DNA Clears Fresno Man in Serial Killings

A DNA sample taken from a Fresno man in jail has cleared him of several slayings, but police said Tuesday they know a serial killer is responsible for at least four killings in Inglewood and Los Angeles over the last two decades and may be connected to as many as six other unsolved murders.

Inglewood Police Sgt. Steve Overly said a saliva sample taken from Roger Hausmann, 65, did not match evidence gathered in the homicides dating to the 1980s.

Hausmann is behind bars in Fresno while awaiting trial in a kidnapping case.

“He made some incriminating statements to investigators in Fresno that led to the sample being taken,” Overly said.

“We still know [one] suspect is responsible for four homicides.”

Inglewood cold case detectives connected the rape and slaying of a 14-year-old girl in March 2002 to three Los Angeles homicides using DNA evidence.

Valerie McCorvey was found in a South Los Angeles alley near Figueroa Street in 2003 and, like the 14-year-old girl, she had been strangled.

The other two victims were Bernita Sparks, who was found April 16, 1987, and Mary Lowe, discovered Nov. 1, 1987. In each case, the body had been dumped and covered up, according to police.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives have found that Sparks and Lowe were shot with a small-caliber handgun similar to the one used in six other fatal shootings.

Hausmann became a suspect in the case last August after he told Fresno investigators that he killed prostitutes in the Los Angeles area. His name was revealed in an LA Weekly article last month.