Daniel Joseph Blank

Background

Daniel Joseph Blank was a mechanic and was described as a gifted mechanic and a quiet customer with deep blue eyes. He was described as a family man who drank his coffee black.

Gloria Vicknair, a waitress, remembered that a few months before his arrest, Daniel Blank emerged from the video poker stall in the back of the restaurant and asked her to change two crisp $100 bills. Gloria Vicknair said she made the change but thought nothing of it. After the arrest was announced, she said: "They say it's always the quiet ones that'll surprise you -- he was extra quiet," and "Of course, I was lucky. He went after wealthy people. I work for a living, thank God."

Daniel Blank was described as having lived at a notch or two above transient status during the time killings began late last year, making three moves in the River Parishes and then moving in the summer to a small resort town in eastern Texas. Acquaintances and family members said the killings occurred within about 20 miles of his family's home in the River Parishes. Daniel Blank was known as Bone to his family.

Sally Blank, Daniel Blank’s 34-year-old sister and one of eight siblings, said Daniel went to casinos pretty often, that he said he won big, and that he showed the family papers to prove it. She said, "He said he won big, and he showed us the papers to prove it. He told us they took his picture at the casino." Sally Blank said the checks payable to Daniel Blank totaled $33,000. She said, "Daniel went to casinos pretty often," and "He told us they took his picture at the casino." She said the family had taken her brother at his word and was shocked by his arrest, and that her brother had been in trouble before, but not since he was a teen-ager. Sally Blank said: "He burned down a building when he was a teen-ager and had to go to reform school," and "'But a lot of teen-agers get in trouble. I don't think he did it. At least not all alone, not all by himself.'"

Daniel Blank lived in Onalaska, Texas, in a double-wide trailer with his wife, Cindy, and their four children. He worked as a mechanic out of a former muffler shop he leased from Don Evans, a retiree in Onalaska.

Don Evans said he leased Daniel Blank the shop, although Daniel Blank had offered to buy it. Don Evans said Daniel Blank offered to pay him $65,000 in cash. Don Evans said, ''That kind of scared me,'' and ''I refused.'' Don Evans said he was later told by his 12-year-old daughter, a friend of Daniel Blank's 12-year-old daughter, that Daniel Blank had made a fortune playing video poker machines. Don Evans said Daniel Blank was nearly broke when Louisiana and Texas authorities surrounded his trailer.

Don Evans locked the repair shop after Daniel Blank’s arrest and said that as he went through the jumbled contents of the office, he came across the latest bank statement for Daniel's Automotive. Don Evans said, ''He had $123 in it, and 11 cars in the lot waiting to be repaired,'' and ''Thank God they arrested him,'' and ''I'll tell you what, I think he was just about ready to do it again.''

The offence

Daniel Blank was accused of killing six River Parishes residents during a 10-month crime spree between 1996 and 1997, which was described as fueled by his gambling addiction. He was accused of killing during robberies to fuel a gambling habit, and authorities estimated he stole as much as $200,000, much of which he was believed to have squandered at casinos.

The authorities said most of the dead were elderly and that most were found in their homes with their pockets turned inside out. The authorities said nearly all had at least a nodding acquaintance with Daniel Blank.

The authorities said Daniel Blank had confessed to six murders, including a double bludgeoning of an elderly couple just across the street from a diner, and included a double murder attempt in July. The authorities said he had killed six elderly residents within 20 miles of his family's home in the River Parishes. The authorities said he favored slot machines and video poker and visited many different gambling parlors.

One couple survived being beaten and shot: Leonce Millet Jr. and his wife, Joyce, both 66, of Gonzales.

Daniel Blank was accused of murders including:

• Victor Rossi, 41, of St. Amant
• Barbara Bourgeois, 58, of Paulina
• Lillian Philippe, 71, of Gonzales
• Sam Arcuri, 76, and his wife, Louella, 69, of LaPlace
• Joan Brock, 55, of LaPlace

The St. John the Baptist Parish district attorney’s office sought the death penalty for Daniel Blank in the beating death of Joan Brock, a 55-year-old LaPlace woman he murdered in her backyard. Daniel Blank was found guilty of stabbing Brock in her back yard and leaving her to die.

Investigation

Police in Louisiana said Daniel Blank had confessed to six murders, and the local authorities said he was jailed and arrested on three charges of first-degree murder. The local authorities said he had confessed to six murders including a double bludgeoning of an elderly couple just across the street from the diner.

Toward the end of the suspected string of killings, Sheriff Wayne Jones of St. John the Baptist Parish said it became apparent that Daniel Blank was either on an extraordinarily lucky streak or was up to no good. Sheriff Jones said: ''He was without question a gambling addict,'' and ''I guess you could say his income didn't quite correspond with his life style.''

