MB reader John H. wrote to point out a strange aspect of the New Orleans Times-Picayune story “Rumors of Deaths Greatly Exaggerated” that broke yesterday and lit up the blogosphere. One of the story’s authors, Brian Thevenot, had written a previous story about dead bodies in the Convention Center that also lit up the blogosphere when it came out on Sept. 6:

Arkansas National Guardsman Mikel Brooks stepped through the food service entrance of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Monday, flipped on the light at the end of his machine gun, and started pointing out bodies.
“Don’t step in that blood – it’s contaminated,” he said. “That one with his arm sticking up in the air, he’s an old man.”
Then he shined the light on the smaller human figure under the white sheet next to the elderly man.
“That’s a kid,” he said. “There’s another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut.”
He moved on, walking quickly through the darkness, pulling his camouflage shirt to his face to screen out the overwhelming odor.
“There’s an old woman,” he said, pointing to a wheelchair covered by a sheet. “I escorted her in myself. And that old man got bludgeoned to death,” he said of the body lying on the floor next to the wheelchair.
Brooks and several other Guardsmen said they had seen between 30 and 40 more bodies in the Convention Center’s freezer. “It’s not on, but at least you can shut the door,” said fellow Guardsman Phillip Thompson.

Yet Thevenot’s report from today stated:

At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials… [snip]
One widely circulated tale, told to The Times-Picayune by a slew of evacuees and two Arkansas National Guardsmen, held that “30 or 40 bodies” were stored in a Convention Center freezer. But a formal Arkansas Guard review of the matter later found that no soldier had actually seen the corpses, and that the information came from rumors in the food line for military, police and rescue workers in front of Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, said Edwards, who conducted the review… [snip]
But other accusations that have gained wide currency are more demonstrably false. For instance, no one found the body of a girl — whose age was estimated at anywhere from 7 to 13 — who, according to multiple reports, was raped and killed with a knife to the throat at the Convention Center

I’m confused — what did Thevenot hear from the Arkansas National Guardsmen and what did he witness with his own eyes? I e-mailed him but I haven’t heard back. I am interested in the answer because it might explain how other reporters were led astray on this story — e.g. a source showed them a few bodies and then said there are dozens more around the corner.