Milwaukee PD-Serial Killer?

[jaybird2001wi]

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting the Milwaukee Police Department believes more than a handful of unsolved homicides spanning 21 years is the work of one man. I am not a criminologist by any means, but as a former "cub" news reporter/intern who independently studied media reports of situations involving this to gain knowledge on how the Police operate and interact with the media, it is my belief that there has to be more than these seven cases.

There are lots of questions with these developments: There is a large gap between the first and last (1986-2007). Aside from all of this, there are large gaps between some cases. There has to be more than these cases have disclosed. There could be a chance the guy could have moved out of state for a short time and came back. Who knows?

Given the fact that the victims are not part of the "social norm" there seems to be less fear among Milwaukee people than say, "BTK" of Kansas. But CNN and USA Today have picked up on these reports from the Journal-Sentinel. But it seems like with this report coming out this week, there could be many more. Anyone got opinions?

The biggest gap comes between 1986 and 1995. Where was this suspect in this nine-year span? The State does not have a name to go with the DNA evidence, meaning he never got caught or arrested for a violent crime. Either this suspect has a history of violence against women that were never reported or he has a connection to this urbanized area of Milwaukee.

[OglivieHomePerm]

The biggest gap comes between 1986 and 1995. Where was this suspect in this nine-year span?

 

In LaCrosse, pushing drunk college students into the Mississippi River.

 

In seriousness, this will be a very interesting case to watch unfold. It's very intriguing that this person is not in the national DNA database.

[jaybird2001wi]

I never took any criminology classes in college (I failed the intro class at uww because I didn't care enough at the time) but what I have always found interesting is the geographic clues and not any of the scenes itself. I have often wondered how involved the DNR is in assisting law enforcement in wooded areas in Wisconsin and what the victims were like prior to being victims.
But anyway, I would be surprised if these seven cases are all they could find. Based on my research a serial killer plays into the media reports a lot. That is how BTK was caught, basically a serial killer will not just go down low if it has not yet been detected or there is no correlation between any of his crimes. Once the media in the state of Kansas picked up the BTK after years of it being in the cold files, he basically started his communications again. My bet is if the killer is reading or watching these news reports, he may drop a clue or two along the way. Typically when police go to the media, one of the reasons they do is with hopes the killer may make a mistake.
When I interned in Lake County, Illinois as a news reporter, I have covered murder cases that had victims with no involvement with the killer and a case that had a major connection between the two subjects.
The geography of cases intrigues me because since Milwaukee is located along the Interstate connected with Chicago and there are several cities/villages in between, there always has been a question of whether Police agencies between the two major Metro areas are in contact with one another on a routine basis.

[brwrsfan]

It was my understanding from the article that they just recently linked 4 more cases to the same person, moving it from just a murder or two (that sounds bad but I assure you I don't take that lightly) to 6 or more murders, which puts the person in the Serial Killer range. I also believe that they sent another 20+ DNA samples from similar unsolved cases to be tested and there will almost certainly be more that get tied to the same individual, possibly filling in the gap of 10+ years.

 

On the subject of the gap...who knows. Maybe the person moved out of state (and there could be more there), maybe they just stopped doing it for awhile, maybe he had a few other murders either get pinned on someone else or the bodies were never found. or maybe they were in jail for a non-violent crime. I don't think all crimes warrant DNA samples (especially way back then) but I could be wrong. Any of those are distinct possiblities. There's just no way of knowing at this point.

 

As interesting as I find the cases to be, I'd much prefer viewing them from far, far away. 2 serial killers in Milwaukee in the last 20+ years is just way too terrifying to even think about. Ugh.

[paul253]

The gap may also clear up once some of the other DNA tests come back.

[panthernick]

If that 9 year gap holds up, most likely prison on another crime.

[brewtown82]

is it just me or does this new serial killer story remind you of the last season of The Wire, when there were budget constraints so McNulty framed homeless murders?

[jaybird2001wi]

Well, the MPD may have possibly wiped out 9 of its cold cases with the arrest of a person of interest linked to nine homicides. The suspect was arrested at a seedy Franklin motel Saturday. The first question I have to ask is, why did this guy decide to stay in town? And with him being arrested at a motel, was this guy a transient or something? And panthernick, you are likely right. The guy was in prison roughly between 1986 to 1995.

[edod]

is it just me or does this new serial killer story remind you of the last season of The Wire, when there were budget constraints so McNulty framed homeless murders?

That's the first thing that came to my mind. But, I will defer my skepticism until there is more information.