NV NV - Might there have been a serial killer in Las Vegas in the 70s and 80s?

bgbonzo

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Basically there are seven unsolved cases from 1971 to 1989 of girls aged 13-18 seemingly abducted off the streets, sexually assaulted, murdered, and disposed of in the nearby desert. If we exclude the one from 1989 the range narrows to six cases from 1971 to 1983.

I have not looked at the individual cases very closely, so not sure how similar they look.

I think it's just a question of probability. How likely is it that some of these cases are due to the same perpetrator or perpetrators?


Arguments for:

+ It seems to be a relatively high number of victims of that sort of stranger abduction killing in a city in the 300k-500k range over a decade. These cases of school girls being snatched off a street, raped, and killed, if that's what these are, are very rare and get a lot of attention when they do happen.

Arguments against:

- The argument for is so obvious that maybe we should assume LE has reason to believe the various cases are not connected.
- It's not THAT many, active serial killers can easily generate one victim every few months. This is much less than one a year depending on how you parse it.

Other considerations:

+/- Are there any missing girls from the area as opposed to just found deceased that could be added to the tally?
+/- If the count seems suggestive but too low for an active killer, it's possible there are victims in another jurisdiction.


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Here is the site I'm getting the cases from:
http://www.lvmpd.com/Sections/Homicide/CasesByYear/19701979/tabid/326/Default.aspx


****

Case #: 78-27590
Victim: Vickie Lynn Brekke
Suspect: Unknown
Location: East Lake Mead Blvd. approximately 6 miles east of Mt. Hood in the desert area.
Date: 5-8-1978

Synopsis:
On 5-7-1978 Vickie Lynn Brekke departed from her home at 3612 Braddock Street, North Las Vegas, NV to walk to a friend's house. She had called her friend and was to arrive around 5:30 pm. however she never arrived. On 5-8-78 her body was discovered in the desert area to the east of Sunrise Mountain. The autopsy revealed that Vickie had died as a result of strangulation. Vickie was a 15 yr. old WFJ.


****

Case #: 75-23324
Victim: Gerri Ann Ralston, 15 YOA
Suspect: Unknown
Location: Henderson Ponds, Pabco Rd. and Hollywood St, Clark County, NV
Date: May 22, 1975

Synopsis:
On May 21, 1975, Gerri was reported as a missing person to the Henderson (NV) Police department by her father. She was last seen in route to buy cigarettes at the Maverick Service Station on Boulder Highway. On May 22, 1975, Gerri&#8217;s body was found in the pond. She was still wearing the same clothing from the day she disappeared. The subsequent investigation determined that Gerri had been sexually assaulted and strangled. It appears her body had been disposed of at the recovery site in a effort to conceal it, the actual murder site was never located.


****

Case #:71-11701
Victim: Susan Rae Perron
Suspect: Unknown
Location: Desert area approximately 5 miles west of U.S. U.S. Highway 95 off of Lone Mountain Road
Date: Victim discovered on April 16, 1973

Synopsis:
On June 13, 1971 Susan Rae Perron (WFJ 14 yrs.) left her home to walk to Lorenzi Park to go swimming. It was not determined if she ever arrived at her destination. On April 16, 1973 the remains of a human skeleton was found in the desert area approximately 5 miles west of U.S. 95 Highway off of Lone Mountain Road. Through dental records it was determined that the skeletal remains were those of Susan Rae Perron. Cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head.


****

Case #: 71-12531
Victim: Jody Marie Miller
Suspect: Uknown
Location: 150' northwest of the corner of Jones and Lone Mountain Blvd. in shallow grave in desert area.
Date: Body discovered on 11-2-1971

Synopsis:
Jody Marie Miller crawled through the bedroom window of her house on 6-21-71. She was reported as a missing juvenile and last seen by a female friend on 6-23-71. On 11-2-71 her remains were discovered wrapped in a blanket, lying in a shallow grave in the desert area approximately 150' nw of Jones and Lone Mountain. Jody was 13 yrs. old at the time of her disappearance.


****

Case #: 89-72494
Victim: Stephanie Anne Issacson, 14 YOA
Suspect: Unknown
Location: Desert Area Northwest of Stewart/Linn
Date: 6/1/1989

Synopsis:

Stephanie Issacson, a 14 year old Eldorado High School student, left for school at approximately 6:30 a.m., on foot. When Stephanie didn't return home after school her father became concerned. Her father contacted the high school and learned that Stephanie had never arrived. Her father then contacted her friends, they had not seen Stephanie all day. The Police Department was contacted and a missing person report was filed.
An organized search, of the route she normally walked, uncovered her body in a desert lot near Stewart and Linn. Stephanie had been sexually assaulted and strangled.


