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CNN Live Today

Baton Rouge Police Seek Serial Killer

Aired August 01, 2002 - 12:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: To Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Relatives of three murdered women are joining forces now. Even though police and FBI agents are on the case, they say they may be able to help. Their focus: a man they are convinced is a serial killer.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us with more on the search.

Hi -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, police and investigators here continue to search for this serial killer, but up until this point, they still say that they no idea who he is or where he might be, in fact. So there is very little information they've been able to get up until this point. The best lead they've gotten so far is that on the night that the third victim was killed, on July 12, that a man saw a white pickup truck driving down the interstate with what appeared to be the body of a woman slumped over in the passenger seat. And that was spotted around the area where the third victim, Pam Kinamore, was found dead a few days later.

So police now have that witness. They are not releasing his name. They say that he is under police protection for his own safety.

Pam Kinamore's family is trying to get the ball rolling here a little bit quicker in their eyes. They're offering now a $75,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the serial killer. They're trying to generate a lot more tips. There is a tip hot line here at the police station that people can call into.

They have gotten hundreds of tips from that so far, but a lot of the information that they have gotten to this point is from the DNA and the forensic evidence they have been able to take from each of the crime scenes. The first two murders, we are told by police spokespeople, that there were no witnesses to those crimes, and that has kind been a shock to two investigators, so far, because the second murder happened between noon and 2:00 in the middle of the day, and the police are rather stunned that in an area around the Louisiana State University campus that no one heard anything or might have seen something suspicious going on. So that's baffled investigators up until this point. But they say a lot of the focus at this point is on the DNA evidence, and that's how they have been able to pinpoint the same suspect to these three murders. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPL. DON KELLY, BATON ROGUE POLICE: We were fortunate enough from an investigative standpoint in these three cases to have DNA that was matched to the suspect, and in all three cases, it appeared to be identical, based on lab results.

LAVANDERA: But you are also taking that testing a step further into other unsolved murders as well.

KELLY: It's very reasonable to assume that we are going to test every piece of DNA we've got on every unsolved homicide recently that we think could possibly be related and also that we are taking samples from anyone we think potentially could be a suspect and trying to compare those samples as well to what's been found at crime scenes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: There are about 35 unsolved murders of women here in the Baton Rouge area, and investigators are going through those cases and comparing DNA with these three confirmed cases with some of those other cases and seeing if there is any kind of connection or if the serial killer might have been involved in other murders here in recent history, here in Baton Rouge.

Meanwhile, there is a public meeting that will be held near the neighborhoods around the Louisiana State University campus, a public service that officers here are putting together letting people know what they should do to protect themselves. And they are expecting a huge turnout tonight at the meeting, which is near the LSU campus, where two of the murders, the first two murders, happened, although investigators do point out at this point there is no evidence to suggest that the killer is targeting the LSU campus or any of that area for a specific reason at all. But needless to say, a lot of people, especially women who live alone, we are told by investigators, feeling very nervous at this point in Baton Rouge, just because there is so little information about who this person is looking for and what he is looking for in his victims.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Ed, you've mentioned LSU a number of times. Are they beefing up security there? My first thought is the female dorms?

LAVANDERA: We've talked to several people. There are patrols in the area around the campus -- we understand, have been beefed up. There has also been a higher interest of people signing up for security classes and that sort of thing. By far, what we have talked to, people in the street, anecdotal stories that people have shared with us, a lot of women carrying mace, for example. But the main thing that police are warning anyone about here in Baton Rouge is that in all three of these murders there was no sign of forced entry at the home, which leads police to believe this person entered the home through an opened door or convinced the person to allow themselves in. So they are asking people to be very wary of anyone who shows up at your door. Even if it's a police officer, they are telling you call 911 and ask if there -- if a police officer's been dispatched to your house, to make sure that person is who they say he or she is.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, from Baton Rouge. Thanks, Ed.

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