A Louisiana pet cemetery owner was strangled in 1985. Nearly three decades later, claims that her ghost revealed long-hidden information helped lead investigators to her alleged killer.
Jose Cruz and James Tregler said they were visited by the spirit of 61-year-old Dorothy Lou Thompson, who they claimed shared secrets that helped authorities solve her murder and implicate former cemetery groundskeeper Brandon Nodier.
“It didn’t have to end that way,” Thompson’s friend Patricia Newman said in the three-part HBO docuseries The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story. “I was devastated.”
What Happened to Dorothy Thompson?
Thompson had been widowed twice, and both of her husbands died from gunshot wounds.
In 1970, Thompson fatally shot her first husband, Logan Banks, but authorities determined that she had acted in self-defense. Her second husband, Donald Robinson, was also shot in 1978, although no charges were filed in connection with his death.
After her mother died in 1979, Thompson inherited the property beside the pet cemetery.
Thompson disappeared in April 1985. The following month, her body was recovered from the Mississippi River, weighed down by steel chains. Her head had been enclosed in a plastic bag secured with wire.
“At the time of her death, the coroner gave the reason for her death as asphyxia,” former Sheriff Jack Stephens told Fox 8. “It was clear that foul play was involved.”
Who Was Brandon Nodier?
Nodier and his wife, Bonnie, lived on Thompson’s 14-acre pet cemetery, where an estimated 5,000 animals were buried, including monkeys and a cheetah. Nodier worked there building tombstones.
The relationship between Nodier and Thompson deteriorated after they became embroiled in a dispute over the property. Nodier allegedly attempted to cheat her out of it, according to St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief John Doran in 2014.
Nodier and Bonnie had allegedly convinced Thompson to sign over the property, but they later stopped making payments required under the agreement. The parties were scheduled to appear in court around the time of Thompson’s disappearance.
Dorothy Lou Thompson’s Ghost Helps Solve Her Murder
Although Nodier was considered a prime suspect, investigators lacked direct evidence linking him to the killing. The case remained unsolved until witnesses came forward with accounts involving alleged encounters with Thompson’s ghost.
In 2009, Nodier’s acquaintance Cruz told police that Thompson’s spirit had appeared to him and pleaded for help solving her murder. Cruz also said Nodier had confessed to killing Thompson years earlier.
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“I was told right after it was done, but being from the environment I was raised, I didn’t want to snitch or anything like that,” Cruz said in police footage featured in the docuseries. “[Nodier] told me personally that he had the old lady from the pet cemetery in the back of his pickup truck.”
“I can’t live with it anymore,” Cruz continued. “I just can’t live with this. Something has to be done about this; it can’t go unpunished. It’s just too heinous of a crime.”
Cruz’s statement helped reopen interest in the cold case. Several years later, another witness came forward with a separate account of what allegedly happened.
In 2012, witness Tregler said Thompson’s ghost had also haunted him and claimed he had witnessed Nodier kill her inside her home. According to Tregler, Thompson briefly regained consciousness, while Nodier ordered him back outside and continued strangling her.
Tregler further alleged that, from inside Nodier’s truck, he watched Nodier carry Thompson outside with an extension cord around her neck and a bag over her head. He said Nodier put her in the truck, drove to a ferry landing and dumped her body into the river.
“I should have stopped it. I should have stopped Brandon when Dorothy took that big deep breath,” Tregler said in the docuseries. “But I was just overcome with fear. I’d have been dead, too, let’s be honest here. Brandon wouldn’t have hesitated. Brandon’s a scary man. But I didn’t realize he was evil like that.”
Where Is Brandon Nodier Now?
Nodier surrendered to authorities on April 25, 2012, after being indicted on a second-degree murder charge. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2014.
He has since been released from prison and while he and Bonnie later moved to New Orleans, his whereabouts are unclear.
As for whether Thompson’s ghost played detective, docuseries director Phil Carney said that’s up for interpretation.
“Some people said it’s guilt. These people knew what they were a part of and they are haunted by what happened on that night,” Carney told Gold Derby. “For others, they genuinely believed that this was her ghost coming back for vengeance, and then other people just kind of laughed it off.
“But one thing is certain,” he said. “The case would not have been solved if it weren’t for the fact that these men claimed to be visited by Dorothy’s ghost.”
Nodier’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Oxygen.