March 22, 2017

A cooperative investigation has led to discoveries that question several aspects of New Orleans' storied past.

When the weather changed, the police marked off half a block in the Garden District. Those days were dreary and damp and unseasonably cold for New Orleans. The residents came and went as little as possible, not only because of the unwelcoming conditions out of doors, but because the inhabitants of that square of the city, much unlike their compatriots in Hollygrove or the East, were not accustomed to having a squad car stand sentinel over their street.

The house had been unoccupied for years. Once it fell into disuse, at some forgotten time in the 1970s, its neighbors complained to the city about its overgrown grass, and from t...

Please subscribe to keep reading.