Police Chief Pat Englade is considering writing a book about his experiences overseeing the investigation of the south Louisiana serial killer.
Englade said Friday he doesn’t want credit or fame, just the opportunity to teach other police departments what he learned from the experience.
“Other law enforcement agencies don’t care who caught Derrick Todd Lee,” he said. “They want to know how it developed, how it was organized, what methods we used. That’s all they care about and that’s what we’re doing. This is not about credit.”
Englade’s serial killer task force did not identify Lee, the man now accused in the murders, but he and six other members have recently traveled as far as Las Vegas and Philadelphia to speak to law enforcement groups about the case. An investigator from the state Attorney General’s Office fingered Lee, 34, a laborer from St. Francisville.
Lynn Marino, mother of serial killer victim Pam Kinamore, said she is disturbed by the idea Englade may be taking more than his share of credit for cracking the case.
“I think they need to be honest that they didn’t put the pieces together,” she said. “I think they need to be honest and say the mistake they made was just investigating cases that were DNA-related.”
Englade said he has an ethical responsibility to share what he has learned, including both his successes and failures, with other police departments around the country who may have to hunt their own serial killers someday. While Englade is toying with the idea of a book, nothing is fixed.
“It’s not a sensational book, it’s not a Patricia Cornwell book,” Englade said. “It would be a book used to help other law enforcement agencies.”
