POLICE BLOTTER : Slain Woman Possible 4th Serial Killer Victim

A slain woman whose body was found in an Ontario park last week has been linked to the unsolved killings since November of three black female prostitutes in the East San Gabriel Valley, authorities said.

The fourth victim, Deborah Denise Brown, 33, of Los Angeles, was found strangled at 5 a.m. Jan. 12 in San Antonio Park. She was lying fully clothed in a grassy area, Ontario police said.

Although police would not confirm that the same killer is responsible for the deaths of all four women, the profile of Brown and her cause of death are consistent with the other homicides, said Ontario Police Det. Mike Macias. Like the other victims, Brown had a history of prostitution, court records show.

But Macias and investigators from other police agencies said Brown’s death differed slightly from that of the other three victims. They declined to reveal those differences.

The other victims were Helen Hill, 36, of Covina, found Nov. 14 in a parking lot in a City of Industry business park; Donna Goldsmith, 35, of Montclair, found Nov. 17 next to a trash bin in a Pomona business park, and Cheryl Denise Sayers, 34, of Ontario, found Dec. 30 in Ganesha Park in Pomona.

All three women had minor criminal histories, police said. All were strangled.

The similarity in Brown’s death was established after Ontario detectives met with investigators from the Pomona and Chino police departments, as well as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Each department is conducting its own investigation but will continue to network on the cases, Macias said.

In addition to the four women, police are still investigating two other deaths for possible links. On Nov. 1, Betty Harris, 37, of Pomona, was found dead in a business park in Diamond Bar. On Nov. 5, Roxanne Bates, 31, of Pomona, was found dead on a rural road in Chino.