By Chuck Hustmyre

(Continued)

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'I THINK I WOULD HAVE LIKED HER'

In April 2004, sheriff's detectives traced a tire track they found at the site where Donna Johnston's body had been dumped to a white Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Gillis. They took a DNA swab from him, and within hours the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab matched Gillis's DNA profile to DNA evidence recovered from several of his victims.

When they arrested Gillis, detectives also executed a search warrant at his house. They seized knives, a machete, a hacksaw, a police-style flashlight, three pictures of Johnnie Mae Williams's dead body, and eight pages of newspaper clippings about Derrick Todd Lee's last victim, Carrie Lynn Yoder.

They also seized several books about serial killers, including The Blooding, The Hillside Strangler, Alone with the Devil, The Silence of the Lambs, and Son of Sam.

In June and July 2004, while housed at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, Gillis wrote three letters to Tammie Purpera, a friend of Donna Johnston's. The two women had known each other for more than 15 years and had worked the streets together as prostitutes. At the time Gillis wrote the letters, Tammie was locked up at the same prison.

In the letters, Gillis apologized for the pain he had caused so many people and tried to explain why he had killed Donna Johnston and seven other women. "I turned my back on the Father twenty-six years ago," Gillis wrote. "I really hated God for a long time. I think that's what did it."

He also provided Tammie with details about Donna's death:

"Your friend died quickly. She was so far gone that night that I really do not think she even knew what was happening to her. She was so drunk it only took about a minute and a half to succumb to unconsciousness and then death. Honestly, her last words were, 'I can't breathe.'"

Gillis wrote that he couldn't explain why he had sexually mutilated his victims. "I still puzzle over the post-mortem dismemberment and cutting. I really don't know what the hell is wrong with me."

In describing his state of mind the night he picked up Donna Johnston and murdered her, Gillis wrote: "I was in a real bad place. I was pure evil that night. No love, no compassion, no faith, no mercy, no hope."

Prosecutors have so far charged Gillis with seven counts of first-degree murder and with committing ritualistic acts in connection with the mutilation of his victims after their deaths. The murder of Lillian Robinson is still under investigation.

Although he pleaded not guilty to the charges, Gillis has repeatedly confessed to killing all eight women. His first trial is scheduled to begin early this year.

At the end of one of his letters to Tammie Purpera, Gillis asked her to write back and to tell him more about her friend Donna. "I think I would have liked her," he said.

Tammie Purpera died from complications related to AIDS in August 2005, but before she died she turned over Gillis's letters to the district attorney.

Previous Page

Sean Vincent Gillis Letter 1

Sean Vincent Gillis Letter 2

Sean Vincent Gillis Letter 3

Gillis's Strange Antics Fit The "Common Sense" Profile Of A Serial Killer

Sean Vincent Gillis Has Confessed To Killing, Mutilating Eight Women

See Feature Story on Derrick Todd Lee

See Feature Story on Baton Rouge Serial Killer

Contact Chuck Hustmyre at chuck3174@yahoo.com

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