Chief Bill Landry of Gonzales said, ''It was the first homicide we had experienced since 1986,'' and ''We weren't prepared. We had to retrain ourselves.'' Chief Bill Landry said his office handled three of the cases: one murder in April and a double murder attempt in July.

The police said they gave little information about the case and that only a tip had led to the arrest. The authorities said the talk about Daniel J. Blank was as straightforward as the food served in LaPLACE, La.

The authorities said Daniel Blank was arrested about four months after he reportedly tried to buy a four-bay automobile repair shop in Onalaska, Texas, for $65,000 in cash. During his suspected string of killings he periodically appeared at his boyhood home in Paulina and once wheeled into the dusty yard on a shiny red Suzuki motorcycle. On two other occasions, he arrived with huge cardboard copies of checks from casinos in nearby Kenner and Baton Rouge payable to Daniel Blank, totaling $33,000.

Among items recovered after Daniel Blank was taken into custody in Texas was a cane-cutting knife, apparently smeared with blood and hair.

Arrest

Daniel Blank was taken into custody in Onalaska, Tex., on Friday. He was arrested after a tip led to the arrest. It was about four months after he reportedly tried to buy a four-bay automobile repair shop there for $65,000 in cash.

After his arrest, acquaintances and family members said he was nearly broke at the time Louisiana and Texas authorities surrounded his trailer. Don Evans said the repair shop was locked after the arrest.

Timeline

• October 1996 — June 1997 — Authorities said Daniel Blank killed to feed a gambling habit during a period of killings.
• September 1, 1999 — Jurors in the first degree murder trial of accused serial killer Daniel Blank saw him confess on videotape to attacking victim Lillian Phillipe with a trophy or a lamp.
• November 17, 1997 — Daniel Blank was jailed and arrested on three charges of first-degree murder.
• July 09, 2009 — Daniel Blank appeared in court in Edgard and pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of a LaPlace woman in 1997.
• October 19, 2000 — Daniel Blank was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection for the May 14, 1997 murder of 55-year-old LaPlace resident Joan Brock.
• 2006 — Daniel Blank was granted a new trial because of a clerical error during court procedures in Avoyelles parish in 2000.

Trial

In the first degree murder trial of accused serial killer Daniel Blank, jurors saw him confess on videotape to attacking victim Lillian Phillipe with a trophy or a lamp she had tried to use to defend herself after he broke into her home. The jury watched Blank describe how Phillipe, 71, hit him with the object in the back.

Daniel Blank, 37-year-old Paulina mechanic, was charged with six slayings across the River Parishes. Prosecutors said he killed during robberies to fuel a gambling habit.

On the videotape recorded by St. Martin Parish sheriff's detectives, Daniel Blank said: "I grabbed it and then I pushed her and she came back up, and that's when I hit her with it and I just went out of it."

Blank’s plea in exchange for a life sentence occurred after being granted a new trial because of a clerical error during court procedures in Avoyelles parish in 2000.

Daniel Blank entered a plea in exchange for the life sentence in Edgard after appearing in court. The plea was for the first degree murder of a LaPlace woman in 1997.

The St. John the Baptist Parish district attorney’s office was seeking the death penalty for Blank in the beating death of Joan Brock.

Blank was already sentenced to death for one murder and had three more trials pending, including later dates in the murders of Joan Brock, 58, of LaPlace; Barbara Bourgeois, 58, of Paulina; Victor Rossi, 41, of St. Amant; and Sam Arcuri 76, and his wife Louella, 69, of LaPlace.

Sentencing

Daniel Blank was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection for the May 14, 1997 murder of 55-year-old LaPlace resident, Joan Brock.

In 2009, Daniel Blank pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of a LaPlace woman in 1997 in exchange for the life sentence.

Appeals

Daniel Blank was granted a new trial in 2006 because of a clerical error during court procedures in Avoyelles parish in 2000.

The Supreme Court of Louisiana opinion 04-KA-0204 addressed Daniel Blank’s case.

Outcome

Jurors in the first degree murder trial of accused serial killer Daniel Blank saw him confess on videotape to attacking victim Lillian Phillipe with a trophy or a lamp she had tried to use to defend herself after he broke into her home.

Daniel Blank pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of a LaPlace woman in 1997 in exchange for the life sentence. He was currently in prison serving a life sentence at the time he appeared in court in Edgard.

Aftermath

Daniel Blank was currently in prison serving a life sentence after his 2009 plea and subsequent status change described as overturning the death sentence and later imposing life in prison without parole in 2001.