NATION IN BRIEF : MISSISSIPPI : Serial-Killer Probe Flooded by Inquiries

Federal and state law enforcement officials, inundated by inquiries from 20 states, said they will proceed deliberately in investigating claims by a self-professed serial killer that he murdered more than 60 people since 1977. Officials said a special FBI team specializing in serial murders was formed to help to verify the claims of Donald Leroy Evans, 34, of Galveston, Tex. “You’re not going to see us doing a Henry Lucas thing,” Gulfport, Miss., Police Chief George Payne said at a press conference. “You’re going to see this thing done right, by the numbers, right down the line.” He was referring to Henry Lee Lucas, a drifter arrested in Texas who confessed in 1983 to hundreds of murders but later said he killed only one person, his mother.