Crime News: Serial Slayer on Loose in S. Africa
chest...@my-dejanews.com
WILLEM STEENKAMP
SECURITY WRITER
A YOUNG Green Point prostitute has been murdered, making her possibly the
eighth to lose her life in the city so far this year.
The body of the woman, aged about 18 and so far known only by her
professional name, "Eve", was found in a room at the Budget Hotel in Main
Road, Green Point, by a cleaner about 6am on Sunday.
According to police, she bore marks on her neck, "suggesting that she had
been strangled".
A motive for the murder has not yet been established.
"The possibility that it may be linked to other cases is being investigated,"
spokesperson Andre
Traut said.
He pointed out that forensic testing in the case had not yet been completed.
"However, it may be an isolated case," he added.
He called on city prostitutes to exercise caution and to co-operate with
police in their investigations.
Psychologist Ilse Pauw of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Group
(Sweat) said yesterday that prostitutes were "very scared", particularly
street workers who had to "venture into the man's space" to earn a living.
Sex workers were also "anxious" because a serial killer who has killed at
least 19 women since 1992 he has not struck so far this year had not yet been
apprehended.
Pauw said Sweat's records showed that at least eight sex workers had been
murdered this year, but that the reports were not necessarily reliable.
They include:
A 22-year-old woman known only as "Desmonia" who was strangled and her body
dumped in Searle Street, Woodstock, on August 17.
Jo-Anne Gali, a 15-year-old Green Point prostitute who was slashed to death
with a carpet knife in her Vesperdene Road flat on February 4.
A city sex-club owner was linked to her death and to the disappearance of two
barladies and strippers, Melody-Ann Rabald and Simone Grassler, who worked
for him.
The weekend before the Gali killing, the body of Rabald was found on Lion's
Head. Grassler, 17, has never been found.
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Joe1orbit
chest...@my-dejanews.com Wrote:
Hello,
My sincere thanks to Hoover for posting the above news item on this
FASCINATING serial killer of female prostitutes in South Africa, a few days
ago. Here in a brief update on this case. I really like how this serial killer
is already being COMPARED to Jack The Ripper, at least by some news wire
writers. As reported earlier, eight different hookers have all been found
murdered, in the same area of the city of Capetown, within the past 9 months
alon! Wow, that is a torrid pace for any serial killer. All 8 hookers were
either strangled or stabbed to death. Police have SOLID forensic/modus operandi
evidence linking FOUR of the 8 murders to each other, but they clearly believe
that one killer is responsible for all 8 harvestings.
Back in 1995 and 1996 there was a whole bunch of prostitute killings in this
SAME city of Cape Town. Nobody was ever charged with those killings, and police
are obviously trying to find out if that killer COULD be responsible for this
brand new batch of hooker murders. Declares a local police captain: "I am not
saying these murders are linked to those. But we will obviously be looking in
that direction." Yup, it sounds like we just might have ourselves a truly ELITE
serial killer, in terms of tactics and total body count, active and on the
loose in Cape Town.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Reuters news wire:
S.African police hunt serial killer of prostitutes
CAPE TOWN, Sept 17 (Reuters) - South African police are hunting a Jack the
Ripper-style killer after finding the body of the eighth prostitute murdered in
one area of Cape Town so far this year, a spokesman said on Thursday.
Captain Rod Beer said police had evidence linking at least four of the murders
to the same killer.
``All eight were either strangled or stabbed,'' he said, but declined to give
more details of the links.
There was a spate of unsolved murders of prostitutes in South Africa's premier
tourist city in 1995 and 1996 and Beer said police were investigating any
possible connections.
``I am not saying these murders are linked to those. But we will obviously be
looking in that direction,'' he said.
Meanwhile, police in Mpumalanga province east of Johannesburg have been baffled
by the discovery of three headless bodies near the town of Delmas.
The decomposed bodies were found with three heads that did not belong to them,
but no other body parts were missing, leading investigators to rule out murder
for ritual magic.
04:16 09-17-98
---------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 9/17/98 online edition of The
Johannesburg Star newspaper:
Serial hooker killer feared
Cape Town Western Cape police yesterday warned Cape Town prostitutes to
exercise extreme caution because a serial prostitute killer could be on the
loose.
Captain Rod Beer said police possessed evidence linking the recent murder of a
prostitute in Sea Point and the murders of three other women on the Peninsula
in the past year.
An 18-year-old prostitute known only as Eve was found strangled in a Green
Point hotel room on Sunday.
Beer said it appeared as if one individual was responsible for all four
murders.
"We would like to issue a warning to all sex workers to exercise extreme
caution and, at all times, to be aware of the inherent dangers associated with
this type of work."
He said a reward of up to R250 000 could be paid for information leading to a
successful prosecution.