Another Body Found; Link to Serial Killings Probed

The body of an unidentified young woman was found in a county park near South-Central Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, but members of a newly formed police-sheriff’s task force said they were not ready to link her to a series of slayings of prostitutes in the area.

Lt. John Zorn of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, who heads the task force, said that connection would depend on whether the victim had a prostitution arrest record and on how she was killed. If linked, she would be the 16th apparent victim of the serial killer.

Most of the victims were both stabbed and strangled and most were nude or only partly clothed when they were dumped in alleys and streets. Several apparently had been tortured. All but two were black and all had prostitution arrest records.

A park worker who would not give his name said the body found Thursday “did not appear to be fully clothed.”

Although the latest body was discovered by a young boy about 4 p.m. Thursday near the gymnasium at Jesse Owens Park at 9651 S. Western Ave., task force investigators had not allowed it to be moved from the scene by mid-evening.

“The body is still here because we are conducting a very thorough investigation, combing the area inch by inch for evidence,” Zorn said.

Authorities announced formation of the task force this week in an effort to find the man they believe responsible for the murders that apparently began in September, 1983. The man was described by two surviving victims as a dark-complexioned black, 30 to 35 years old and 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall.