In events much like an episode of Criminal Minds, the bodies of women in Chillicothe, Ohio have been appearing in creeks near the town, and law enforcement fears that this may be the work of a serial killer.
At least six women have gone missing in the little town in the last year. Four bodies have been discovered, all dumped in water.
The first to disappear was Charlotte Trego, a mother of two in her late 20s, who was known to take drugs. Her friend, Tameka Lynch, a mother of three in her 30s, vanished in the same day. Six months later, 37-year-old Wanda Lemons, also a mother, went missing. Shasta Himelrick’s body was found two months later; she was reported to have been pregnant. More women turned up missing and dead, all with similar tales.
Police say most of the women were low-risk victims; some were drug users and prostitutes, and some knew each other. Their similarities suggest a possible serial killer, and several county and state investigators have teamed up to solve the crimes.
The FBI is also assisting by creating a profile of the killer.
Staff Lieutenant Mike Preston of the Ross County Sheriff’s Department said to the Washington Post:
I don’t want to come out and say ‘yes, we have a serial killer,’ but it’s a small community that we live in … and the number of females who have come up missing, and then the bodies that we’ve found, that’s quite a bit for our community.
Community members are growing scared. “The community is starting to get concerned,” Preston said. “Everyone just wants answers.
With six women missing and four dead, in a town of only 21,000, there is an urgent need to find the person responsible, with investigators asking the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious behavior to police.
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