4 Women found murdered Near Atlantic City NJ

[Carnut]

Still think it's pimp and not a serial killer.

Course I guess you could say a pimp killing his workers like that would be a serial killer.

I don't think it's a pimp.

Pimps make their money off these women, why would he kill 4 of his meal tickets?

Well, not having been in the business myself, but I see it portrayed all the time in movies that Pimps have to inforce their rules occasionally in order to keep the rest of the workforce inline.

I think that's what's been happening, who know's what size of workforce this particular pimp is running.

Seems one interviewed lady said she knew who the killer was.

[Jacqueline]

I would not be surprised if pimps may knock their prostitutes around, but I don't think a pimp is doing the killings.

Most serial killers are people who blend in to society, going unoticed and could even have normal lives with families...

I just hope who ever it is, they find them quickly.

As the news story stated serial killers may take breaks once in awhile but they never stop.

[Jacqueline]

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=204110248&p=zx4yyx954

Serial Killer across the Pond also targeting prostitutes.

[Jacqueline]

Speculation About Foot Fetishist in Killings
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By SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Published: December 14, 2006
When four prostitutes were found slain in a marshy ditch on the outskirts of Atlantic City three weeks ago, each was barefoot, a detail as intriguing as it was mystifying.

So on Monday, after managers and several guests at an Atlantic City hotel where two of the victims had sometimes stayed read an account of a man described as being obsessed with women’s feet — which appeared on a private group’s Web site — they said they recalled a peculiar man who took a room there for three weeks this fall.

What led people at the hotel to wonder about a connection between that man — who registered using an address in Phoenix — and the obsessed man described on the Web site as a serial killer, was one chilling theory in the site’s unofficial account: “He has an extreme foot fetish and has a collection of women’s shoes and the shoes of his victims,” the document said.

It went on to speculate that “he may even be known for offering women foot massages.”

Officials declined to comment about the theory on the Web site or about whether they were seeking anyone who fit such a description.

The speculation about such a man could be a lead in a case that has baffled investigators since the bodies of the four women were found on Nov. 20 in a ditch behind several seedy motels on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township, just outside Atlantic City.

On Tuesday afternoon, investigators showed up at the hotel, the Fox Manor, on Pacific Avenue, after learning that there might be a lead there on a suspect, the general manager, Manny Trivedi, said.

Yesterday Mr. Trivedi said in a telephone interview that the hotel guest he was thinking of kept six to eight pairs of women’s shoes in his room. Mr. Trivedi described that man as being of medium height and weight, with blue eyes, thinning brown hair and a mustache.

Mr. Trivedi and another manager at the hotel, who said he saw the shoe collection, and who spoke on the condition that his name not be used because of his concern about the continuing investigation, said that during the man’s three-week visit, a woman staying at the hotel told him that the man had mentioned to her that he was interested in caressing her feet.

Mr. Trivedi said that after the woman, whom he would only identify as Michelle, read the Internet description of the theorized killer — which was produced by an independent group in New Jersey that profiles serial killers on a Web site called Stalk Inc. and has no links to the police in this case — she became alarmed and told him about her odd encounters with the hotel guest. He added that on Tuesday the police spent about two hours interviewing the woman, who has been staying at the hotel for about five months.

“He also told this woman, Michelle, that he was an ex-marine and knew tae kwon do or something like that and could kill someone in a minute,” Mr. Trivedi recalled her telling him.

The hotel managers said that the man they described had spent time with a man from the area who is believed to drive a white van, the type of vehicle some prostitutes on Pacific Avenue say might have been involved in the killings.

Mr. Trivedi said that on Monday, a uniformed officer from the Atlantic City Police Department gave him a copy of the partial profile on the Stalk Inc. Web site and that the next day an investigator from the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office came to get a copy of it, as well as a copy of the former hotel guest’s driver’s license, which the hotel had on file.

The Atlantic County prosecutor, Jeffrey S. Blitz, said yesterday that no one from the task force looking into the case had been distributing the Web-based profile. Asked yesterday about the man with the women’s shoes, Mr. Blitz declined to comment.

The task force includes representatives from the prosecutor’s office, the Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City Police Departments, the state police and the F.B.I.

The victims, who the medical examiner said were left in the ditch over a period of several weeks, were found barefoot, their heads all facing east toward Atlantic City. One victim was strangled, another died of asphyxiation and the bodies of the two others were too badly decomposed to determine the causes of death.

