The Alien Cultural Heritage Center is the brainchild of Roger Thorne in partnership with the Chip Traddery Library. Come learn more about the history of our neighbors, friends, family, and perhaps yourselves.
This week's guest lecturer will again be New Traddery Township City CouncilSim Phillip Bui, who will share his experience in local government, and how that may contrast with what the center's research finds about government systems on other worlds.
While you're there, don't miss the newly installed Interstellar Flora Exhibit - Grasses of The Galaxy. You can view the exhibit in front of the main gallery building, but the AHCH reminds you not to touch, smell, or think too deeply on, near, or about the exhibit. If When the exhibit calls your name, do not answer the exhibit. Report any dreams about the exhibit to Phillip Bui. The exhibit loves you and wants to be your friend.
RAQUEL:
Welcome back to Under Oath, Over Coffee. I'm Raquel Devareaux, here with my wife, Hannah Devareaux in our home studio here in New Traddery. And normally, we talk about crime, with a special focus on imperfect victims.
HANNAH:
Because everyone deserves a voice.
RAQUEL:
Exactly. But today’s episode is going to feel a little different. We're revisiting the Gretchen Vandersen case again, and it's starting to overlap local politics in ways that Gretchen herself would likely never have suspected.
HANNAH:
That’s right. We don’t usually cover politics, but it’s not every day you get to talk to a mayor whose rise began with a murder case, and whose promise, seven years later, is still the same: justice for Gretchen Vandersen.
RAQUEL:
She was his friend. Her case is what first put him on the public stage. And now, as mayor of New Traddery, Derrick Thibadeaux says he’s ready to finish what he started.
HANNAH:
He’s joining us today by phone. Mayor Thibadeaux, welcome to Under Oath.
DERRICK (PHONE, SLIGHT STATIC):
Hey, y’all. Appreciate you having me, even if I’m a little out of my usual lane here.
RAQUEL:
Well, we’ve talked with sheriffs, coroners, even a psychic once. I think you’re safe.
(laughter)
[00:02:07 — SEGMENT ONE: “How It Started”]
HANNAH:
Take us back to the beginning. When Gretchen Vandersen was killed, you weren’t a politician.
DERRICK:
No ma’am. I ran a contact center, Thibadeaux Business Solutions, over on 226 Strawberry Hill. I was just a guy who thought if you worked hard and told the truth, the system would eventually do right by you.
RAQUEL:
And it didn’t.
DERRICK:
Not even close. Watching the investigation drag on, watching evidence go missing and leads go cold, it made me realize something. Some doors in this town only open if the SAC says so.
HANNAH:
The Simnational Aspirational Convention.
DERRICK:
Yeah. They’ve got their fingerprints in everything, zoning boards, school budgets, even which contractors get permits. It’s not illegal, just absolute.
RAQUEL:
And that’s what led to your first campaign.
DERRICK:
Right. Transparency and accountability. That was my platform. It wasn’t catchy, but it was honest. People were tired of feeling like decisions were made somewhere they couldn’t see. I won that council seat thinking we could fix things from the inside.
HANNAH:
And?
DERRICK:
Turns out, the inside’s just another kind of outside.
[00:07:12 — SEGMENT TWO: “The Wall of Silence”]
RAQUEL:
You’ve talked before about how every vote and proposal somehow ran through the SAC first. What did that look like in practice?
DERRICK:
Like running through mud. Running uphill through mud. You’d draft an ordinance, say to make evidence preservation mandatory at potential crime scenes, and next thing you know, it’s a values debate. Suddenly, the SAC’s holding community meetings about morality and heritage. Justice isn't even on the agenda at that point.
HANNAH:
Is that what led to the preservation ordinances you’re known for?
DERRICK:
Yeah. After Gretchen’s case, I pushed what we called the Public Integrity Preservation Acts. Basically, it meant no one could demolish or renovate a building tied to an open investigation until it was cleared.
RAQUEL:
That seems reasonable.
DERRICK:
It was at first. The Historical Society loved it. We all thought we were on the same side, keep evidence safe, keep landmarks intact. But then they start arguing that even clearing a site for investigation could damage heritage structures - I know where that mess came from.
HANNAH:
It's clever, I'll give them that.
DERRICK:
Yeah. Next thing I knew, the Historical Society was accusing us of destroying history to chase ghosts. Every inspection had to become a debate.
RAQUEL:
And that dragged everything out.
