2 Similar Killings Frighten Neighbors

When a young elementary school teacher was bound and strangled in her bathtub three months ago, neighbors in her Arlington apartment complex told themselves it was an isolated case of domestic abuse. Then on Christmas Day, 22-year-old elementary school aide Wendie Rochelle Prescott was found killed in a nearly identical way, and the unease among her neighbors turned into fear. Prescott’s uncle, Norman Norwood, found the nude body of his niece in several inches of water when he came to check on her after she missed the family’s Christmas Eve celebration. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office deemed the cause of death strangulation. Police in this suburb 15 miles west of Dallas believe Prescott’s slaying may be linked to the Sept. 17 death of Christine H. Vu, a 25-year-old elementary school teacher.