The description on the Web site asserted that the “lethal predator” responsible for the four deaths was from the area and was familiar with the site where the bodies were left.

“He has not killed every prostitute he has come in contact with,” the document theorized. “There are prostitutes who know him for the sexual gratification he gets from their feet.”

The description theorized that the killer probably had a record of sexually or physically abusing women. It was released by John Kelly, the president of Stalk Inc., who described himself as a social worker and addiction specialist. He said he had compiled criminal profiles in several well-publicized murders, including the Green River Killer case in Washington state and another in which the bodies of four women — all former heroin-addicted prostitutes in Worcester, Mass. — were found over the last several years.

Mr. Kelly described his theory about the Atlantic City killer this way: “He can relive his fantasy through the shoes, which serve as somewhat of a trophy.”

He said that he told the police in Egg Harbor Township three weeks ago that he had come up with a partial profile of the person who could be responsible for killing the four women. They referred all questions about the investigation to the county prosecutor.

“We told them to watch the Web site for updates,” he said. “A profile always continues to evolve. But it’s only a tool. It’s up to the police as to what they want to do with it.”

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

Next Article in New York Region (6 of 29) »

[Jacqueline]

'Ipswich Ripper' Prostitute Murder Investigators Eye Atlantic City Cases for Possible Link
Thursday, December 14, 2006
By Edward Barnes and George Kindel

 E-MAIL STORY PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
NEW YORK —  Police investigating the brutal "Ipswich Ripper" murders of five prostitutes in England will examine possible links between those killings and the murders of four prostitutes in Atlantic City, N.J., last month, FOXNews.com has learned.

Ipswich Police spokeswoman Shelly Spratt said contact with authorities in Atlantic City "is an avenue we will go down." She said investigators already have discussed making that contact, but because more bodies turned up on Tuesday they had not opened discussion yet.

"We can use all the help we can get," Spratt said.

Janet Niedosik, a spokesperson for Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffery S. Blitz, who is heading the Atlantic City investigation, declined to comment late Wednesday.

"We don't comment on onging investigations and that includes what other law enforcement agencies we are talkimg to," Niedosik said. "The investigation is continuing and there haven't been any arrests yet."

In a case reminiscent of the infamous 19th century "Jack the Ripper" slayings, Ipswich police and Scotland Yard investigators continued Wednesday to search the marshlands and fields outside Ipswich for clues — and possibly more victims.
 
The bodies of five women, all known prostitutes, have turned up in the past 11 days in Ipswich. The latest discoveries came Tuesday, when the bodies of two women were found at the side of a busy road on the outskirts of town.

In Atlantic City, police continue their investigation into the seemingly ritualistic murders of four prostitutes whose bodies were found in a watery ditch behind a seedy motel outside the gambling mecca.

The bodies were found within a few hundred feet of each other, all face down in several inches of water, heads turned east — toward Atlantic City — wearing clothes, but no shoes or socks.

At least one of the victims died of strangulation; another, officials said, died by asphyxia "by unspecified means."

Based on the decomposition of their bodies, authorities believe the women died on different days, from two days to up to a month before their bodies were discovered.

The known similarities of the Ipswich and Atlantic City cases are:

— The victims all are known prostitutes.

— They range in age from 19-42, with most being in their 20s.

— Autopsies have determined that three of the nine victims died of strangulation or asphyxiation. Official cause of death is pending on two of the Atlantic City victims, and four of the Ipswich women.

Atlantic City police identified the victims as Molly Jean Dilts, 20; Kim Raffo, 35; Tracy Ann Roberts, 23; and Barbara V. Breidor, 42.

Scotland Yard detectives were expected Wednesday to identify the two women whose bodies were found Tuesday, but Det. Chief Superintendent Steward Gull said "it is a natural assumption" to believe the bodies are those of Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, both known prostitutes who were reported missing.

So far, Ipswich investigators have been able to determine the official cause of death in only one of their five cases. Anneli Alderton, a 24-year-old whose body was discovered in a wooded area last Sunday, had been asphyxiated, and likely strangled, Gull said.

Police are uncertain how 25-year-old Gemma Adams and 19-year-old Tania Nicol were killed. Their bodies were both found in water, which has hampered the forensic investigation, Gull said. A similar problem is delaying final cause-of-death findings in two of the four Atlantic City killings.

Clennell's father said he didn't know his daughter had worked as prostitute, and he was "going through hell."