****

Case #: 83-26198
Victim: Catherine Tighe
Suspect: Unknown
Location: Desert area north of Indios and east of Mountain Vista, Las Vegas, NV
Date: Between 02-07-1983 and 03-02-1983

Synopsis:
The 17 yr. old victim was last seen at Chaparral High School on 2-7-83. On 3-2-83 the victim was discovered in the desert area near Indios and Twain, covered by debris. The parents of the victim had filed a missing persons report when Catherine failed to return home from school on the 7th. The coroner's office listed the cause of death as manual strangulation. No suspect has ever been identified.


****

And this last one is an outlier, she was a college student back home for the holidays rather than a school girl.

Case #: 83-91138
Victim: Diana Rae Hanson
Suspect: Unknown
Location: Desert area Spring Mountain and Buffalo
Date: Between 12-30-1983 and 12-31-1983

Synopsis:
Diana R. Hanson, home for Christmas vacation from College, left her parent's home, 6400 block of Desert Inn, around 4:30 p.m., December 30, 1983 to participate in her daily jog. Diana never came home. Her parents reported her missing at approximately 6:00 p.m. On December 31, 1983, at approximately 10:00 a.m., a construction worker reported a dead body in the desert area near Spring Mountain and Buffalo.

Diana was identified by her parents. An extensive investigation was undertaken. It appears that the suspect abducted Diana somewhere along her route and drove her to the area where she was discovered. Diana was sexually assaulted and murdered. There were signs of a struggle in the immediate area and Diana's clothing was located near by. In spite of the extensive investigation no viable suspects have been identified.

***

During this five year period (1979-1983) the population of Las Vegas grew from 413,000 to 525,000. Seems to me five girls aged 13-15 and one aged 18 being abducted and killed in that period is unusually high. Also the girls tend to resemble one another, judging from the pictures. All white, almost all brunettes. (I'm not including the outlier case I mention in these observations.)
 
I think a (single) serial killer could have definitely killed both Miller and Perron. Both are young teenagers and went missing within days of each other and not far from each other.


I hadn't noticed how close together those two cases were. Pretty remarkable.

One was discovered five months later and the other 22 months later so the connection might have seemed less obvious at the time (both initially being possible runaways). I wonder if the newspapers connected them at the time. I'll see if I can find something online.
 
Unfortunately I couldn't find any Las Vegas newspapers online going back that far. I would like to know if the possible of a serial killer was at least discussed. I don't like feeling like a crackpot but the number of apparent stranger kidnapping/assaulting/killing cases of similar types of girls seems disproportionate.
 
Regarding the Reddit stuff...

I found a story regarding a thread I started yesterday in my local paper. But I couldn't find it online. I was too "lazy" (tired of typing) at the time so I just gave the basic info without citing the paper. That was very irritating since I get the paper paper yet don't have access to it online. Actually, I don't know how many of the smaller stories are put online.

I've seen some stuff on Topix (the haven of BS) that corresponds to some cases. Sometimes there's purported "facts" there that aren't mentioned elsewhere. I'll only mention that info if it either corresponds/contradicts something "official" that I've seen and doesn't sound like complete BS.
 
From googling a bit I found out that this exact same topic has been broached more than once on Websleuths. Someone will start a thread about one of the cases I listed and then it will turn to speculation that it is connected to some of the others. There was a thread from 2008 about Amanda Fravel (not among the cases I listed) and a 2011 thread about Jody Miller.

I also found an article by John L. Smith "Vegas Killers" from 2001 and a blog post from a retired crime lab worker in LV, both indicated that more than one Las Vegas detective has speculated about some of these cases being connected. And finally there is a woman with an e-book on Amazon, quite badly reviewed, that is based on the speculation that the exact set of cases I picked out from the LVPD website are the work of one killer. (Based on the reviews her primary source was the same website).

So I'm at least satisfied that it's a reasonably likely premise. I don't anticipate being able to go anywhere further with this. But certainly would be eager to read any other thoughts about the topic.
 
I doubt if the one who was shot and buried is related, but the ones who were assaulted, strangled, and left in the desert do sound shockingly similar.
 
I'm glad to see im not the only one who thinks this could be a serial killer. There is also the case of a jane doe who was found at the old El Rancho hotel that burned down. She was found in 1979 with clothes and jewelry thought to be worn by a teenager.
 
I went to the Clark county morgue and there is a lot of young girls unidentified posibbly street workers and what I learned from the show is that they would take them to different states to make it harder to identify them I live in las Vegas I've been very Active. With these Case's
 
I had a weird experience in the early 70's. My parents and I use to go to Las Vegas once in a while. They would gamble and I would hang out in the area Foxy's hot dogs. One time I was crossing in the x crosswalk walking towards the Golden Nugget when a male and a female came up to me. Each one had grabbed a hold of one of my arms before even saying a word to me.. There were hundreds of people in the area but no one seemed to noticed what was going on. At first they were nice said they had tickets to a concert and wanted me to go party with them. When I didn't comply right away, they started getting aggressive insisting that I was going with them. Luckily, I was a farm girl and a lot stronger than I looked. I jerked my arms away from both of them at the same time loudly telling them no. They didn't say a word and just faded into the crowd. The male looked a lot like Peter Lorrie with the same build and dark circles around his eyes. The female was a skinny, bleached blond maybe a little taller than the male. Both were around 5'8 or 5'9 and thin. But they didn't look like hard core drug users. It was really weird. I went and found my mother and told her about it but didn't contact the pd. I was 15 or 16 at the time so fit in with these murdered girls.
 
bgbonzo - I don't know if you are still here but is there any reason why you didn't include Arroyo Grande Jane Doe in your list of possible serial killer victims? She does seem to fit the profile, apart from being unidentified?

