first episode I was so hooked I needed to know more so I ended up watching the following three episodes.. I also see that the former sheriffs family member must've wrote a review because they rated it a 1/10 and said it "lacking of solid, critical thinking or the hard, neutral questioning that good investigations put forward" and called into question the credibility of the witnesses which is crazy because the people who were put in charge of protecting the people of Jenning's seemed way more crooked than any witnesses/suspects in the docuseries and the relationships that these deputies had with their "informants" were borderline criminal activities and that's not even mentioning the alleged drug use by members of the JPD or the "mishandling" of evidence by its members.. I'm soooo glad I watched the series because one thing I learned besides being born on the wrong side of the tracks isn't just a saying where I live I also learned that if I ever need to go to Houston I'll be sure to take the long way around and stay off the I-10 through Jennings, La.

This documentary is so sad. I was affected by it right off the bat. The hurt and pain that the family of these girls feel hits you right away. The sadness is followed by anger. How could this continue to happen in this small town!? Why isn't anyone doing anything!? If you are just looking for an easy watching crime story, this is not it. It's uncomfortable. It's raw. It's a look into the divide between the rich and poor at its most tragic point. I didn't enjoy it, but I felt I had to hear the stories of these women.

I loved this series. True crime is my jam, and I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to it. Everyone thinks they have a story, and sadly most stories are a Dateline Exclusive at best. This story had me hooked from the first episode and after a bit of additional research seems to have told all angles adequately. I'm not sure who is responsible for the death of the 8 women, but that's not the point. The point is some shady stuff went down and no one is investigating it. I will definitely continue to follow this story. You won't be disappointed for investing 5 hours of your life on this series, but you'll definitely be irritated by the lack of energy spent looking for the killer(s). Shady, y'all

Interesting and sad true story but very slow and a little scattered in my opinion. Kind of takes a long loop to get to each detail. Also repeats same info. Just wish it had been produced better.

Not sure if and why the FBI isn't investigating this case, as in the Steven Avery case. There's plenty of evidence to warrant an investigation.

What a tragic story - 8 unsolved murders whose investigation was epically bungled by this small town's stereotypical hillbilly police department. The families of these women have had to live with not knowing the truth about how and why their loved ones died. The level of sheer incompetence of law enforcement in this town would be amusing if there weren't real people suffering because of it. Bring in some outside investigators, the homegrown yahoo cops aren't capable of getting the job done.

Yes this show is very slow at first, yes there are a ton of crack heads saying things that are hearsay but it literally paints the entire picture. The show goes into detail from multiple different perspectives which is what makes it interesting.

This no question was a tragedy. Very sad for every family involved. But my review is on the documentary alone. It was good but crikey it was way too long and too repetitive. How many times can you tell us the exact same thing? We get it and got it the first 3 times you told us. They could have done this in 2, maybe 3 at most episodes. 5 hours was way too long for this thing and it could have easily been done in half the time. Is it worth watching??? Yes it's worth watching if you like the slow burn documentary. But by the time it's over you will be saying the same thing as me. Good but too stinking long...

I thought it was made well and it's very emotionally compelling. My main point of anger was when Ricky says something about how he highly doubts any cop in the state would assist in a cover up. I mean first, of course you'd say that as the sheriff potentially covering something up, why is your word enough? And second that's just factually incorrect. Louisiana is know for having a bad issue with police corruption and malpractice, a problem they are still fixing to this day. It's literal fact, Louisiana is just recently seeing results from starting to reform. Hell even when he was interviewed it was a known fact Louisiana had issues with corrupt police offices and were attempting to fix it. You as the sheriff being all sweaty and shifty and acting like it's ridiculous to insinuate that there could be a cover up in Louisiana? I mean shut up.

This is a sad and compelling story more about corruption in a small southern town than a murder mystery. Almost completely comprised of interviews with locals and mothers of the victims who repeat the same things again and again it just gets old after awhile.

This would have been more powerful presented in a two hour film rather than a five hour series.

Utterly lacking of solid, critical thinking or the hard, neutral questioning that good investigations put forward. Seemingly tough questions regarding the law enforcement community's veracity and complicity are bantered about while the docuseries fails to apply the same standard of credibility to the supposed witnesses. Truly, this is awful investigative reporting which in the end does enormous injustice to the 8 women and their families who deserve justice to be served.

While this documentary was interesting to a point, in the end it was full of rumors, stories, theories, and a ton of here say but not one shred of evidence was presented to corroborate any of it. This is not investigative reporting but rather basically equates to what is in at a tabloid, It really does these girls and their families a disservice. Ethan presents a lot of stories from people in the town bu most if not all of it isn't even relevant to the girls murders. He acts like he presenting some type aha information but yet fails to substantiate or tie any of what he says to anything to do with the murders with any proof whatsoever. The other problem is that not of these townspeople or law enforcement can come close to being considered credible. Multiple of the stories about the police seem to have nothing to do with the actual case at hand.

So you have a small town on a major drug route, 8 girls caught between law enforcement and drug/sex trade. Informants who knew too much and needed to be disposed of to protect who? Who? Backwater cops or major drug suppliers? Why was no one following the drugs. How and who was supplying all the drug that riddled the lives of ALL concerned. How could a reporter write a book without at least taking into consideration this aspect of this horrific event?