Rogers Says Claim of 70 Slayings Was in Jest : Crime: Suspect in cross-country killings tells media that his remark about victims was a joke and that he has never killed anyone.

Alleged cross-country serial killer Glen Edward Rogers, who laughingly told authorities recently that he might have slain about 70 people, now is telling media organizations that his remark was a joke and that he never killed anyone.

The drifter suspected by authorities of stabbing or strangling an elderly man and four women, including one in Van Nuys, repudiated his prior remark in phone calls from a jail in Richmond, Ky., to the Journal-News newspaper in Hamilton and to television station WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. Both said they verified that Rogers made the calls.

The former Hamilton resident said he wanted to set the record straight after media organizations, including The Times, reported on an affidavit filed by a Kentucky state police officer. In it, the officer recounted Rogers saying, “It’s more like 70 bodies,” and laughing when asked about the number of slayings last week.

“Yeah, I remember that I laughed because I thought it was funny,” Rogers told the television station. “If he’s going to ask me about a bunch of murders, I said, ‘Well, what are you talking about?’

“I said . . . ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. I didn’t realize it was going to blow up this big,” Rogers told the station, again laughing.

The television station said Rogers called a reporter in response to a prior interview request. The station said it played a tape of the conversation for Rogers’ brother, who confirmed the caller’s identity.

Rogers, 33, was arrested last Monday after leading Kentucky police on a high-speed chase and is being held without bail. He is suspected of killing an elderly man in Ohio in 1993, and four women in California, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana since September.

“I’m not allowed to say anything about any of these women,” Rogers told the Journal-News. “I’ve traveled in bars all over the world. . . . I’ve probably met millions of women.”