1836
Gretna was settled in 1836 and was originally called Mechanicsham.
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FILE 77 / 18 July 2018 / 142 MIN / full
This week, in Gretna, Louisiana ... it's in Jefferson Parish, which is the parishes or like a county down there. about 0:06:09
Gretna was settled in 1836 and was originally called Mechanicsham.
about 0:09:15It grew as a station on the Mississippi, with railroads running in and out and a ferry across the river to New Orleans.
about 0:09:39A wealthy landowner named Nicholas Knowle Destrahan hired a surveyor to divide the riverside land; the original plan was a symmetrical settlement two blocks wide.
about 0:09:58German immigrants settled there in numbers.
about 0:10:20Gretna was settled in 1836 and was originally called Mechanicsham.
about 0:09:15It grew as a station on the Mississippi, with railroads running in and out and a ferry across the river to New Orleans.
about 0:09:39A wealthy landowner named Nicholas Knowle Destrahan hired a surveyor to divide the riverside land; the original plan was a symmetrical settlement two blocks wide.
about 0:09:58German immigrants settled there in numbers.
about 0:10:20The St Mary's Market Steam Ferry Company began running ferries across the river.
about 0:10:42Zatarains, the rice and spice company, was founded in Gretna in 1889.
about 0:11:15The town was incorporated in 1913 and absorbed part of another Jefferson Parish town called McDunna.
about 0:12:18The Mississippi River Bridge to New Orleans opened in 1958.
about 0:12:29The West Bank Expressway cut through residential neighbourhoods and the population grew once commuters no longer had to take the ferry.
about 0:12:40After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, people trying to walk across the bridge into Gretna were turned back at gunpoint by armed residents and police who fired warning shots.
about 0:14:50One woman said she believed the group was turned away because it was 95% African American.
about 0:16:44Gretna has been called the arrest capital of the United States.
about 0:16:49Parts of the film Monster's Ball were filmed in Gretna.
about 0:17:18People from Gretna include football players Ike Taylor and Eddie Lacey, baseball hall of famer Mel Ott and Western star Lash La Rue.
about 0:17:31about 54%
Biggest faith: Catholics, 34.6%
about 0:19:48White 44% · Black 33% · Asian 3.32% · Hispanic 15.91%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Adult arrests made by the Gretna Police Department in 2013
656
Arrests per resident
▲ a little more than one for every three residents
Arrest rate
▲ 14 times
Property crime
▲ 10 to 15% higher
Violent crime
▲ about 20% higher
Three-bedroom two-bath house, 1,350 square feet
about 0:24:57Four-bedroom two-and-a-half-bath house, 2,100 square feet
about 0:25:00Foreclosed four-bedroom three-and-a-half-bath brick house, 3,500 square feet
about 0:25:29"656"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:28:07
"a little more than one for every three residents"
Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:28:17
"14 times"
Comparison: "the typical American town". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:28:20
"10 to 15% higher"
Comparison: "normal". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:28:37
"about 20% higher"
Comparison: "normal". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:28:49
"7,100"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:17:52
"24,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:17:56
"17,880"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:18:00
"up 1.8%"
Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:18:15
"17,000"
Comparison: "25,000 in 1970". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:18:23
"about 36.2"
Comparison: "a year younger than normal". Direction: below.
As told in 2018 about 0:18:31
"about 40%"
Comparison: "the 50% average". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:18:47
"44%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:05
"33%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:05
"3.32%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:20
"15.91%"
Comparison: "about average". Direction: about the same.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:27
"about 1%"
Comparison: "more than the average". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:39
"39%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:41
"58%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:48
"about 54%"
Comparison: "the average is 50-50". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:19:48
"5.9%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:05
"34.6%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:05
"3.1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:25
"0.06%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:31
"0.07%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:20:35
"6.1%"
Comparison: "higher than the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2018 about 0:21:22
"$34,158"
Comparison: "about $20,000 less than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2018 about 0:21:28
"91"
Comparison: "100 is average". Direction: below.
As told in 2018 about 0:22:29
"95"
Comparison: "100 is average". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:22:37
"95"
Comparison: "100 is average". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:22:37
"78"
Comparison: "100 is average". Direction: below.
As told in 2018 about 0:22:37
"$145,900"
Comparison: "lower than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2018 about 0:22:44
"$216,000"
Comparison: "about $185,000 before the re-estimate". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:23:05
"$1,070"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:24:29
"$145,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:24:57
"$160,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:25:00
"$339,000"
Comparison: "bought for $600,000". No direction stated.
As told in 2018 about 0:25:29
No rated reviews
No reviews recorded.
Gretna, Louisiana, sits on the west bank of the Mississippi, directly across the river from New Orleans, in Jefferson Parish.
Wayne, the four-year-old, told the three drunk adults that the babysitter, Francis Arwood, had given his two-year-old brother Troy pills to make him stop crying.
He told her to go and wash herself, and Shano took the children into the bedroom.
The door stayed closed for about twenty minutes. He poured the detergent over Francis's head and then poured the boiling water on top of it, saying he was cleaning her because she had refused to wash.
He kicked her in the chest again and she fell, striking her head on the window sill or the bath, and was knocked unconscious. They put her back on the sofa bed and Shano covered her with a blanket.
Shano went into the bathroom to be sick. When she came back into the room she saw smoke rising from Francis's face and her legs were open.
At about 12.30 p.m. Shano's sister and nephew arrived to visit. The nephew kept knocking. Shano called the police and paramedics. Francis was taken to West Jefferson Hospital in a coma, with third-degree burns over most of her body, cuts to her face and chin and severe swelling.
Francis remained in a coma for two months and died on 21 November 1979. The cause of death was significant brain damage from blunt head injury together with extensive burns.
The defence did not investigate his background or mental condition.
It was denied, but he obtained a stay.
New lawyers took over the case that year and assembled medical evidence. A New Mexico State University special education professor, Ruth Lackison, supported an IQ finding of 68 and described his reading, writing and maths as hovering at second or third grade level. Governor Buddy Romer overruled the board.
The electric chair had been outlawed in Louisiana in 1991. His last meal was two bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, French fries, a strawberry milkshake and chocolate pie.
September 1979 / Cynthia Shano's mother's apartment, Gretna, Louisiana
As told in the episode, on 18 July 2018.
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:42:16hospital
about 1:13:24landmark
about 0:12:29road
about 0:12:40business
about 0:10:42business
about 0:11:15other
about 0:25:39