
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 20, 1993                   TAG: 9309200158
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

POLICE: STRANGULATION KILLINGS MAY BE LINKED

Authorities are investigating the possibility that one person may be responsible for the strangulation deaths of as many as eight men in southeastern Virginia since 1987.

The state medical examiner's office warned local authorities in June, after performing an autopsy on a body found late that month, that the slayings were similar.

The nude body of the most recent victim was found in Chesapeake on Sept. 8.

Bill Littreal, agent in charge of the violent crimes unit for state police, said a task force has been investigating seven similar slayings in Chesapeake and Isle of Wight County. An unsolved Suffolk case from March recently brought the tally to eight.

"In a review of our case, we found out we had similar cases happening in the same geographic location," Littreal said. "What we're trying to do now is go into the similarities and see if the cases are related."

Littreal said authorities do not know yet whether a serial killer is responsible.

But The Virginian-Pilot & Ledger-Star of Norfolk quoted unidentified law enforcement sources as saying there were marked similarities in the eight homicides.

Most if not all of the bodies were dumped nude along rural roads. Most had signs of strangulation, and some had evidence of cocaine in the bloodstream.

by CNB