Serial killer in SC/NC

[rumaj]

Reward offered for tip leading to arrest
By Mike Hixenbaugh
Rocky Mount Telegram

Thursday, August 27, 2009

A New Jersey-based charity is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest in the murders of five Rocky Mount women.

Peter Pinto of the Kefalas-Pinto Foundation also made a $10,000 donation to a community group working to raise awareness about the string of murders that date back to 2005, Pinto’s attorney Anthony Pantano said.

“Mr. Pinto was watching the news and saw a story about the case in Rocky Mount,” Pantano said. “It looks like this is just a horrible situation, and he wants to do whatever he can to help.”

At least five Rocky Mount women, all black, have been abducted, killed and abandoned in fields and wooded areas since 2005, and three other women with similar profiles are missing. Investigators believe the homicides, as well as the murder of a sixth woman yet to be identified, might be linked.

Bodies of all the victims – Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, Melody Wiggins, 29, and Jarneice Hargrove, 31 – were found between 2005 and early this year along the same rural stretch outside Rocky Mount.

Authorities are searching for at least three missing women in connection with the investigation: Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster, 37; Joyce Renee Durham, 46; and Christine Marie Boone, 43.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight won’t reveal details about the investigation into the murders but recently said the task force of local, state and federal authorities has tracked more than 300 leads.

Investigators won’t say for sure if they believe the murders are related, but some outside profilers are certain the crimes are the work of a serial killer.

Pantano said he and his client are working with Councilman Andre Knight, Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight and the Rocky Mount Police Department to set up the reward.

“I’m excited and thankful that someone outside our community saw how important it is to help this city and county to catch the perpetrator,” Andre Knight said. “I count it a blessing they made this nice donation for the reward and for the families.”

Knight, also president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he hopes both the city and county will offer to match the reward.

The $10,000 donated to Missing or Murdered Sisters, headed by Stephanie Jones, will be used to help families of victims and to continue the group’s awareness campaign. Pinto also has expressed interest in offering more financial help in the future.

“(Pinto) is willing to do whatever he can do to help bring justice for these families,” Pantano said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Developments expected in slain women cases
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 | 11:47 AM

TARBORO -- The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office is expected to announce a development in the murders of six Rocky Mount women.

Sheriff James Knight will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. but he would not give details about what would be revealed.

The sheriff's office formed a task force in June with the State Bureau of Investigation and asked the FBI to consult after a sixth body was found along rural roads outside Rocky Mount. Authorities have not confirmed the deaths are related.

The first woman was reported missing in 2005. Three other women are still missing.

Authorities say the women share similar backgrounds.
PHOTO OF BILLBOARD AT:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6993310
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Arrest made in serial case

Pittman a suspect in one of five deaths that may be related

By Mike Hixenbaugh
Rocky Mount Telegram

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Authorities have made an arrest in the murder of one of the five Rocky Mount women found dead in Edgecombe County since 2005, family members of the victim confirmed today.

Diana Nicholson said a detective working the case contacted her to tell her authorities had arrested 31-year-old Antwan Maurice Pittman in connection with the murder of her daughter, 28-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson.

Nicholson’s body was discovered March 7 in the woods off Marriott Road, three weeks after her mother reported her missing from East Rocky Mount.

Nicholson was only partially clothed, authorities said, and she had been strangled.

“I’m so happy they found the man who killed my baby,” Diana Nicholson, struggling to speak as she wept moments after learning of the arrest. “I want to know why he did it. I want to know. I know he did it. I think he did the other murders, too.”

Taraha was the fourth of five such victims discovered along the same rural stretch in Western Edgecombe County since 2005.

Pittman, a registered sex offender previously convicted of indecent liberties with a child, was arrested on Aug. 12 for driving with a revoked license, among other charges. He was being held in Nash County jail on the charges, awaiting a court date later this month, according to court records.

Authorities would not comment on the case.

Officials from both the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office and the Rocky Mount Police Department earlier announced plans for the press conference about developments in the case to be held at 2:30 p.m. today outside the sheriff’s office in Tarboro.

At least five Rocky Mount women, all black, have been abducted, killed and abandoned in fields and wooded areas since 2005, and three other women with similar profiles are missing. Investigators believe the homicides, as well as the murder of a sixth woman yet to be identified, might be linked.

