San Diego : Police Link Deaths of Two Prostitutes

Police have linked the weekend shooting deaths of two prostitutes and say the killings may also be related to two assaults on prostitutes over the past month. “We believe they’re related,” San Diego Police Lt. John Welter said of the shootings, which took place within hours of each other early Saturday morning. “It’s not a dead end. We do have leads that we’re following up on.”

Welter said physical evidence gathered at the two murder sites links the killings, but he declined to elaborate. The deaths appear to be related to two central San Diego assaults in late May and early June, he said. Investigators are trying to locate those victims. Police responded to the first killing at 4:09 a.m. Saturday in the 4300 block of Altadena Avenue. Freda Annmarie Woods, 21, was shot twice in the chest and collapsed on the porch of a home where she sought help. Several hours later, 35-year-old Rose Marie Curry was found shot to death in the parking lot of Memorial Park Recreation Center, in the 2900 block of Marcy Avenue.

No arrests have been made, Welter said. Welter said several detectives have been assigned to the cases, and four more will join the team when the county-wide Homicide Task Force is disbanded July 1.