Prostitute Slain; Serial Killer May Have Claimed 11th

A woman found stabbed to death in an alley in South-Central Los Angeles is believed to be the 11th victim of a serial killer stalking area prostitutes--and the first since authorities in September made a public appeal for help in the case.

Police said Tuesday that the slaying of Elizabeth Ann Landcraft, 41, whose body was discovered shortly before midnight Sunday in the 300 block of West 64th Street, has been added to the caseload of Los Angeles police detectives John St. John and Fred Miller, who are leading the investigation into the string of prostitute murders dating to Jan. 1, 1984.

“The evidence appears to be similar” to the previous 10 slayings, said Lt. Dan Cooke, police spokesman.

Multiple Stab Wounds

An initial autopsy concluded that Landcraft, like several of the other victims, died of multiple stab wounds, Cooke said. Apparently a large knife was used in the attack, he said.

Landcraft had a prostitution arrest record, as had all of the other victims, he said. Like all but two of the victims, she was black.

Landcraft, who had used the aliases Ann Fields, Elizabeth Ann Jones, Sue Ann Landers and Ann Love, was last seen at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday leaving her residence in the 800 block of East 46th Street, the police spokesman said. She was believed to be heading for the intersection of 51st Street and Broadway, an area she was known to frequent as a streetwalker.

She is the oldest of the victims, the others having ranged in age from 22 to 34.

Investigators are seeking information regarding a 1984 Plymouth Reliant station wagon that was seen leaving the alley shortly before Landcraft’s body was found, Cooke said. The car is decribed as light brown, with a darker brown horizontal strip of wood-grain paneling.

Cooke declined to say whether Landcraft, like several other victims, had been tortured by superficial slash wounds before she was killed.

Eight of the ten previous victims had been both stabbed and strangled, a method one police officer described as “overkill.” Two were strangled without being stabbed.

All of the victims apparently were picked up by car while streetwalking, killed at other locations and then dumped elsewhere, police say.

Investigators have said the similarity of the wounds helped them link the slayings. Previously, the most recent known slaying in the series was that of Gail Ficklin, whose body was discovered Aug. 15.

Cooke said it was “hard to speculate” about the suspect’s activities during the last four months. “He might have been in custody on another matter,” he said, “or he might have been out of the area, or who knows?”

Police in September released a composite drawing of the murder suspect. He is described as black, with a dark complexion, 30 to 35 years old, and 5 feet, 10 inches to 6 feet tall. He is said to have black hair, brown eyes, a small mustache, smooth skin, a medium build and muscular arms and chest.

Since then, however, police have reported little progress in the case.

In addition to Los Angeles detectives, police in Inglewood and Gardena are also participating in the investigation. Two of the victims were found in Inglewood parks and another was discovered near a Gardena apartment complex. The other eight were found in locations throughout South Los Angeles.