Serial Killer Sean Vincent Gillis #truecrime

In a 10 year period, a serial killer murdered at least 8 women in the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana. Some of the victims were stabbed to death and some were strangled. All this done while the killer was in a committed relationship and working as a clerk in a convenience store.

Sean Vincent Gillis, the Zip Tie killer aka the Other Baton Rouge Killer.

Sean Vincent Gillis was born on June 24th 1962 in Baton Rouge Louisiana. His father was an alcoholic who once held a gun to the infants head before abandoning the family when Gillis was still a baby leaving him to be raised by his mother and grandparents.

He exhibited violent tendencies and aggression early. Neighbors of the Gillis family reported seeing him having fits of rage and that he was a bully. As a teenager, Gillis began smoking marijuana and picked up an interest in satanism.

Around age 17 Sean’s dad came back into his life. For a brief period, the 2 spend a good deal of time together. This ended when Sean discovered photos of nude men among his fathers belongings.

After Gillis graduated from high school, he began working at a nearby 711. He disliked the job and moved between several stores. He also began to visit violent websites.

While this growing obsession caused his performance at work to falter, it also created a growing interest in computers. This led to a return to school to get a certificate in 1992. Around this time his mother also moved out of the area but continued to pay for the home that Sean lived in.

Neighbors once again noticed Sean Gillis’s behavior become bizarre. At night, he threw tantrums in the yard- screaming and swearing at the sky. He engaged in other more threatening activities as well such as peeking into a neighbor woman’s windows.

After two years of living in the house alone Sean met a woman named Terri Lemoine. In an interview Terri would say how that when they were first dating, she picked a fight with Gillis intentionally, and slapped him. He responded like a child would and pouted as he said “boys aren’t supposed to hit girls and girls aren’t supposed to hit girls. That’s just the way it is.”

This response made Terri feel at ease with Gillis as she believed he would never physically attack her. However, from his subsequent actions against other women, it is clear that this statement came from a domestic compartmentalized portion of the killer. Inside he was a ticking time bomb of violence that would explode the very same month that the 2 met.

Across the street from where Terri lived was a retirement home. One of the residents was 82 year old Ann Bryan. Gillis entered her home through the door she had left open for the nurses on March 21st 1994.

When he tried to assault her, she began to scream. Gillis sliced her throat and began stabbing her roughly 50 times. The attack was so brutal that her head was nearly severed and she was partially disemboweled when she was found in the apartment.

After the attack, Sean’s interest in seeking out violent content got more extreme. Once he and Terri were living together he would show her images of dead women that he found on the internet. She was disgusted by the pictures, but otherwise disregarded her boyfriends bizarre behavior.

Nearly five years after the first murder, Sean Vincent Gillis would kill again. On the 4th of January 1999, he lured 29 year old Katherine Ann Hall into his car. She had been working as a prostitute and the 2 had agreed to a transaction.

Once she was in his car and they were somewhere more private, Gillis attacked. He whipped a zip tie around her neck and tried to use it to strangle her. When she managed to nearly escape, he stabbed her. Once she was dead he abused and mutilated her body.

Once he had killed for the second time, Gillis was unable to restrain himself as long as he had after his first murder. He noticed a woman jogging in Baton Rouge and began watching her. In the late afternoon of May 30th 1999, he put his murderous plan into action.

As 52 year old Hardee Schmidt was jogging along the road, Gillis hit her with his car. Once she was down he jumped out and tightened a zip tie around her neck before forcing her into his car. He drove to an isolated park where he assaulted her, then tightened the zip tie. Gillis left Schmidt’s body in his trunk for 2 days before disposing of her in a bayou.

The next murder occurred on November 12 1999. Gillis murdered 36 year old Joyce Williams then brought her body to his home. Once again he mutilated and assaulted the body, but this time he ate a small amount of the flesh as well.

2 months later, in January, Gillis was once again on the prowl. 51 year old Lillian Gotham Robinson was working as a prostitute when she was approached by the killer. He strangled her then threw her body from a bridge. She was found months later in the Atchafalaya Basin. Robinsons body showed signs of drowning so she was likely still alive when she entered the water

In October of 2000 Gillis murdered 38 year old Marilyn Nevils. He picked her up and attempted to use a zip tie once again. However, Nevils was able to break free and flee from the car. Gillis chased her down and beat her down with a piece of rebar, then he tightened a zip tie around he neck and strangled her.

Gillis took the body home with him, stopping to wash his car on the way. He spent some time with Nevils remains before dumping her on a levee nearby.

3 years later the monster struck again. The next victim was an acquaintance of Gillis. 45 year old Johnnie Mae Williams sometimes cleaned the house of the killer and the 2 occasionally smoke marijuana together. He picked her up on October 9th 2003.

He drove to a secluded area behind some businesses then attacked. He beat and stabbed her to death. He then cut off both of her hands before leaving her body posed in a wooded area where she was discovered by a dog walked.

The last victim was killed on February 26th of 2004. He picked up 44 year old Donna Bennett Johnston and drove to a secluded area. He used a zip tie to strangle her then mutilated her body, cutting out a tattoo and various body parts including her left arm below the elbow. Gillis drove to another location then posed the body in a drainage canal.

During the time of these murders, a second serial killer had been at work. Derrick Todd Lee had been murdering similar victims as those killed by Gillis. Once he was arrested, a task force was formed to investigate the murders that were not connected to Lee.

The police had some evidence that they could use to apprehend the killer. DNA had been collected from some of the victims and tire tracks were found at the dump site of Donna Johnston which were associated with a specific model of car and less than 100 of these vehicles were registered in the area.

DNA samples were collected and interviews were conducted with individuals who owned the car that matched the tire tracks on April 28th 2004. Sean Vincent Gillis was among these potential suspects and when his DNA came back as a match to the killer he was arrested the next day.

When police kicked in the door an rushed in Terri was confused and terrified. When she asked why they were arresting Gillis, an investigator responded “Don’t you know, you’re living with a serial killer.”

Once in custody, Gillis confessed to the murders. However there was only enough evidence to charge him with 3 of the murders while police searched for further evidence to confirm the other victims Gillis confessed to killing.

Police found further evidence on the killer’s computer. In addition to media reports on the exploits of fellow serial killer, Derrick Todd Lee, they found a folder containing the 45 pictures he had taken of the body of Donna Johnston.

Sean Vincent Gillis plead guilty to the murder Joyce Williams in August of 2007. He went to trial in July of 2008 for the murders of Katherine Hall, Johnnie Williams, and Donna Johnston. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole. In February of 2009, he received another life sentence for the murder of Marilyn Nevils.

Today Sean Vincent Gillis is 60 years old and housed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. This was the same prison as Derrick Todd Lee before he died in 2016.

#serialkiller #documentary