Be careful , Ladies in Atlanta!
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Manhunt for Louisiana serial killing suspect centers in Atlanta
Associated Press
AP
Derrick Todd Lee
The man sought in the serial killings of five women in southern Louisiana is also suspected in a sixth death more than a decade ago and the disappearance of yet another woman, police said Tuesday. The man was spotted this week in Atlanta, authorities said.
Derrick Todd Lee, 34, was charged in a warrant issued Monday with murder and aggravated rape in the killing of Carrie Yoder, 26, a Louisiana State University graduate student who became the serial killer's fifth known victim in March.
The nationwide hunt for Lee continued Tuesday. In the FBI's Atlanta office, agent Theodore Jackson said Lee was last seen around midday Monday at a hotel in the southeastern part of the city. The FBI had obtained a warrant for Lee when it was learned he traveled from Louisiana to Atlanta, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities in Zachary, a Baton Rouge suburb, said police obtained a DNA sample from Lee -- which linked him to the five slayings -- earlier this month because they were investigating him for an unconnected disappearance in their town.
Zachary Police Chief Joey Watson said a detective was given a tip from one of Lee's relatives that Lee was discussing the disappearance of Randi Mebruer, 28, who vanished from her home in April 1998.
The tip, combined with a review of Lee's criminal history, led investigators to seek a DNA sample from Lee, and a court order was obtained, Watson said Tuesday. The sample was obtained May 5, authorities said.
That same day, Lee abruptly pulled his two children out of school in St. Francisville, saying he was moving to Los Angeles, according to Lloyd Lindsey, superintendent of West Feliciana school system.
Vernon Keenan, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said investigators believe Lee went to Chicago and at least twice to Atlanta after May 5.
"We know he's here now," Keenan said Tuesday in Atlanta. "We don't know why he's here."
Zachary police also suspect Lee is connected to the murder of Connie Warner, 41, who was found killed in September 1992, also in Zachary, Watson said.
The Warner and Mebruer cases have not been linked to the serial killer, but Watson said he believes they were all connected. Watson said DNA evidence found in the Mebruer case is still being tested. He had no details on whether DNA tests were also pending in the 1992 case.
"There wasn't enough to say with all certainty, but there's enough to suspect that they're all related," he said.
The warrant Monday accuses Lee only of Yoder's murder, though it says DNA evidence removed from Yoder's body matched that taken from the other four victims.
He is to be considered armed and dangerous, authorities said.
Lee was named as a suspect nearly a year after police linked the murders of three Baton Rouge women to a single DNA profile, creating a frenzy in the area as women flocked to self-defense classes. Two other cases were linked later.
In a massive 10-month DNA dragnet, police took cheek scrapings and swabbings from more than 1,000 men. The search led some men to complain they felt pressured to volunteer their DNA to rid themselves of suspicion. Defense attorneys have questioned the legality of the search.
The DNA match to Lee, a black man, conflicts with an FBI profile released months ago that said the killer likely was white. Police said after Yoder's murder that the killer could be of any race.
Yoder, from Tampa, Fla., was severely beaten, raped and strangled. The other victims were Gina Wilson Green, 41; Charlotte Murray Pace, 22; Pam Kinamore, 44, all of Baton Rouge; and Trineisha Dene Colomb, 23, of Lafayette.
Ann Pace, mother of the killer's second victim, said she was "overwhelmed and nauseated" when she heard a suspect was named in the case. "Of course, I wish it had happened sooner," she said.
Ed White, Kinamore's brother-in-law, said his family wouldn't be "totally elated" until Lee was captured.
On Friday, investigators had released a sketch of a possible suspect, a man who tried to rape one woman and approached two others last year. The photo of Lee bears a similarity to the sketch, which is of a black man, but police said Monday they had not connected Lee to those encounters in St. Martin Parish.
Lee's home in St. Francisville, a small town north of Baton Rouge, was abandoned Monday. A reporter walking through the house found carpets ripped up, siding torn away and light fixtures torn out.
Records show Lee and his wife filed for bankruptcy in November, and a court order to allow foreclosure on his house was signed May 16. Bankruptcy records listed Lee's occupation as a truck driver.
