A jolly local TV host was murdered this week, and the alleged trigger man tried unsuccessfully to kill himself, according to local police. The murder has exposed a reported double life led by a Briton named Scot Rogers who, it is now alleged, was a serial sexual abuser who fled England and started a new life in the States almost 20 years ago.
Scott Rogers ran a competitive dance studio in England until he came under suspicion of sexually abusing children and in the early ’90s and fled to Texas, eventually settling in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area. In Baton Rouge, Rogers became a minor celebrity, hosting a local television program that featured the work of non-profits. He embedded himself with the local community to such an extent that the state legislature commended him in a three-page resolution. He preached frequently at a local Christian church which he helped found.
What people did not know were the allegations from his past–and, it seems, his present.
Matthew Hodgkinson, who the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office states pulled the trigger and then tried to kill himself, is alleged to have been not only Rogers’s son-in-law but also his lover, whom he brought from England with him. Local authorities said Hodgkinson’s marriage to Rogers’ daughter was a sham so that he could stay in the country.
In recent days, Rogers came under suspicion of child abuse again. His 10-year-old adopted son and a two-year-old boy he was in the process of adopting were removed from his house two weeks ago. Another man, who lived in the home with Rogers, Hodgkinson, and the adoptive children, said he had been abused by Rogers years ago in England.
Hodgkinson allegedly wrote a suicide note that reads, “They broke our happy loving home. They do not get to take Scott, too.”
Rogers was under federal investigation for breaking immigration and naturalization laws.
Author Rod Dreher, who lives in the area, found a clip of the pleasant Mr. Rogers interviewing the local Tea Party leader on his no-budget “Around Town” television show. Dreher writes, “He looks like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. You just never know about people, do you?”