Each of the victims had a history of drug abuse and suspected prostitution.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight is leading a task force investigation of the murders that includes the FBI, the SBI and the Rocky Mount Police Department.

Bodies of all the victims – Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, Melody Wiggins, 29, and Jarneice Hargrove, 31 – were found between 2005 and early this year along the same rural stretch outside Rocky Mount.

Authorities are searching for at least three missing women in connection with the investigation: Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster, 37; Joyce Renee Durham, 46; and Christine Marie Boone, 43.

Investigators won’t say for sure if they believe the murders are related, but some outside profilers are certain the crimes are the work of a serial killer.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Suspect in Rocky Mount case goes to court


By Mike Hixenbaugh
The Rocky Mount Telegram

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

TARBORO — The man accused of strangling a Rocky Mount woman and dumping her body in the woods made his first court appearance on those charges Wednesday.

Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, showed no emotion and said little during the brief hearing at the Edgecombe County courthouse. Pittman faces one count of first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson.

Authorities said they will continue investigating if Pittman had anything to do with the deaths of four other women killed in similar circumstances since 2005.

Nicholson's mother, Diana Nicholson, wiped tears as bailiffs escorted the shackled suspect into the courtroom.

“When I saw him, I just had so many questions,” Nicholson said. “Why? Why would he kill my baby?”

District Court Judge Pell Cooper granted Pittman a probable cause hearing for Sept. 16 and appointed two attorneys — Tommy Moore and Tom Sallenger — to defend him. District Attorney Robert Evans represented the state during the hearing.

Taraha Nicholson's body was discovered March 7 in the woods in rural Edgecombe County, three weeks after her mother reported her missing. Nicholson was partially clothed, authorities said, and she had been choked to death, according to an autopsy.

Nicholson was the fourth victim discovered since 2005 along the same rural stretch in western Edgecombe County. Police have yet to identify a sixth woman found dead in February inside city limits.

Although members of a task-force investigation have refrained from sharing details of the case, some outside profilers have said they are certain the crimes are the work of a serial killer.

All the known victims were black women from low-income families in Rocky Mount. Most were known to have peddled sex to feed drug habits, according to friends and family.

Those similarities lead some family members to believe Pittman, a registered sex offender, might be responsible for the other murders as well.

Pittman, known to have lived within a few miles of all the victims at different times since the early '90s, was arrested on Aug. 12 for driving with a revoked license and failure to register his address as a sex offender. He was in Nash County jail on those charges this week when police charged him with Nicholson's murder.

Pittman was transferred Wednesday to Central Prison in Raleigh for his protection, jail officials said. He's being held with no bond.

Authorities would not say what led to Pittman's arrest, and it remains unclear if police believe Pittman might be a suspect in the other murders.

Pittman's mother, Gloria Pittman, dismissed the possibility, saying Wednesday her son is “incapable of killing someone.” She believes authorities are pinning the murder on her son to relieve media pressure surrounding the case.

Meanwhile, relatives of the other victims said they see hope in Pittman's arrest.

“We pray to God, if this is the guy, they draw connections between him and the other murders,” said Eunetta Whitaker, sister-in-law to the most recent victim, Jarneice Hargrove. “We miss Jarneice so much — she made us laugh — and so we're just hoping this leads to justice.”

Anthony Barnes, a Raleigh-based bail bondsman, said he freed Pittman from Nash County jail in 2007 after Pittman was accused of soliciting prostitutes in Rocky Mount, a charge that was dropped after the arresting officer left the department.

Pittman was convicted in 1994 of taking indecent sexual liberties with a 2-year-old, according to criminal records. He also had been convicted of assault, larceny, trespassing and resisting police in recent years.

Bodies of all the victims — Nicholson, 28, Hargrove, 31, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, and Melody Wiggins, 29 — were found between 2005 and early this year along the same rural stretch outside the city. Police are searching for three other missing women — Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster, 37, Joyce Renee Durham, 46, and Christine Boone, 43 — in connection with the investigation.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

How the Media Treat Murder
Why isn't the story of several missing women in North Carolina getting attention?


By Krista Gesaman | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 21, 2009

Ten women have been found slain or have been declared missing in Rocky Mount, N.C., in recent years. But the rest of the country hasn't heard about a possible serial killer stalking the young women in this Southern town of 60,000. The latest victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, was identified on Oct. 12. Why have the Rocky Mount homicides been largely ignored?

