Daniel Blank 416437
Louisiana State Penitentiary
Angola, LA 70712
(Death toll 6) Authorities in Polk County, Texas, arrested 35-year-old Daniel Blank on November 14 for six slayings over the past two years in southeast Louisiana. Sheriff Jeff Wiley of Ascension Parish, La., said Blank confessed on videotape to stabbing, bludgeoning or shooting six people — bosses, neighbors, and customers — to pay for his gambling habit.
Most attacks were on older victims who lived mostly in upscale neighborhoods and homes. He says some of the victims were targets because they had safes in their homes.
On April 11, 2000, a Lousiana District Court convicted Daniel Blank of first-degree murder for the second time and proscribed him a second death penalty. Authorities have charged Blank of killing six River Parishes residents during break-ins. Blank, 37, was convicted of killing Gonzales resident Lillian Philippe, 71, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. He has yet to stand trial for the murders of Victor Rossi, 41, of St. Amant; Barbara Bourgeois, 58, of Paulina; and Sam and Louella Arcuri, 76 and 69, of LaPlace.
In this his latest trial Blank was convicted of first-degree murder in the May 1997 death of Joan Brock, 55. Jurors saw Blank confess on videotape to stabbing Brock with a butcher knife and stealing her family safe. Defense lawyers argued that Blank, who blamed his crimes on his gambling addiction, was coerced into confessing.
Blank has a low IQ and an abnormal personality. Blank also suffers from a schizo-affective paranoia disorder, which makes him feel incredibly inadequate and anxiety-ridden at all times. As a child, Blank was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike. Not surprisingly he is believed to suffer from some sort of brain injury. Interestingly many serial killers have suffered head tramas.