"I never knew that she lived the life that she did," Brian Clennell told the BBC. "Somebody out there must know, somebody that's doing this. He's sick, he's got to be caught. It could be somebody's father, it could be somebody's uncle, it could be anybody."

Suffolk police said the other three victims, well known in Ipswich's red-light district, were found naked and a few miles apart: one in a stream, another in a pond and a third in the woods near a country road.

The two bodies discovered Tuesday were lying near a busy road outside Levington, a village about five miles south of Ipswich.

Ipswich, a small blue-collar city to the northeast of London, has about 40 prostitutes working the street, Hannah Besley, a community safety officer who chairs the city's Prostitution Steering Group, told the Associated Press. The women are well known to her group and police.

When the first women vanished, most of the prostitutes — including Clennell, who disappeared after the first two bodies were discovered — kept working, but that's no longer the case.

"It's now gotten to such a critical stage that they are terrified, and last night it was very quiet — reassuringly so," Besley said.

Atlantic City prostitutes have echoed the same fears.

"It's dangerous, but all you're focused on is that next dollar," said a prostitute known on the streets as Spazz who last month told the Associated Press that she was looking for a gun or a knife to protect herself. "It kind of clouds your judgment. You're not focused on the situation you're getting into. That's the scariest part about it."

Atlantic City authorities do not believe the four bodies found Nov. 20 just off the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township are related to the attacks on three prostitutes earlier this year in Atlantic City. In each of those earlier attacks, the prostitutes' throats were slashed; one survived.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz said the Atlantic City cases were sufficiently different from the Egg Harbor deaths to make authorities believe they were carried out by different attackers.

The U.S.'s most notorious prostitute killings were committed in the Pacific Northwest by a single attacker who came to be known as the Green River Killer. In pleading guilty in 2003 to the murders of 48 prostitutes, Gary Leon Ridgway told a judge he targeted streetwalkers "because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted to without getting caught."

"They were easy to pick up, without being noticed," he said in court. "I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing."

The Associate Press contributed to this report

[LouiseVargas]

I'm a little curious how the hotel manager, Manny Trivedi, and the other manager at the hotel, know that there were six to eight pairs of women's shoes in the possible suspect's room. Did the man invite the hotel managers in to his room and show them the shoes?  Were they spying on guests and going in their rooms and looking around?

[Jacqueline]

I'm a little curious how the hotel manager, Manny Trivedi, and the other manager at the hotel, know that there were six to eight pairs of women's shoes in the possible suspect's room. Did the man invite the hotel managers in to his room and show them the shoes?  Were they spying on guests and going in their rooms and looking around?

Maybe he stayed overnight and someone from housekeeping made up the bed, and mentioned something..

Just a guess.

[sharon]

Thanks for the updates Jacquie!

LOVE the pic in your sig line  


I hope you are enjoying the festivities of the season --

and you too, Louise  

[Jacqueline]

Thanks for the updates Jacquie!

LOVE the pic in your sig line  


I hope you are enjoying the festivities of the season --

and you too, Louise  

Thanks Sharon!

Same to you and Louise    

[LouiseVargas]

Hi Jacqueline and Sharon,

Merry Christmas to you, too!

[Jacqueline]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16261645/

[Jacqueline]

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED18%20Dec%202006%2011%3A00%3A05%3A787

This one contains a picture of the man arrested....

[Carnut]

That's what I was thinking when I saw the pics of the victims, those were some darn pretty prostitutes.

[Jacqueline]

That's what I was thinking when I saw the pics of the victims, those were some darn pretty prostitutes.

Me too...

[Jacqueline]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/19/nipswich19.xml

[Jacqueline]

