Copycat serial killer charged in deaths of 3 US women

0

Michael Madison

WASHINGTON: A US man suspected of being a copycat serial killer was charged with aggravated murder Monday in the deaths of three women.

Police said there may be more victims yet to be discovered in East Cleveland, Ohio.

“This is an ongoing investigation. We’re nowhere near done,” East Cleveland Police Chief Ralph Spotts told reporters.

“We did have information that there may be more to this, which is why we are continuing our searching.”

Over 100 volunteers helped police search abandoned buildings in the Cleveland suburb over the weekend after the first body was discovered in a garage when police got a call about a foul odor.

Two more bodies – also wrapped in plastic – were discovered before the initial search was suspended Sunday.All three corpses are those of young black females.

The suspect, identified as Michael Madison, 35, who is also black, was arrested at his mother’s house after a standoff.

East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton told CNN that Madison was influenced by and even idolized Anthony Sowell, who was convicted in 2011 of killing 11 women and hiding the remains at his Cleveland home.

Sowell, dubbed the “Cleveland Strangler,” is currently on death row in an Ohio prison.

Madison, a registered sex offender who served time in prison, was held on aUS$ 6 million bond after a brief court appearance Monday.

The county coroner said all three bodies were “very decomposed” and as a result autopsies were unable to determine the cause of death. — AFP