Jane Lee, who identified herself as Lee's grandmother when contacted by phone in St. Francisville, said her grandson and his wife have two children. She said she was concerned about the warrant but wouldn't answer further questions. |
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Manhunt for Louisiana serial killing suspect centers in Atlanta
Associated Press
AP
Derrick Todd Lee
The man sought in the serial killings of five women in southern Louisiana is also suspected in a sixth death more than a decade ago and the disappearance of yet another woman, police said Tuesday. The man was spotted this week in Atlanta, authorities said.
Derrick Todd Lee, 34, was charged in a warrant issued Monday with murder and aggravated rape in the killing of Carrie Yoder, 26, a Louisiana State University graduate student who became the serial killer's fifth known victim in March.
The nationwide hunt for Lee continued Tuesday. In the FBI's Atlanta office, agent Theodore Jackson said Lee was last seen around midday Monday at a hotel in the southeastern part of the city. The FBI had obtained a warrant for Lee when it was learned he traveled from Louisiana to Atlanta, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities in Zachary, a Baton Rouge suburb, said police obtained a DNA sample from Lee -- which linked him to the five slayings -- earlier this month because they were investigating him for an unconnected disappearance in their town.
Zachary Police Chief Joey Watson said a detective was given a tip from one of Lee's relatives that Lee was discussing the disappearance of Randi Mebruer, 28, who vanished from her home in April 1998.
The tip, combined with a review of Lee's criminal history, led investigators to seek a DNA sample from Lee, and a court order was obtained, Watson said Tuesday. The sample was obtained May 5, authorities said.
That same day, Lee abruptly pulled his two children out of school in St. Francisville, saying he was moving to Los Angeles, according to Lloyd Lindsey, superintendent of West Feliciana school system.
Vernon Keenan, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said investigators believe Lee went to Chicago and at least twice to Atlanta after May 5.
"We know he's here now," Keenan said Tuesday in Atlanta. "We don't know why he's here."
Zachary police also suspect Lee is connected to the murder of Connie Warner, 41, who was found killed in September 1992, also in Zachary, Watson said.
The Warner and Mebruer cases have not been linked to the serial killer, but Watson said he believes they were all connected. Watson said DNA evidence found in the Mebruer case is still being tested. He had no details on whether DNA tests were also pending in the 1992 case.
"There wasn't enough to say with all certainty, but there's enough to suspect that they're all related," he said.
The warrant Monday accuses Lee only of Yoder's murder, though it says DNA evidence removed from Yoder's body matched that taken from the other four victims.
He is to be considered armed and dangerous, authorities said.
Lee was named as a suspect nearly a year after police linked the murders of three Baton Rouge women to a single DNA profile, creating a frenzy in the area as women flocked to self-defense classes. Two other cases were linked later.
In a massive 10-month DNA dragnet, police took cheek scrapings and swabbings from more than 1,000 men. The search led some men to complain they felt pressured to volunteer their DNA to rid themselves of suspicion. Defense attorneys have questioned the legality of the search.
The DNA match to Lee, a black man, conflicts with an FBI profile released months ago that said the killer likely was white. Police said after Yoder's murder that the killer could be of any race.
Yoder, from Tampa, Fla., was severely beaten, raped and strangled. The other victims were Gina Wilson Green, 41; Charlotte Murray Pace, 22; Pam Kinamore, 44, all of Baton Rouge; and Trineisha Dene Colomb, 23, of Lafayette.
Ann Pace, mother of the killer's second victim, said she was "overwhelmed and nauseated" when she heard a suspect was named in the case. "Of course, I wish it had happened sooner," she said.
Ed White, Kinamore's brother-in-law, said his family wouldn't be "totally elated" until Lee was captured.
On Friday, investigators had released a sketch of a possible suspect, a man who tried to rape one woman and approached two others last year. The photo of Lee bears a similarity to the sketch, which is of a black man, but police said Monday they had not connected Lee to those encounters in St. Martin Parish.
Lee's home in St. Francisville, a small town north of Baton Rouge, was abandoned Monday. A reporter walking through the house found carpets ripped up, siding torn away and light fixtures torn out.
Records show Lee and his wife filed for bankruptcy in November, and a court order to allow foreclosure on his house was signed May 16. Bankruptcy records listed Lee's occupation as a truck driver.
Jane Lee, who identified herself as Lee's grandmother when contacted by phone in St. Francisville, said her grandson and his wife have two children. She said she was concerned about the warrant but wouldn't answer further questions. |