White
Reddish-brown hair
Mid to late teens (most likely)
Death by blunt force trauma to the head (and stab wounds)
Found in October 1980 in the desert in Henderson

Her thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-Grande-WhtFem-258UFNV-14-25-Oct-80-*GRAPHIC*
 
Hiya! I'm new to WS, nice to meet you all. :) As I mentioned in Jody Miller's thread, I have been investigating these murders for a while. I have been to three different libraries digging up as much information as I can, and have newspaper articles, cross-reference directory listings, and maps from the 70's-80's at my disposal, much of which I saved and uploaded to Gdrive. I'm planning on going to UNLV's library eventually to see what they might have. So far I have found newspaper articles on all of these girls (except one, I think), including a couple obits. The article on the discovery of Vickie's body has the detective's name listed who was working on the case at the time. Some articles had their home addresses which made it much easier to figure out the routes they might have walked when on the way to their destinations (since they were all abducted on foot while walking someplace).

Anyway, I want to help as much as I can... bgbonzo, what are the links to the article and blog you speak of? I would love to check those out!
 
I doubt if the one who was shot and buried is related, but the ones who were assaulted, strangled, and left in the desert do sound shockingly similar.

hi. Do you know if they ever reopen cases like this one? It happened over 40 years ago, but I remember some of it like it was yesterday. Little Susie was my cousin, so I have a lifelong interest in closure.. She disappeared just a few days before my sisters and I showed up for a vacation from Seattle to Las Vegas. My uncle Rusty, Susie's dad, is my dad's big brother. I slept in her room. I was even questioned by the police. At the time they all thought Susie ran away from home. No way! Who leaves without money, food or clothes? In her flip flops wearing a one piece swim suit and uncle Rusty's work shirt. We swam in the pool that was her destination. And we bought candy bars at her favorite gas station on the way to the pool I really hope the Las Vegas police keep looking for clues. What if he's still alive hurting little girls? Let me know if they ever do get the guy that did this to her, please. And Thanks for letting me vent . Blessings, Grace
 

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hi. Do you know if they ever reopen cases like this one? It happened over 40 years ago, but I remember some of it like it was yesterday. Little Susie was my cousin, so I have a lifelong interest in closure.. She disappeared just a few days before my sisters and I showed up for a vacation from Seattle to Las Vegas. My uncle Rusty, Susie's dad, is my dad's big brother. I slept in her room. I was even questioned by the police. At the time they all thought Susie ran away from home. No way! Who leaves without money, food or clothes? In her flip flops wearing a one piece swim suit and uncle Rusty's work shirt. We swam in the pool that was her destination. And we bought candy bars at her favorite gas station on the way to the pool I really hope the Las Vegas police keep looking for clues. What if he's still alive hurting little girls? Let me know if they ever do get the guy that did this to her, please. And Thanks for letting me vent . Blessings, Grace
Welcome to Ws Grace007!
Started a thread..
NV - Susan Rae Perron, 14, blunt trauma to head, desert area/Highway 95,13 June 1971
 
I think a (single) serial killer could have definitely killed both Miller and Perron. Both are young teenagers and went missing within days of each other and not far from each other.
Susan was my cousin. I would love to see her case reopened and looked at it again. The following is a new technology using
 
Arrest made in 1972 Mill Creek cold case murder
Coffee cup leads to arrest in 1972 cold case murder in Snohomish County
Curious.
Do you think the Nevada Police could be persuaded to use the same method they used in Snohomish county to reopen my cousins case? It would be quite the miracle for this family to get some closure. I am told the chances of them looking a what happened to my cousin are practically nill.... Still there is the hope. They did not have near the forensics then what was available back then. I believe the method used to identify Susies remains were her dental records. Yikes! I think we should and we must reopen her case and just see if there is anything at all the perp left behind using advanced technology.
 
After a 46-year search, Terrence Miller, who was identified as a suspect through genetic genealogy from DNA extracted from one of the victim’s boots and DNA from a coffee cup discarded by the suspect, was arrested at his home Wednesday morning.
Yaay!
Miller was identified as a suspect with the help of a lab and a genetic genealogist.
See? We should NEVER give up on our loved ones, no matter how long ago the murder happened. For some of us it kinda hands around like a black hole that needs serious closure.

http://mynorthwest.com/1342662/mill-creek-cold-case-murder-arrest-1972/
 
Hello <modsnip> please email me or respond to this mcvegan
Bonanza High School alum
 

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