Atlantic City, N.J. There have been no arrests, there do not appear to be any suspects and the investigation appears to have stalled.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It has been more than three months since the bodies of four murdered prostitutes were found in a marshy drainage ditch behind a string of seedy motels just outside Atlantic City.
Other than identifying the bodies and offering some details about the causes of death, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office has provided little information about its investigation into the sensational case.
There have been no arrests, there do not appear to be any suspects and the investigation appears to have stalled.
The murders were featured in a segment of "America's Most Wanted." But since that show was telecast in December, there has been little to report.
Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz said the Major Crimes squad in his office, with assistance from local police and the FBI, continues to work the case.
"Nothing has changed," Blitz said in a telephone interview the other day. "We still meet every morning. There are leads that are being pursued."
Blitz described the investigation as "methodical" and detailed. But as he has since the case burst into the headlines, he would not discuss specifics.
A retired Atlantic City vice squad officer suggested that the prosecutor's office dropped the ball by not "flooding" the streets of Atlantic City with police immediately after the bodies were discovered on Nov. 20.
Jim Hutchins, a vice squad police captain who retired on Dec. 1, said his investigators were not asked to provide assistance until three days after the grisly discovery.
"They didn't throw enough resources at it soon enough," Hutchins said. "They should have flooded the streets. We should have been talking to informants, offering money. Somebody had to see something. ... They don't even know where the crime scene is."
Where the women were killed, how they were killed and how their bodies ended up in the water behind one of the motels are three crucial questions that need answers if the case is to be solved, he said.
The women, ranging in age from 20 to 42, were part of "the life" in Atlantic City. They were prostitutes who worked the streets. At least three were believed to be drug addicts.
"They were victims of their lifestyle," Hutchins said.
"They do anything, they go anywhere" for crack cocaine, he said.
All four women appeared to have been killed by the same person. All were believed to have been strangled or suffocated, although the bodies of two were so decomposed that a cause of death could not be determined.
The prosecutor's office has not described the homicides as the work of a serial killer. Experts and TV shows such as "America's Most Wanted" have strongly suggested that possibility.
The fact that no other victims have been discovered fuels that theory.
"I think it would reasonable to say the guy has left the area," said Hutchins, who added that he and several other former police officials who retired late last year meet regularly and continue to speculate on the case.
The facts in the case are like pieces of a puzzle that has yet to take shape: All four women were white and had blond or light hair; all four bodies were found in a watery ditch with their heads pointing east toward Atlantic City; all four were shoeless.
Investigators spent a lot of time searching Room 101 of the Golden Key Motel, but have never disclosed why.
What, if any, significance should be attached to any of that remains a mystery.
"They were all pointing east, but the tides could have caused the bodies to shift," Hutchins said.
Did their shoes fall off at some point, he asked, "or were they this guy's trophies?"
Did the killing of the first victim "trigger" something in the murderer's mind that led him to kill others, or were all four killings part of a pattern?
These are the kinds of questions Hutchins said he and his friends have been discussing since they retired.
No one has the answers, and speculation and gossip further muddy the waters.
The prosecutor's office has established a tip line, (609) 909-7666, and has asked for the public's assistance.
But many veteran investigators such as Hutchins believe that it is too late and that the trail has gone cold.
"They've got to get lucky," he said. "If it happens again somewhere else and police there make the connection, maybe the case gets solved. But it's going to take luck."
Meanwhile, life on the streets continues.
On a weekend night last week, Atlantic City police conducted a sweep of several locations where prostitutes are known to ply their trade. Fourteen women were arrested

[2NJSons_Mom]

CBS 48 Hours had a look at this tonight....there were some persons of interest....hope they solve it...

It may have been a repeat...I am not sure, but was intrigued with the things that were discussed about the victims.

[2NJSons_Mom]

   
Crime & Courts
Police still hunt a serial killer of 4 prostitutes Monday, June 23, 2008
Last updated: Monday June 23, 2008, EDT 7:02 AM BY WAYNE PARRYTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   
ATLANTIC CITY — The short brunette with long, wavy hair looks around as she stakes out a street corner on Pacific Avenue. She shoots nervous glances not only into the passing cars that might contain "a date," but also up and down the side streets and alleyways, which could contain something more sinister.

It has been more than a year and a half now since the bodies of four prostitutes were found face-down in a drainage ditch just outside the city limits in Egg Harbor Township. No one has been charged with the killings.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said the deaths are sufficiently similar to make it appear that they are the work of a serial killer. Housel is asking other prostitutes and drug users to tell police what they know about the case, with the promise they won't be arrested.

"Short of putting a bag of heroin on the table and asking us to hold it while you talk to us, I can promise that you won't be pursued for anything like that," he said, referring to prostitutes or drug dealers who come forward. "Nobody is going to be scrutinized because of lifestyle choices in an investigation like this."

On Nov. 20, 2006, the bodies of Barbara Breidor, Molly Jean Dilts, Kim Raffo and Tracy Ann Roberts were discovered behind a string of cut-rate motels known for drugs and prostitution on a road called the Black Horse Pike. Many residents and workers in the area say they don't believe the case will ever be solved — or that authorities even care much about the victims because they were prostitutes and used drugs.

Housel refutes such speculation.

