LAPD, Sheriff Join Forces to Hunt Killer

Los Angeles Police Department detectives and county sheriff’s investigators announced formation of a joint task force today to track down a serial killer suspected of having murdered at least 13 area prostitutes since September, 1983.

The Police Department has committed 13 homicide investigators to the task force and the Sheriff’s Department has assigned four, authorities said.

After an apparent four-month lull, there have been two killings in as many weeks attributed to the suspect. Investigators said they believe that the most recent murder took place in an unincorporated area of Southwest Los Angeles, where a 22-year-old woman was found dead Saturday.

Found in Alley

The fully clothed body of Tammy Lynn Scretchings, who had a prostitution arrest record, as did the other victims, was discovered in an alley east of Halldale Avenue between 95th and 96th streets. She had been strangled, Capt. Robert Grimm, head of the Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau, said this morning.

“We can’t say positively that it is related, but there are a number of similarities,” said Deputy Lynda Edmonds, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

Scretchings was black, as were all but two of the previous victims. Most were stabbed and strangled.