Third Woman Is Stabbed to Death in Clairemont : Crime: Maintenance man gives chilling account of victim’s screams and her fleeing, knife-wielding killer.

An 18-year-old visitor from Michigan was stabbed to death in a Clairemont apartment Tuesday afternoon, fueling neighborhood fears that a serial killer may be stalking young women.

A maintenance man confronted the assailant in the apartment where the slaying occurred, but the knife-wielding man got away.

The victim was identified by the coroner’s office late Tuesday as Holly Suzanne Tarr of Okemos, Mich.

Earlier this year, two other young neighborhood women were slain in much the same way.

The victims’ age, appearance and manner of death were roughly the same in each case.

“Each of the women was stabbed to death, and, yes, there are similarities,” said Dorothy Powell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Police Department. “But no, we don’t have enough to say this is a series. We can’t say it is, and we can’t say it isn’t.”

Lt. Gary Learn, the homicide detective heading up the investigation, responded with a terse “no comment” when asked about the serial-killer theory.

A woman visiting a friend who lives directly below the apartment where Tuesday’s slaying occurred told police that the victim had arrived in San Diego from Michigan on Monday.

The woman, in an interview with a detective, said that Tarr and a woman friend arrived together and were staying at the apartment of the victim’s brother.

The victim and her friend had spent the warm morning by the apartment complex’s pool. At some point, Tarr walked upstairs toward the apartment with a man, the visitor to the downstairs apartment told police. The man’s identity is unknown. The victim’s friend stayed by the pool.

“A little while later, my friend heard a terrible scream and heard the girl fall. My friend went upstairs and saw the girl bleeding profusely,” the visitor to the downstairs apartment told police, adding that Tarr’s friend dashed to the apartment and stood outside, crying uncontrollably.

Neighborhood residents are convinced that the killings are the work of the same person.

“Yes, I think one person did all three, and it’s very scary,” said Pat Dorr, a 19-year-old tenant who lives nearby. “I did like living here, but now, I’m moving out.”

Liz Richards, who lives across the alley from where Tuesday’s slaying occurred, said, “I don’t like it one bit. I’m very scared. If there’s a serial killer loose in my neighborhood, I think it’s time I left.”

City Councilmen Bruce Henderson, whose district includes the neighborhood, concluded Tuesday, after taking a personal interest in the first two cases, that all three may be the work of a single killer.

“It’s sounding more and more like it’s one person perpetrating this,” Henderson said. “But our greatest danger is to think it’s only one person. It could be two. The first murder could be unrelated from the other two.

“The difference this time, though, is that a suspect of at least one of the crimes has been identified. And we have our fingers crossed that, with the person being interrupted, he will have left enough fingerprints to allow the police to capture him.”

Richard Williams, 58, a maintenance man who works at the sprawling Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex, said he was paged by the rental office to respond to “a problem” at the one-bedroom unit in the 3400 block of Cowley Way about 12:30 p.m.

Williams said he found the door to the upstairs unit chained and locked. Hearing a woman’s screams, he forced the door open and bolted inside. He said that, shortly after entering, he was confronted by a man, about 5-foot-8, “maybe 17 or 18,” who wore over his head what appeared to be a pillowcase. The assailant went after Williams with a raised knife.

“It looked like a dagger,” Williams said.

Williams said he fell backwards, bruising and cutting his temple. At this, the assailant fled the apartment. Williams said he then went to the bedroom, where he found the victim. She was nude and lying on the floor holding a blood-drenched towel to her body.

“I thought she would live,” Williams said. “I was surprised to hear she had died. She was looking around and seemed pretty alert.”

Williams said he made no attempt to talk to the woman but instead rushed to the kitchen to telephone police. He said he called 911 and, within three minutes, paramedics and police were at the door.

Late Tuesday, the San Diego Police Department was searching for a suspect that spokeswoman Powell described as a black male, 18 years old; 5 feet, 8 inches tall; thin to medium build and short-cropped hair. He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt and black Levi’s, running west on Dakota Drive at Clairemont Drive.

Powell said anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call 531-2293 or 235-TIPS.