"When you think about the famous missing-person cases over the last few years it's Chandra Levy, Natalee Holloway, and Laci Peterson," notes Sam Sommers, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University. All these women had a few things in common—they were white, educated, and came from middle-class families. The victims in Rocky Mount—which residents describe as a "typical Southern town," and is about 40 percent white and more than 50 percent black—were different. They were all African-American, many were poor, and some had criminal histories including drug abuse and prostitution.

"If it was someone of a different race, things would have been dealt with the first time around; it wouldn't have taken the fifth or sixth person to be murdered," says Andre Knight, a city-council member and president of the local NAACP chapter. "All these women knew each other and lived in the same neighborhood; this is the sign of a potential serial killer. When it didn't get the kind of attention it needed, it made the African-American community frustrated."

Police have not officially linked all the murders and disappearances, but community members claim the similarities among the women, their lifestyles, and the location of their bodies make a connection all too obvious. "If you find two bodies in the same location, this could be the work of the same person or people," says Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley, who would not comment on a connection, but implied the possibility.

Rumors are running rampant around the town about the identity of the serial killer. There is not much physical evidence, leading some to speculate it's a former law-enforcement officer or someone in the military. Others have deduced that the killer is targeting specific women as a form of revenge for contracting HIV from a prostitute. Along with Smallwood, the murders of Taraha Nicholson, 28, Jarniece Hargrove, 31, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, Melody Wiggins, 29, and Denise Williams, 21, remain unsolved. Authorities are also searching for Yolanda Lancaster, 37, Joyce Renee Durham, 46, and Christine Boone, 43.

One man is in custody for the murder of Nicholson, who was the fourth victim, discovered back in 2005. This past September, police charged Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, with her murder. He is accused of strangling Nicholson and dumping her partially clothed body in the woods. So far, authorities have not linked Pittman to the other murders. "There's a lot of mixed sentiments about Pittman," says Knight, referring to community speculation about whether police have charged the right man.


MORE AT: ( 3 page article)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218911
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[WOLFPACK]

mostly poor prostitutes and drug addicts had a lot to do with underpublicizing the case...I think that had more to do with it than the fact the victims were black....

Reminds me of Grim sleeper and the case in Wisconsin..

[rumaj]

Officers increase reward for conviction of Jeff Davis murders

Tina Marie Macias • tmacias@theadvertiser.com • October 28, 2009

The reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for murdering eight Jefferson Davis Parish women is now $85,000.

That is an increase from $35,000 and was announced at a press conference today held by Jeff Davis Sheriff Ricky Edwards. Tips can be made by calling 824-6662, or visiting www.jeffdaviscrimes.net.

The reward money is being offered by the Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney's Office, the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff's Office and the FBI. Lamar Advertising has partnered with the Multi-Agency Task Force to use electronic and paper billboards in southwest Louisiana.

Since 2005, Loretta Chaisson Lewis, Ernestine Daniels Patterson, Kristen Gary Lopez, Whitnei Dubois, Laconia "Muggy" Brown, Crystal Benoit Zeno, Brittney Gary and Necole Jean Guillory have gone missing and turned up dumped in fields and canals.

It is believed that one person is responsible for the killings. Edwards today admitted that a "serial murder" is likely responsible for the deaths.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Smallwood's brother in prison for serial killings


By MIke Hixenbaugh
Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, October 30, 2009

The brother of one of seven Rocky Mount women found dead since 2003 is a convicted serial killer two states away, officials in Lexington, Ky., confirmed Friday.

Robert Franklin Smallwood Jr. was sentenced in November 2007 to three life sentences after pleading guilty in the murders of three women from December 1999 to April 2006. Robert Smallwood, the 35-year-old brother of Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, is considered Lexington’s only known serial killer.

Rocky Mount police are aware of the brother’s background, Capt. Laura Fahnestock said, pointing out that Robert Smallwood had been incarcerated since October 2007, prior to the deaths of his sister and three other Rocky Mount women considered in the probe.

Robert Smallwood, 35, pleaded guilty in 2007 to nine separate counts connected to the deaths of Doris Roberts in 1999, Sonora Allen in 2002 and Erica Butler in 2006, as well as the 2003 rape of retired school teacher Viola Greene, all in Kentucky.