"They were four human beings, with people who cared about them, people who loved them, and they deserve even in death to be treated with respect and dignity — especially in death," the prosecutor said. "Nobody in this office thinks any less of them because of what they did in their private lives."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Housel came as close as any law enforcement official has yet come to definitively saying the deaths are the work of a serial killer.

"They were four young ladies in close proximity to each other," he said. "You can infer something from that. The idea that there might be four people who had done the exact same thing is not logical."

All four women were found facedown in the ditch behind the motels. All were barefoot and their heads were facing east toward the Atlantic City casinos. All were white, and three were blondes.

Clinton Van Zandt, a former profiler with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit who now runs his own security consulting firm in Virginia, believes one person killed all four women.

"The interesting thing is they've not had any other homicides of prostitutes," he said. "It begs the question: Where is the killer? Has he moved on to another type of environment? Is he dead? Is he incarcerated for something else?

"The statistical probability is that it's one person," Van Zandt said. "I don't think this is someone who would go out, kill four women and then say, 'OK, I've reached my quota.' You would expect an offender like this to continue to offend."

Housel said authorities have interviewed and questioned many possible suspects, but don't have enough evidence to charge anyone.

"We're not at that point," he said. "That doesn't mean the case is not being worked on. It's not like we're not doing anything."

But along the seedy strip of run-down motels known for prostitution and drug use near where the bodies were found, many people have given up hope that anyone will be arrested for the killings.

"I don't think they're ever going to solve it," said Gina, a desk clerk at one of the motels. She would not give her full name because she said authorities asked her not to discuss the case.

She said police and detectives scoured the area intensively for weeks after the bodies were found. But then the attention died down.

"It's been a long time since anyone has been here asking questions," she said. "It's kind of scary. The guy who did this is still walking around."

Housel said his office and a dozen other law enforcement agencies have logged over 175,000 hours investigating the case.

At first, there were 140 people assigned to it in November and December 2006.

From January to August 2007, there were 85 people assigned to it, although not exclusively.

Intense forensic investigation of evidence gathered in the case is ongoing, including DNA samples.

But it's not like TV crime shows where a blood stain or hair instantly identifies the killer.

"There's DNA, and then there's DNA," Housel said. "DNA degrades. Let's say I stabbed you with a sword and I threw it in the ocean. At one point, it would be covered with your DNA. But it can wash off and chemically degrade in the water to the point where you can't make a match."

The only person publicly known to have submitted a DNA sample in the case is Terry Oleson, a Salem County handyman who had stayed at the Golden Key Motel shortly before the bodies were found behind it.

Oleson, who is now on probation, said he had nothing to do with the killings, and a prostitute who once publicly accused him of involvement later recanted and apologized to him at a news conference.

The brunette eyeing cars on Pacific Avenue acknowledged she is a prostitute, but would not give her name to a reporter. She said she's still nervous working the streets.

"Atlantic City's just not the same since those four girls got killed," she said, leaning over to look invitingly at each male driver that crawls past on the street than runs behind eight of the resort's 11 casinos. "I watch my back all the time now. Whoever did it is still out there."

Page 1 2 >> 
ATLANTIC CITY — The short brunette with long, wavy hair looks around as she stakes out a street corner on Pacific Avenue. She shoots nervous glances not only into the passing cars that might contain "a date," but also up and down the side streets and alleyways, which could contain something more sinister.

 
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
The bodies of Barbara Breidor, Molly Jean Dilts, Kim Raffo and Tracy Ann Roberts were discovered Nov. 20, 2006, behind a string of cut-rate motels known for drugs and prostitution, just outside Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Township. Friends erected a memorial of crosses to three of the victims last November to mark the first anniversary of the unsolved slayings. It has been more than a year and a half now since the bodies of four prostitutes were found face-down in a drainage ditch just outside the city limits in Egg Harbor Township. No one has been charged with the killings.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said the deaths are sufficiently similar to make it appear that they are the work of a serial killer. Housel is asking other prostitutes and drug users to tell police what they know about the case, with the promise they won't be arrested.

"Short of putting a bag of heroin on the table and asking us to hold it while you talk to us, I can promise that you won't be pursued for anything like that," he said, referring to prostitutes or drug dealers who come forward. "Nobody is going to be scrutinized because of lifestyle choices in an investigation like this."

On Nov. 20, 2006, the bodies of Barbara Breidor, Molly Jean Dilts, Kim Raffo and Tracy Ann Roberts were discovered behind a string of cut-rate motels known for drugs and prostitution on a road called the Black Horse Pike. Many residents and workers in the area say they don't believe the case will ever be solved — or that authorities even care much about the victims because they were prostitutes and used drugs.