Williams said several people got a good look at the suspect. A young male tenant, who saw the assailant flee, gave chase into a canyon that overlooks Cowley Way. Police detectives said they found a red T-shirt but no other trace of the killer.

Bill Maidhof, who works for Buena Vista Gardens demolishing the interiors of units earmarked for refurbishing, said several people saw the suspect run toward the complex’s swimming pool, in the 3200 block of Cowley Way, sometime after the slaying occurred.

He said the suspect ran toward a fenced area in the 3200 block and disappeared into an alley before he drove off in a gray, “primer-paint-colored” Pinto sedan.

Tuesday’s slaying was the third to have happened within a two-block area since Jan. 12, when the body of Tiffany Paige Schultz, a 20-year-old student at San Diego State University, was discovered in her apartment in the 3100 block of Cowley Way. Police said Schultz was the victim of “multiple stab wounds.”

On Feb. 16, the body of 21-year-old Janene Marie Weinhold, a student at UC San Diego, was discovered in her apartment in the 3300 block of Clairemont Drive. Police have been more reticent in discussing Weinhold’s death and virtually noncommittal in responding to possible parallels between her death and Schultz’s, but they have said that Weinhold was the victim of “stab wounds.”

Like Tuesday’s victim, Weinhold was a tenant at Buena Vista Gardens, which is described in the Greater San Diego Apartment Guide as offering “a suburban lifestyle that is minutes away.” The guide lists rents at Buena Vista Gardens as ranging between $545 for a one-bedroom, one-bath, and $640 for a two-bedroom, one-bath.

Schultz was a tenant at Canyon Ridge, which is next door to Buena Vista Gardens but is managed by the same firm, Anza Management Co. of Irvine.

In recent weeks, tenants have complained of an increasing transient population in the area and more drug use.

At a recent neighborhood meeting, called by tenants of Buena Vista Gardens to air security concerns, Jim Watkins, a public affairs officer for the San Diego Police Department, said the Clairemont neighborhood where the slayings occurred is infamous as a crystal methamphetamine manufacturing center. He said drug activity and burglaries in the area have risen dramatically in the past year.

Henderson, whose district includes the neighborhood where the women died, said he was told Tuesday by Police Chief Bob Burgreen that the department is making the investigation a “No. 1 priority . . . . They’re pulling out all the stops. They’re going to bring to bear everything they’ve got to try to find this person.”

At a meeting called Tuesday night by police to calm jittery residents, frustrated tenants were left with a host of unanswered questions by officers. Powell and Officer Jim Watkins advised residents on ways to defend themselves but could not provide details about any of the murders in the area.

Several residents wanted to know if the killer or killers had broken into the homes of the three dead women and the motive in each murder. Powell and Watkins said they did not know.

“I want to know how he got in . . . and I’m not getting any information from you,” said a frustrated woman.

Powell and Watkins told the crowd that extra detectives and police have been assigned to investigate the latest killing and that solving the three slayings is a priority of the department.

“Yeah. Now tell us what you’re doing to solve these crimes,” yelled one man.

After Weinhold’s slaying in mid-February, Henderson said he was told by police that hers differed enough from Schultz’s that police concluded they were not the work of a the same killer. Shortly after Schultz’s body was found with more than 50 stab wounds, Christopher Jon Burns, a 28-year-old construction worker who was engaged to Schultz, was arrested and held for five days in County Jail. Burns has not been rearrested.

Burns, who lived with Schultz at the time of her death, said Tuesday that he is “stunned” by the latest death.

“But I’m not vindicated until it’s solved, and right now, the police are not saying that any of the murders are related,” Burns said. “I was really upset to hear about this. It’s like I go through the same thing over and over again.”

Deadly Neighborhood Three young women have been stabbed to death within a two-block stretch of a Clairemont apartment neighborhood. 1. Jan. 12: Tiffany Paige Schult, 3187 Cowley Way, No. 202. Canyon Ridge apartments. 2. Feb. 16: Janene Marle Weinhold, 3301 Clairemont Drive, No. 4, Buena Vista Gardens apartments. 3. April 3: Holly Suzanne Tarr, 3410 Cowley Way, No. 3. Buena Vista Gardens apartments.