Arrest of Man Not Linked to Serial Killings

A Southwest Los Angeles man has been arrested in a slaying investigated by the task force hunting the so-called Southside Serial Killer, but police said Tuesday that they had “absolutely no specific evidence” tying the suspect to other unsolved killings in the Southside case.

Charles Edward Mosley, 28, walked into the Southwest Area police station at 1 p.m. Monday and asked to speak to detectives there, Assistant Police Chief Robert L. Vernon told a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“Subsequent to that encounter, we have developed probable cause to arrest and book Mr. Mosley for the murder of Canosha Griffin,” Vernon said. He would not elaborate on what Mosley told investigators.

Mosley was held Monday night at police headquarters at Parker Center. Vernon said investigators are expected to request today that the district attorney’s office charge him with the murder of Griffin, 22.

Vernon said detectives had received a tip about Mosley before he arrived at the police station, but the assistant chief would not discuss what information or evidence investigators had that led them to suspect Mosley.

However, a source familiar with the investigation told The Times that Mosely had been under surveillance for a few days and that detectives had been planning to arrest him before he went to the station.

Detectives on the 50-member police-sheriff Southside serial task force have been hesitant to link Griffin’s death to the other slayings, saying only that there were “some general similarities.”

“It was never linked, or ruled out,” said Police Lt. John Zorn, co-leader of the task force.

Griffin’s fully-clothed body was found by a summer school student in a vegetable garden at Locke High School, 325 East 111th St.

On the same day, at the 66th Street Elementary School about five miles away, the body of another 22-year-old woman, Austerberta Alvarez, was discovered.

Zorn said there were several “similarities” between Alvarez’s death and the death of Verna Patricia Williams, 36, whose beaten and stabbed body was found May 26 on the grounds of the 68th Street Elementary School, about eight blocks from the school where Alvarez’s body was found.

Williams’ slaying is one of 17 that police have definitely linked to the Southside Serial Killer. Three other deaths, including Griffin’s, have been investigated but neither definitely connected to the Southside killer nor ruled out. In addition, three women are believed to have survived attacks by the same man.

The assaults and killings date back to September, 1983. Most of the victims have been black prostitutes.

Police on Tuesday continued to circulate a composite sketch that describes the Southside Serial Killer as being about 6 feet and 160 to 165 pounds, with black curly hair, brown eyes and a muscular upper body and arms.

The 5-foot-6, 145-pound Mosley apparently bears little resemblance to the taller, thinner black man considered a prime suspect in the Southside killings.

“At this time, after an investigation that is still very much going on, we have absolutely no specific information to indicate that Mr. Mosley is involved in any other crimes being investigated by this task force,” Vernon said.

According to public records, Mosley was born in Pennsylvania. Family and neighbors said he was one of six children--four boys and two girls--who had grown up in a house in the 800 block of East 109th Street, and had attended 109th Street Elementary School, Gompers Intermediate and Locke High School.

He is married and has several children. An older brother, Billy Mosley, said he is not sure how large Charles’ family is or where they are living.

In recent months, “he was just living from place to place,” his mother, Margaret Mosley, said before declining to speak further. His brother said that Charles at times had spent the night in his mother’s car. After an argument about two months ago, their father ordered Charles to stay out of the neighborhood, Billy Mosley said.

On Tuesday afternoon, police detectives searched the car, which was parked in the driveway of the family home. The detectives declined to discuss what they were looking for.

Two neighbors, Inez Harris and Carolyn Brown, said they regarded Charles as a low-key individual who never caused trouble in the neighborhood.

“It sure is surprising to me,” Harris said. “Around here he was nice. He was always nice to me.” Both women said they had not seen him for several months.

“He’s the kind who can be real happy and then real sad, real low. But as far as murder--never that low,” Billy Mosley said, shaking his head. “Never. Never that low.”

Meanwhile, Southside serial task force members on Tuesday were called to an alley in the 4400 block of South 3rd Avenue, where a passer-by discovered the body of a young black woman lying under a mattress shortly after noon.

However, after examining the body and investigating the scene, investigators ruled out any firm connection to the Southside Serial Killer.

The woman’s cause of death was not immediately known, although detectives discovered several spent bullet cartridges nearby. Victims of the serial killer have been both stabbed to death and strangled.

Times staff writers Jerry Belcher and William Nottingham contributed to this story