INTERVIEW: Investigating mysterious deaths on Louisiana-set ‘Killing Fields’

Killing Fields, the true-crime reality series, returns for a second season on Discovery Channel Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. The forensic-science show follows the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office as they investigate tragic homicide cases that continue to confound the authorities.

On season two, the team looks into the 1997 death of a Louisiana State University student, plus details of another homicide emerge after a body is found in a barrel.

What sets Killing Fields apart from other true-crime series on television is the emphasis on the investigators and the real-time storytelling. This is true police work, with all of its trials and tribulations.

Detective Lori Morgan is a forensics specialist on the investigating team, and she works with Sheriff Brett Stassi and Major Ronnie Hebert. After raising her children, Morgan returned to college to earn her degree in forensic science. This led to her present position of securing, processing and interpreting evidence for the sheriff’s office.

Now Morgan finds herself a reality-TV star.

“It really was a great experience, something that was very new to all of us in our agency,” she said in a recent phone interview. “We had never gone through the process before, and it was very unique, and different for us and extremely helpful to our investigations at times. We were able to utilize resources from the Discovery Channel that perhaps we would not have been able to utilize just in our agency due to budget and other factors. The whole experience was a little surreal at first, but I think that after doing season two, we got quite used to it.”

The homicide investigations featured on season two have a definite forensics side to them. Although details will have to wait until the episodes air on Discovery Channel, Morgan did say that audience members can expect to seee some important lab work, a process of elimination and evidence that has been present the entire time but needed to be fit into a larger jigsaw puzzle.

The challenges of dealing with DNA evidence that can be two decades old are immense.

“The deterioration on a 20-year-old piece of DNA, it just doesn’t hold a candle to the fresh evidence,” Morgan said. “Naturally fresh evidence you’re able to get so much more information from that. [For] 18-, 20-year-old cases, you always have such a challenge in forensics. It’s a very slight chance that you’re going to get the exact information. It might help you along with your investigation in some way, but it’s very difficult to deal with evidence, especially DNA evidence, that’s been exposed to the kind of climate and environment that we live [in] here in south Louisiana.”

In Morgan’s mind, Killing Fields sheds a positive light on her home state and her profession of choice. For starters, the series makes Louisiana’s environment look striking and beautiful, and the sheriff’s office is highlighted for its work ethic and undying dedication to finding closure for families of homicide victims.

Still, the setbacks are obvious.

“The frustration is immense,” Morgan said. “The ultimate battle is finding a new investigational lead. Sometimes it’s done through forensics; sometimes it’s done through a witness who finally has the nerve to come forward and give you that information that’s going to push it forward.”

When Morgan looks back at her initial decision to go back to school and earn a college degree, she realizes she is now living her professional dream.

“What I am doing now is what I set out to do when I went back to school, and that is the practice of the craft of evidence collection, evidence processing and taking it through the forensic process,” she said. “For me, I couldn’t be happier with the job that I was able to get, and I look at it as timing is everything. I know a lot of people say that, and for me, that is definitely the case because when I graduated with my forensics degree, luckily Sheriff Stassi here in Iberville Parish was looking for a crime scene investigator to add to his criminal investigation division, and he put his trust in me to fulfill that position. And I couldn’t be happier because it’s exactly what I wanted to do.”

Morgan’s presence on Killing Fields has garnered many positive comments from young students interested in forensic work. She often fields questions from high school students and others who want to know what it takes to enter the field.

“I’ve had a lot of questions from especially young women because I think they can identify with the fact that they are interested in getting into a male-dominated career, but that they see a woman, a mom in the field that is following her dream of being in the field,” she said. “I think they want that same success, and so I get a lot of questions about that.”

The positives are important because the job often deals with negative subjects, devastated families and tragic outcomes.

“It’s a very dark job,” Morgan said. “It is a very scary job. We see things that most people don’t’ see on a day-to-day basis. We basically encounter the worst of humankind, and that is something if you don’t guard yourself, you can become very jaded by it. You can become very cynical. You start to think that everybody perhaps is evil like that. You just have to guard yourself, your mind and your heart, and don’t let those dark moments in your career define who you are. Basically what you’re doing in this career is finding closure for families. You’re finding closure for cases that perhaps have been left open for years, and that’s the goal in mind. You have to basically get out of the darkness and stay in the light.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Killing Fields begins its second season Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. Click here for more information. Click here for Hollywood Soapbox’s previous interview with Morgan.