DERRICK:
Dragged it, buried it, wrapped it in red tape, and sealed it with a Platinum Plumbob.
[00:13:58 — SEGMENT THREE: “The Campaign Trail”]
HANNAH:
You left your council seat after one term to run for mayor. That’s a quick jump.
DERRICK:
I didn’t plan it that way. But by year three, I realized I couldn’t fix anything from where I was sitting. Every time I tried to cut through the bureaucracy, someone said it wasn’t my lane. So I ran for the lane above.
RAQUEL:
Your opponent was Ron Sharpe. Everyone thought he’d win.
DERRICK:
So did I. Ron’s an institution. I figured I’d get clobbered, but at least I’d make some noise.
HANNAH:
And then you won.
DERRICK:
(laughs softly) Yeah. By a lot, too. Everyone said it was a populist upset, a mandate against corruption. Felt good, for a minute.
RAQUEL:
You make it sound like it wasn’t what it seemed.
DERRICK:
Because it wasn’t. Ron didn’t lose as much as he stepped aside. I didn’t know that at the time. I thought the people had finally woken up. Turns out I’d just walked into someone else’s endgame, and the worst part is - I still don't know what that endgame is.
[00:21:04 — SEGMENT FOUR: “The Shining Year”]
HANNAH:
Your first year as mayor, you got hit by a scandal.
DERRICK:
Mm-hm. Somebody produced documents claiming Thibadeaux Business Solutions was funneling city funds. It was garbage - we'd had that Sim City contract since we opened.
RAQUEL:
You didn’t fight it, though. You handed the company to your brother, Damon.
DERRICK:
Wasn’t worth the distraction. I told the press, if you think I’m in this for the money, you’ve got the wrong man. Ivy and I both stepped back. She gave up her part too. Damon runs it better anyway.
(brief pause)
RAQUEL:
Was there ever a moment you thought about walking away?
DERRICK:
Every morning, for about thirty seconds, right before the coffee kicks in.
[00:28:42 — SEGMENT FIVE: “Closing the Circle”]
HANNAH:
So here we are, seven years since Gretchen’s death, two since your election. Where do things stand?
DERRICK:
I’ve stopped pretending it’s about procedure. It’s about power. The SAC’s got this town believing preservation means paralysis. They're calling it moral oversight. I call it obstruction.
RAQUEL:
And you’re still pushing to reopen the investigation?
DERRICK:
That's the thing, Raquel. The investigation never closed. It's been open. What I'm here to do is finish it. I’ve ordered every department to release whatever can be legally disclosed. The public deserves to know what’s been hidden behind pending review.
HANNAH:
That’s risky, politically.
DERRICK:
So was running for council. So was running for mayor. At this point, I’m used to betting my job on doing the right thing.
RAQUEL:
You’ve said before that justice for Gretchen isn’t just personal, it’s symbolic. What did you mean by that?
DERRICK:
People forget that Gretchen went missing in plain sight and the town just moves on? And then she was found where she was found, and we just moved on? None of us are really safe in a town like that. And that's not the kind of town New Traddery claims to be. That's not why I moved here. That's not why you moved here. New Traddery is not a metropolis. That's definitely not why the Vandersens moved here. And it's not why the Traddery's and the Best's and the Wholesome's moved her 160 years ago.
[00:36:09 — SEGMENT SIX: “The Promise”]
HANNAH:
Mayor Thibadeaux, I have to ask. You know challenging the SAC like this could cost you reelection.
DERRICK:
If that’s the cost, it’s a fair one.
(pause, faint hum of feedback from the phone line)
DERRICK (cont’d):
Gretchen Vandersen will have justice. Nothing, not the SAC, not politics, not my own business projects, is going to stop that.
[silence, followed by soft inhale from Raquel]
RAQUEL:
That’s a hard promise to break.
DERRICK:
Good thing I don’t plan to.
[00:39:27 — OUTRO]
HANNAH:
And there we have it. That was Mayor Derrick Thibadeaux, and we want to say how much we appreciate Mayor Thibadeaux's openness and willingness to talk with us today.
RAQUEL:
Definitely a different episode, but any time we can here directly from someone with this level of investment in a case, who was actually impacted by the case, I feel like it's worth it.
HANNAH:
But on that note, we also want to thank you, our regular listeners, our new listeners, we wouldn't want to share our coffee with anyone else. Talk soon, everyone. Take care.
