THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160285
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Police on Monday said a 31-year-old transient found dead in a cul-de-sac a day earlier is the latest victim of a serial killer who has preyed on young men, particularly gay men, since July 1987.
The victim, identified as Samuel E. Aliff, who last lived in Richmond, was found nude about 6:45 a.m. Sunday in a cul-de-sac off Rotunda Avenue.
``We are investigating the case as a serial killing,'' police spokesman Tony Torres said.
Authorities have quietly confirmed in the past that a serial killer may have been responsible for several unsolved slayings, but Monday was the first time police publicly acknowledged that at least 10 men probably were killed by the same person.
Detective Mike Fischetti said at a Monday news conference that investigators have focused on these similarities:
All but one of the 10 men were dumped nude, and all had been strangled.
At least nine of the 10 victims had strong associations in the gay community.
None of the bodies bore defense wounds, indicating the victims died without struggling.
All of the victims had patchy work records and tended to socialize late at night. Several were transients and had been seen in gay bars in Norfolk before their deaths.
Authorities in the past also have said:
Several of the men showed signs of recent anal sex.
Several had used cocaine in the hours before their deaths.
Police said Aliff was a drifter from Richmond who sometimes visited Hampton Roads.
Aliff may have stayed at the Union Mission in Norfolk during his last visit.
He was identified through fingerprints, police said.
Aliff was arrested in Richmond Nov. 15 and charged with two counts of felony burglary and one count of felony grand larceny, court records show. Those charges weren't pursued.
He also has been arrested on misdemeanor charges, records show.
Police did not know what Aliff's occupation was or where he last lived.
According to police records, the first of the serial-killing victims, Charles F. Smith, was found July 17, 1987, on Sondej Avenue near Bisco Street in Chesapeake's Bowers Hill section.
The bodies of seven of the 10 victims were dumped in Chesapeake, two in Suffolk and one in Isle of Wight.
A year later, the body of the second victim was discovered. Six months after that, the third was found.
Then three years passed before the body of John W. Ross Jr. was found on or near a remote road at the southern end of Fentress Naval Airfield.
Fischetti declined to speculate on the time gap between the third and fourth killings, saying it could turn out to be important evidence.
In other serial-killing cases across the country, such lapses happened when the suspect moved out of the area or was incarcerated.
But after the respite, the killings resumed with greater frequency. Six months later, the fifth victim was found.
Eight months then passed before police found the body of the sixth man.
Three months later, police investigated the seventh killing, and again three months later, the eighth.
A year after the eighth victim was found, police discovered a ninth. The 10th, Aliff, was found eight months later.
Detectives have faced several problems during the investigation. First, they have never located a crime scene.
Police believe all of the victims were killed in one place and dumped in another.
Second, the lifestyles of several victims took them into contact with many men, making it difficult for detectives to center on any one person as a suspect.
Third, a gay man who admitted knowing several of the victims killed himself in February 1994 rather than speak with investigators about the serial killings.
That man was the leader of a bizarre vampire-and-sex cult, and his Moyock, N.C., mobile home contained hair clippings, drugs and dozens of videos depicting homosexual sex and violent sex, court records show.
But police may have gotten a break with the latest slaying.
A police cruiser patroled through the cul-de-sac less than an hour before the body was found by a driver who had missed the Interstate 64 turnoff.
That means the body was dumped between 6 and 6:45 a.m., police said.
Investigators are asking anyone who may have seen a vehicle on Rotunda Avenue during that time to call 487-1234. ILLUSTRATION: Similarities in the cases:
All but one of the men were dumped nude, and all had been
strangled. One was found wearing only jeans and tennis shoes.
At least nine of the 10 victims had strong associations in the
gay community.
None of the bodies bore defense wounds, indicating they died
without struggling.
All had patchy work records and tended to socialize late at
night. Several were transients and had been seen in Norfolk gay bars
before their deaths.
A SERIAL KILLER'S VICTIMS
Map
THE VICTIMS
Charles F. Smith 1/17/87
Joseph Ray 7/19/88
Stacey Reneau 1/7/89
John W. Ross Jr. 1/21/92
Billy Lee Dixon 7/2/92
Reginald Joyner 3/7/93
Ray Bostick 6/28/93
Robert A. Neal 9/8/93
Garland Taylor Jr. 9/17/94
Samuel E. Aliff 5/14/95
KEYWORDS: MURDER GAY HOMOSEXUALS UNSOLVED SLAYINGS SERIAL KILLING
by CNB