DeAngelo Kenneth Martin, a 34-year-old homeless man, has been arrested after the Detroit Police identified him as a person of interest in a serial killer case, according to the Detroit Free Press. Martin was found at a bus stop on Friday, June 7.
Three women, all believed to be sex workers, were found dead in vacant homes throughout the community.
The victims were 52-year-old Nancy Harrison, 53-year-old Travesene Ellis, and a yet-to-be-identified woman who is also believed to be in her 50s.
“There’s such a similarity that it’s certainly a strong possibility that one individual was responsible for all three,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said during a press conference. “Rather than wait for another victim, I felt it was important to warn the community about this possibility.”
Harrison was believed to have died of a drug overdose, but it was later determined that she died due to blunt force trauma. A cause of death has not been determined for Ellis and the third victim.
“We believe this is a serial murderer and rapist, and we want to alert all sex workers, particularly those who work inside vacant houses, to beware,” Police Chief James Craig said when the investigations into the murders first began.
The New York Post added:
Chief James Craig said the killer seems to be targeting sex workers but he declined to go into detail. “We’re not trying to create an alarm across the city,” the city’s top cop said at a press conference. The homicides, which began in March, involved two women in their early 50s. The decomposing body of a third woman was found in a vacant house.
If Martin is determined to be the man responsible for the slayings, we hope that he is held responsible to the full extent of the law.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided as soon as it becomes available.