 Housel refutes such speculation.

"They were four human beings, with people who cared about them, people who loved them, and they deserve even in death to be treated with respect and dignity — especially in death," the prosecutor said. "Nobody in this office thinks any less of them because of what they did in their private lives."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Housel came as close as any law enforcement official has yet come to definitively saying the deaths are the work of a serial killer.

"They were four young ladies in close proximity to each other," he said. "You can infer something from that. The idea that there might be four people who had done the exact same thing is not logical."

All four women were found facedown in the ditch behind the motels. All were barefoot and their heads were facing east toward the Atlantic City casinos. All were white, and three were blondes.

Clinton Van Zandt, a former profiler with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit who now runs his own security consulting firm in Virginia, believes one person killed all four women.

"The interesting thing is they've not had any other homicides of prostitutes," he said. "It begs the question: Where is the killer? Has he moved on to another type of environment? Is he dead? Is he incarcerated for something else?

"The statistical probability is that it's one person," Van Zandt said. "I don't think this is someone who would go out, kill four women and then say, 'OK, I've reached my quota.' You would expect an offender like this to continue to offend."

Housel said authorities have interviewed and questioned many possible suspects, but don't have enough evidence to charge anyone.

"We're not at that point," he said. "That doesn't mean the case is not being worked on. It's not like we're not doing anything."

But along the seedy strip of run-down motels known for prostitution and drug use near where the bodies were found, many people have given up hope that anyone will be arrested for the killings.

"I don't think they're ever going to solve it," said Gina, a desk clerk at one of the motels. She would not give her full name because she said authorities asked her not to discuss the case.

She said police and detectives scoured the area intensively for weeks after the bodies were found. But then the attention died down.

"It's been a long time since anyone has been here asking questions," she said. "It's kind of scary. The guy who did this is still walking around."

Housel said his office and a dozen other law enforcement agencies have logged over 175,000 hours investigating the case.

Page 1 2 >> 

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http://www.northjersey.com/news/crimeandcourts/Police_still_hunt_a_serial_killer_of_4_prostitutes.html

[Nut44x4]

FBI still hunting serial killer in AC, Black Horse Strangler
November 18, 3:30 PM

Four women engaged in prostitution were brutally murdered three years ago this month. Their bodies were dumped and posed in a drainage ditch along the Black Horse Pike in West Atlantic City. Signs of strangulation were found. On the highway vestiges of a memorial broken down with time, blows in the wind.

The women's heads were turned east to Atlantic City and their unblinking eyes looked towards the casino district and Pacific Avenue were they plied their trade. Law enforcement told the community that their shoes were missing. Many wondered if the supposed serial killer took their shoes as a trophy. Prostitutes were questioned about customers that had a "shoe fetish."

Barbara Breidor, Molly Jean Dilts, Kim Raffo and Tracy Ann Roberts went out for a night of business and never returned home. They were not even reported missing until their bodies were found. Their partially decomposed bodies were discovered by a passerby on Nov. 20, 2006.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said Wednesday that his office continues to investigate the murders.

"Once their identities were determined by intensive investigative efforts during the week following their November 20, 2006, recovery, this agency has continued to aggressively pursue this homicide investigation," stated Housel. "We have been assisted in our efforts by other law enforcement agencies such as the United States Justice Department, the FBI, federal and state forensic laboratories, the New Jersey State Police along with the Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City Police Departments."

Housel said he recently assigned additional personnel from his office to work along with other agencies and the continual use of national data banks such as the ViCAP, the Justice Department's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. He is also using the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group.

Several people were questioned in the murders and one man was held in jail, however he was released after being charged with another crime. He was a handyman at the Golden Key Motel on the Black Horse Pike. The bodies of the women were found directly behind this location.

The murder case is not cold and Housel is asking all members of the community with knowledge of these crimes or of these victims to share their information wiht the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, Major Crimes Unit at (609) 909-7666. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (609) 652-1234 or 1-800-658-8477.

Anyone with information who would like to use the internet can access the Prosecutor's Office at:
Atlantic County Prosecutor and provide information by filling out the form anonymously on the Submit a Tip page.

http://www.examiner.com/x-25653-FBI-Examiner~y2009m11d18-FBI-still-hunting-serial-killer-in-AC-Black-Horse-Strangler