Drifter Admits Killing ‘Bums,’ Prosecutor Says

A Michigan drifter has told authorities that he stabbed to death several Los Angeles-area transients because he was offended by “dirty, filthy bums,” according to the prosecutor in the case.

The drifter, Joseph Danks, 26, has been charged with six murders and two attempted murders stemming from the recent series of stabbings in and near Koreatown and in Santa Monica.

The thin, tousle-haired defendant Thursday pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could carry the death penalty.

Despite his plea, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Darden said Danks made “incriminating statements” about the murders in a taped interview after his arrest, which occurred when a man he was allegedly trying to kill gave chase and helped hail a police car.

Darden said Danks admitted that “he’s offended by other bums that are not as well-kempt as he is.”

“I’m a bum, but I’m a clean bum. . . . Some are so dirty you can’t tell if they’re white or black,” Darden quoted Danks as saying.

According to the prosecutor, Danks said he committed the first murder for which he is charged--a Christmas Eve stabbing in Santa Monica--because he was upset at being turned away from a homeless shelter that was filled to capacity.

Danks’ feeling, Darden said, was that “those slugs would have a bed and he wouldn’t.” Danks told authorities he stabbed a transient sleeping outdoors blocks away from the shelter, Darden said.

Danks, who is also a suspect in at least one additional Los Angeles murder, was captured shortly after allegedly killing a 50-year-old man and then allegedly attempting to kill a second man on South Western Avenue on the edge of Koreatown.

A large kitchen knife believed used in most of the slayings was found at the scene, authorities said.