Post by hi224 on May 14, 2019 21:53:12 GMT
Chicago police have assigned a team of detectives to review the deaths more than a year after the Tribune first brought to light that at least 75 women ranging in age from 18 to 58 had been strangled or smothered between 2001 and 2017.
In an investigation published in January 2018, the Tribune found that 51 of the deaths still remained unsolved, prompting experts and law enforcement officials to suggest that a task force look into the cases — both to catch patterns of a possible serial killer and to clear up the backlog of cases.
The Police Department agreed at the time to review a handful of the cases but balked at the idea of forming a task force. Since then, at least four more women have died under similar circumstances, bringing the total number of unsolved slayings identified by the Tribune to at least 55.
More recently, as new concerns were raised about a potential serial killer, the department finally assigned a team of up to six detectives already detailed to an FBI violent crimes task force in Chicago to re-examine the forensic evidence.
Police have already ruled out, though, any links among the 21 deaths in which DNA evidence has already been tested.
The Tribune analysis last year found clusters of strangulations around Washington Park on the South Side and Garfield Park on the West Side, the potential work of serial killers. Two women were strangled and left in burning trash bins over two days in November 2007.
The latest victims were discovered between May and September 2018. All four were found outdoors on the South or West sides; the bodies of two were discovered about 2 miles from each other.
Three died by strangulation, according to the Cook County medical examiner. The fourth woman, whose body was found inside a garbage can, possibly died from “homicide by asphyxiation,” the medical examiner reported.
While the shooting deaths of young men in Chicago dominate headlines, the strangulations of so many women over the last nearly 20 years had gone by with relatively little notice, a chilling reminder of how women with often high-risk lifestyles can be targeted.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Police Department had responded to the strangulations of dozens of women by creating a task force that led to the arrest and conviction of several suspects, including some serial killers.
The task force, however, was eventually disbanded even as the attacks continued at a steady pace.
Article: www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-strangled-women-chicago-police-task-force-20190510-story.html
In an investigation published in January 2018, the Tribune found that 51 of the deaths still remained unsolved, prompting experts and law enforcement officials to suggest that a task force look into the cases — both to catch patterns of a possible serial killer and to clear up the backlog of cases.
The Police Department agreed at the time to review a handful of the cases but balked at the idea of forming a task force. Since then, at least four more women have died under similar circumstances, bringing the total number of unsolved slayings identified by the Tribune to at least 55.
More recently, as new concerns were raised about a potential serial killer, the department finally assigned a team of up to six detectives already detailed to an FBI violent crimes task force in Chicago to re-examine the forensic evidence.
Police have already ruled out, though, any links among the 21 deaths in which DNA evidence has already been tested.
The Tribune analysis last year found clusters of strangulations around Washington Park on the South Side and Garfield Park on the West Side, the potential work of serial killers. Two women were strangled and left in burning trash bins over two days in November 2007.
The latest victims were discovered between May and September 2018. All four were found outdoors on the South or West sides; the bodies of two were discovered about 2 miles from each other.
Three died by strangulation, according to the Cook County medical examiner. The fourth woman, whose body was found inside a garbage can, possibly died from “homicide by asphyxiation,” the medical examiner reported.
While the shooting deaths of young men in Chicago dominate headlines, the strangulations of so many women over the last nearly 20 years had gone by with relatively little notice, a chilling reminder of how women with often high-risk lifestyles can be targeted.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Police Department had responded to the strangulations of dozens of women by creating a task force that led to the arrest and conviction of several suspects, including some serial killers.
The task force, however, was eventually disbanded even as the attacks continued at a steady pace.
Article: www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-strangled-women-chicago-police-task-force-20190510-story.html