Post by MXB on Sept 1, 2006 8:59:50 GMT -5
Detroit Man charged in 7 prostitute deaths
Prosecutor says suspect in string of slayings projected anger toward mom onto his victims.
Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Authorities formally charged a Detroit man Tuesday with murdering seven prostitutes on the city's east side and said he may have killed another seven women in a crime spree dating to 2001.
Shelly Andre Brooks, 37, has confessed and DNA evidence ties him to seven killings that began in 2001 and continued through June, according to police and court records. Brooks has been in police custody since July 30 after one woman survived a rape and beating attack and identified him as her assailant.
Brooks faces 14 felony charges stemming from the seven slayings and is scheduled to stand trial on rape and assault charges in the latest attack.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Brooks' mother had a drug problem and he seemed to project his anger about his upbringing onto his victims.
"Mr. Brooks is your quintessential serial killer," she said. "He really thought he was killing his mother all over again."
The women he allegedly killed all were drug users he raped before beating them to death. Authorities would not offer details about or compare those slayings to the other seven women they suspect Brooks may have killed. Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said only they were "very similar."
Brooks is charged with killing his first victim, 53-year-old Sandra Davis, on Aug. 31, 2001. Her remains were found in an abandoned building on St. Paul.
A second woman, Pamela Greer, 33, was found dead at the same building on Jan. 22, 2002.
Three months later, Marion Woods-Daniels, 36, was found dead in a field in the 4800 block of Crane, two miles from the others.
Eight days after that, the remains of Rhonda Myles, 45, were found in the 1300 block of Manistique.
On Nov. 5, 2002, Thelma Johnson, 30, was found dead in a field at the corner of Mack and Holcomb.
About that time, police held a news conference to warn that a serial killer may be at large and the killings stopped for nearly three years.
The killings continued Oct. 18, 2005, when Melissa Toston, 38, was found dead in a field at Chalmers and Flanders.
Another woman was found June 5 in a house in the 2600 block of Harding. She has not yet been identified because her remains were so badly decomposed.
Detroit Police Detective Michael Carlisle investigated the case for years before tying Brooks to the slayings.
For Chaunci Cline, a community activist who told police she feared a serial killer was at work in 2002, Tuesday's charges bring a measure of relief though she was frustrated at how long it took.
"There's still more work to be done," she said outside police headquarters. "It doesn't take 14 women to die to see there's a pattern."
Detroit City Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, who warned about the serial slayings in east side neighborhoods for years, welcomed the arrest.
"They were prostitutes, but before that they were human beings," she said
Prosecutor says suspect in string of slayings projected anger toward mom onto his victims.
Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Authorities formally charged a Detroit man Tuesday with murdering seven prostitutes on the city's east side and said he may have killed another seven women in a crime spree dating to 2001.
Shelly Andre Brooks, 37, has confessed and DNA evidence ties him to seven killings that began in 2001 and continued through June, according to police and court records. Brooks has been in police custody since July 30 after one woman survived a rape and beating attack and identified him as her assailant.
Brooks faces 14 felony charges stemming from the seven slayings and is scheduled to stand trial on rape and assault charges in the latest attack.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Brooks' mother had a drug problem and he seemed to project his anger about his upbringing onto his victims.
"Mr. Brooks is your quintessential serial killer," she said. "He really thought he was killing his mother all over again."
The women he allegedly killed all were drug users he raped before beating them to death. Authorities would not offer details about or compare those slayings to the other seven women they suspect Brooks may have killed. Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said only they were "very similar."
Brooks is charged with killing his first victim, 53-year-old Sandra Davis, on Aug. 31, 2001. Her remains were found in an abandoned building on St. Paul.
A second woman, Pamela Greer, 33, was found dead at the same building on Jan. 22, 2002.
Three months later, Marion Woods-Daniels, 36, was found dead in a field in the 4800 block of Crane, two miles from the others.
Eight days after that, the remains of Rhonda Myles, 45, were found in the 1300 block of Manistique.
On Nov. 5, 2002, Thelma Johnson, 30, was found dead in a field at the corner of Mack and Holcomb.
About that time, police held a news conference to warn that a serial killer may be at large and the killings stopped for nearly three years.
The killings continued Oct. 18, 2005, when Melissa Toston, 38, was found dead in a field at Chalmers and Flanders.
Another woman was found June 5 in a house in the 2600 block of Harding. She has not yet been identified because her remains were so badly decomposed.
Detroit Police Detective Michael Carlisle investigated the case for years before tying Brooks to the slayings.
For Chaunci Cline, a community activist who told police she feared a serial killer was at work in 2002, Tuesday's charges bring a measure of relief though she was frustrated at how long it took.
"There's still more work to be done," she said outside police headquarters. "It doesn't take 14 women to die to see there's a pattern."
Detroit City Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, who warned about the serial slayings in east side neighborhoods for years, welcomed the arrest.
"They were prostitutes, but before that they were human beings," she said