Jul 10, 2008 6:20 pm US/Eastern
Balt. Police Investigate Strangulations Of 5 Women
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
Baltimore Police are forming a squad to investigate the recent strangulations of five women.
Mike Hellgren reports Amanda Bishop is one of five women strangled in Baltimore in less than four months. Many of the victims have histories of selling their bodies on the street.
Bishop's lifeless body was found in a street lined with trash. The mother was strangled.
Her loved ones attached a memorial to a chain-link fence near where Bishop was killed. Her children wrote, "In loving memory of our Mommy who we love a lot."
Sidney Ford knew several of the victims. She runs "You Are Not Alone," an organization that provides food, shelter and counseling to prostitutes.
"We were very concerned. These are our sisters. These are also someone else's sister, someone's mother, someone's daughter," said Ford.
Now, a police task force is taking a closer look at these murders and whether there's a connection.
The wide-ranging investigation is looking for patterns and not just in deaths this year.
"We were of course horrified. For us, this is very personal. We have 12-year-long relationships with the women," said Ford.
The latest murder happened this week behind a church on Old Frederick Avenue. Police found the victim naked and bruised around her neck and throat.
"The women are terrified. It goes well beyond fear," said Ford.
On June 11, police found 25-year-old Elizabeth Garrett dead on Buena Vista Avenue in Hampden. Nicole Sesker, the stepdaughter of former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, who battled drug addiction, was found strangled on Garrison Avenue.
"With panties on and a bra. That's it. No shoes," said Elizabeth Eddins, who lives near the place Sesker's body was found.
Police are still unsure if one person is behind all of the murders because they happened all over the city.
"The lives of the women who we serve are invisible for the most part, so we don't hear. Other people don't hear when horrific things happen," said Ford.
They were invisible until now. They were mothers, sisters and daughters. Whoever killed them, whether it's one person or more, remains on the loose.
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