Hollywood filmed the movie Steel Magnolias, in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1989. The owner of the house confessed to raping and strangling her when she arrived at his door, selling candy for school. The police never found her body, and today, officially, 12-year-old Averie Evans remains a missing person. Although I have never reviewed the grisly crime in this newspaper column, I feature an exhaustive look at Averie’s disappearance and alleged murder prominently in my new book, More Bayou Justice: South Louisiana Cold Case Files, released to book stores this week from Bogart Books.

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