Milwaukee serial killer

[Homicidalheathen]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/45401237.html

DNA links 7th woman to suspected serial killer

By Sharif Durhams and John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May. 19, 2009

Click to view details on the victims and their deaths

Search for a Serial Killer

Milwaukee police are searching for a serial killer, believed to be involved with the deaths of a string of prostitutes dating to 1986. The Journal Sentinel will follow the case and leads as they develop.

The DNA of a suspected serial killer was linked Tuesday to a seventh woman murdered in Milwaukee, as part of a major investigation into unsolved homicides stretching back 23 years.

The State Crime Laboratory reported that the suspect's DNA has now been found on Florence McCormick, a 28-year-old prostitute strangled on April 24, 1995, police said.

The other homicides occurred in 1986, 1995, 1997 and 2007 - all but one on the north side of Milwaukee.

The unknown male suspect may be linked to more murders. Testing continues on DNA from about two dozen other unsolved prostitute homicides.

Investigators at Milwaukee police headquarters on Tuesday fielded dozens of tips to a hotline established for the case, (414) 935-1212. Homicide detectives were examining every aspect of the seven homicides, looking for links and reconstructing the victims' final days.

Other investigators were poring over prostitution arrests, under the theory that the suspect may have frequented prostitutes but didn't always kill them.

"It is going to be a pretty broad, sweeping investigation," Milwaukee Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said.

So far, all the investigators know is that their suspect is male, said Assistant District Attorney Norman Gahn, a prosecutor in the case and a pioneer in charging John Does based on their DNA profiles.

Further testing on the seven samples may show the suspect's ethnicity and race, but not his age, Gahn said.

All but one of the victims were African-American women working as prostitutes. The seventh victim was a white teenage runaway. Investigators have said they think the suspect had sex with that victim but another person killed her.

The tests show the same person had contact with seven women who were murdered, Gahn said, but that does not guarantee a conviction or even enough to charge the suspect - assuming he is found.

"Until the person is identified, I don't think we can make any conclusions about the strength of the case," Gahn said. "It goes behind a person of interest. That person has some explaining to do."

Investigators have run the DNA profile found on the murdered women against DNA databases nationally with no hits. That means the suspect is not in prison and has not provided law enforcement with a genetic sample in any state, he said. Wisconsin has required all felons to provide DNA since 1996.

The case surfaced after the Milwaukee police's cold homicide unit began resubmitting DNA samples from unsolved homicides to the State Crime Laboratory, Gahn said.

Using new testing techniques, the lab reported last year the same man's DNA was on three murdered women: Joyce Mims and Ouithreaun Stokes, prostitutes strangled in 1997 and 2007, and Jessica Payne, the teenage runaway whose throat was slashed in 1995.

Chaunte D. Ott was convicted in 1996 of killing Payne and sentenced to life in prison. Then in 2007, testing showed that DNA from semen found on Payne's body matched DNA found on two other murder victims. Prosecutors provided that information to Ott's defense team, and an appeals court overturned his conviction. The 35-year-old had served 13 years of a life term when he was freed this year.

Charges against Ott should be dropped based on DNA evidence linking the homicides, said John Pray, co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and one of the attorneys who won Ott's release.

"In my view, they would never be able to convict him in a trial," Pray said.

Police officials have said they still believe Ott killed Payne. Detectives are re-investigating the case.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams said he would decide in coming weeks about whether to retry Ott, who was convicted based on a co-conspirator's statements and other evidence but no DNA.

This is the second time a task force has been convened to investigate serial killings of prostitutes in Milwaukee. In the late 1990s, investigators examined the homicides of at least 11 prostitutes strangled on the north side.

DNA testing done then was not as refined as it is today and didn't make any matches among the evidence collected from the victims, Gahn said.

Nonetheless, investigators zeroed in on George L. Jones, known on the street as "the Mule." He was suspected in other homicides but was charged and convicted in the death of only one prostitute, Shameika Carter. He has not been linked to any others in the recent testing, Williams said.

Gahn said DNA testing has advanced tremendously since 1989 when he prosecuted his first case with genetic material, another serial killer, Robert Wirth, who was convicted of killing elderly women.

Tests now match 13 genetic indicators off DNA, making results highly reliable, he said.

"Today, a DNA profile is identity," Gahn said.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Homicidalheathen

[Homicidalheathen]

Lets not forget

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The skeletal remains found buried on Albuquerque’s West Mesa over the last two weeks appear to be the work of a serial killer, according to a university professor who has studied that class of criminal for years.

Albuquerque police found the remains of four more people on Saturday and Monday, bringing the total number of potential victims to 10. One of the dead includes an unborn child.

“This has all the trappings of a serial murder case,” Dr. Dirk Gibson of the University of New Mexico told KRQE News 13.

Gibson has studied more than 1,000 serial killers and written three books on the subject.

“We don’t know the cause of death yet, but we would assume it’s not accidental,” Gibson said.

Albuquerque police said it is possible the buried people were murdered but has insisted it’s too early to tell.

“A big part of it will be determined by the Office of the Medical Investigator to determine if these are homicides and if they can tell how these people may have died,” Commander Paul Feist of the Albuquerque Police Department Crime Lab said Monday.

The one person identified from the remains by investigators is Victoria Chavez who was 32. Police identified her as a prostitute who was last seen in 2003.

“The fact (Chavez) was a prostitute doesn’t mean she was killed for that reason,” Gibson said. “There could have been an angry boyfriend.

"There could have been other reasons, but usually prostitute-related killings are because they are victims of opportunity.”

Police have acknowledged the buried remains could be on a list of 24 missing women from Albuquerque, many of whom are identified as prostitutes.

Whoever killed them made it clear the killings were supposed to be secret, according to Gibson.

“Their purpose was to keep something concealed and clandestine and out of the public eye,” Gibson said.

(Gibson also discussed his work and theories during a live interview Monday on KRQE News 13 at 4 p.m. To watch the interview, click here .)

(just a couple of todays serial killers)