DANIEL BLANK

The River Parishes Serial Killer

Daniel Blank had a bad gambling habit, which, granted many people have, but they probably do not kill to finance their habit. Blank managed to murder, or try, to kill eight people, but two survived.

Born in Louisiana on June 28, 1962, he was one of eight children. Little is known about his childhood but he was a car mechanic. In October of 1996 he was working in a car repair shop and beat his boss to death. Something that I am sure many of us have imagined doing…but, didn’t!

Then he went on to stab one Lillian Phillipe to death. She had bought car parts from the repair shop, which her husband had started. A month later he beat a man and woman to death in their home, Sam and Louella Arcuri.

Less than a week after that he murdered Joan Brock in the back yard of her home by beating her to death. Blank had worked at her husband’s auto repair shop.

From there, two days later he stabbed another woman, Barbara Bourgeois to death, she lived less than a mile from Lillian Phillipe.

Finally, less than two months later he attempted to murder Leonce and Joyce Millet, they were both beaten and shot, but survived. They helped the police create a composite a sketch of Blank which aided in his capture.

He was arrested in Texas and confessed to the Sheriff to stabbing, beating, or shooting six people to pay for his gambling habits. Police arrested his girlfriend a few days later and she agreed to testify to five of his murders in exchange for dropping the charges against her.

He was convicted of murder, however he escaped through a bathroom window when the court took a break. It was two stories up, which may be why they let him go to the bathroom by himself, but he was caught after a short chase.

Of course his lawyers argued that the was forced to confess, but he was convicted of killing Lillian Philippe and Joan Brock, as well as Sam and Louella Arcuri and was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

As of 2025, Daniel Blank remains on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

I feel that I need to mention that he has an IQ of 85 and reads at a 3rd grade level. Apparently he had a bike accident when a teenage and sustained a head injury. This does not explain his murderous rage and why he went on such a spree, but perhaps it helps. What triggered his behavior is unknown, however we can all sympathize with his obvious anger at society, but not forgive it.

He did rob all of the people that he murdered in order to feed his gambling habit. Comments?