Unsolved murder of teenager Carol Cole investigated on Citizen P.I.

Citizen P.I. is investigating the tragic murder of teenager Carol Cole, whose body was found in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, after being stabbed nine times. Her remains were unidentified for 35 years, and her killer remains undiscovered.

On January 28, 1981, the body of a young woman was found in some trees in the rural area of Bellevue, Bossier Parish, LA. She had been stabbed nine times, and the murder weapon was found lying nearby. The cops concluded she had been dead for weeks.

The investigators estimated she was between the ages of 15 and 21, that she was white and had blonde hair, but unfortunately, they couldn’t tell much else about her. There was no ID with her remains, and her identity would stay a mystery until 2015.

In the early 1980s, the police actually got a confession for the murder from serial killer Henry Lee Lucas; however, investigators eventually determined he was lying. Lucas confessed to approximately 300 unsolved murders, most of which he couldn’t have committed.

In the meantime, Jeanie Phelps, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, had begun looking for her 17-year-old sister, Carol Cole, who had vanished from the Shreveport, LA, area after a house party around the same time.

Carol had previously been living with her mother in Texas, but after entering a drug rehabilitation program, she later left for Louisiana and was never heard from again.

Jeanie Phelps and her friend, Patty Thorington, kept up the search for Carol for 35 years, and when a Bossier Parish Sheriff tried to drum up more interest in the identity of the corpse, the two groups eventually came together and conducted a DNA test. It matched Carol Cole.

Did John Chesson kill Carol Cole?

Unfortunately, the identity of Carol’s killer remains a mystery. The police do have a person of interest in the form of John Chesson, who reportedly found Carol’s body when he was hunting with his children.

Chesson’s daughter Frances Aucoin has since told the police that she believes her father killed Carol and pretended to find the corpse so as to divert suspicion. She claims her father picked up a teenage girl off a Shreveport street corner in late 1980 and took her home to Bossier Parish.

Chesson is currently in prison for the 1997 murder of his wife’s mother, but no charges have been filed against him in the Carol Cole case.

More from Citizen P.I.

Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on Citizen P.I.

In a particularly disturbing case, Joaquin Shadow Rams was found guilty of killing his 15-month-old son, Prince, simply so he could pocket the cash from a lucrative life insurance policy. He is also suspected of being involved in the deaths of his mother and a former girlfriend.

Dana Lynn Dodd’s burning body was found near a Texan oilfield in 2006, but she was so severely burned that it took twelve years to identify her. In 2018, Joseph Burnette admitted picking her up on the road and murdering her.

Citizen P.I. airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.