All of the Kentucky murder victims, as in the Rocky Mount cases, were known to have traded sex to feed drug addictions, according to criminal records and 2007 media reports.

“For a victim of a suspected serial killer to also be the sibling of a serial killer, that’s very rare,” said John Kelly, president of the New Jersey-based System to Apprehend Lethal Killers, which has been studying the case. “You don’t see that. Here you have two damaged people, in different regards, coming from the same family. It’s tragic.”

Robert Smallwood is being held at a medium-security prison in Sandy Hook, Ky., according to Kentucky Department of Corrections officials.

The confirmation of the family connection came a day after dozens of Rocky Mount residents gathered to remember Elizabeth Smallwood, eight months after a prison work crew uncovered her skeletal remains off Melton Drive. Authorities finally identified the body earlier this month, but a cause of death has not been determined.

MORE AT:
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/smallwoods-brother-in-prison-for-serial-killings-928986.html
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[WOLFPACK]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/15/1316087/agent-man-may-be-linked-to-deaths.html



Search warrant links N.C. suspect to 5 slain women
By EMERY P. DALESIO
Associated Press Writer
Posted: Monday, Mar. 15, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. A man accused of killing a woman whose decomposing body was found dumped in a rural field is a suspect in four similar slayings, a state homicide investigator said.

State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent E.D. Smith makes the connection in a search warrant filed Friday and released Monday. The document authorized homicide investigators to look for evidence at a Halifax County mobile home where Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, once lived.

Pittman was charged in September with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 29. Pittman's DNA matched semen recovered from Nicholson's body, which was found in March 2009.

The bodies of Nicholson, Jarneice Hargrove, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, and Ernestine Battle were all dumped in fields along a rural stretch of road outside Rocky Mount. Christine Boone, 43, was found earlier this month about 20 miles away near a mobile home where Pittman lived when the woman disappeared in 2006, Smith said in seeking the search warrant to comb the trailer.

All five women had a history of drug abuse and prostitution, Smith said, and there is "probable cause" that Pittman was involved in their deaths.

Pittman has been charged only in Nicholson's death.

A State Highway Patrol trooper found Pittman asleep in a car on the day Hargrove disappeared about 200 yards away from where her body was discovered about a month later, Smith said. Pittman also grew up and worked on a farm near the vicinity of where those three bodies were found in Edgecombe County, according to the search warrant.

Pittman remains in jail. A message for his attorney was not returned Monday.

The SBI has been working with local police and sheriff's departments since announcing in June that there had been a series of unsolved slayings of black women in and near Rocky Mount. Boone had been one of three other Rocky Mount women whose disappearances were part of the investigation.

Officers with the Edgecombe and Halifax county sheriff's departments, and with Rocky Mount police did not return calls on Monday.

[WOLFPACK]

http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=12287064

Investigators look for evidence to break Brittanee Drexel case
Posted: Apr 09, 2010 7:35 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 12, 2010 5:59 PM EDT
Video Gallery <1|2>
Persons of interest discovered in missing teen case
2:09
Persons on interest in the Drexel disappearance
2:41
RAW: Dawn Drexel talks about leads on daughter's disappearance3:25 RAW: Lt. Johnson talks about leads in Drexel case2:19

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Investigators in Myrtle Beach and Georgetown County say they have yet to collect enough evidence to proceed with charges in the disapperance of Brittanee Drexel, who went missing from Myrtle Beach nearly a year ago.

Sgt. Neil Johnson of the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday investigators have pinpointed three or four people of interest in the disapparance of the 18-year-old New York girl. Johnson said all persons of interest have been previously questioned by authorities, but could not confirm an exact time frame in which they were questioned.

Two of the suspects, according to Johnson, have been subjected to lie dectector tests. Johnson, however, has refrained from commenting on the results of those tests.

"At this time, there is no reason to believe these people [the persons of interest] know Drexel directly," Johnson said.

Myrtle Beach Police Det. Vincent Dorio said the recent advancements in the case have developed from a tip, and detectives are confident the information is leading them in the right direction to finding who might be responsible for her disappearance.

"The police seem really confident, so there's a lot going through my head right now," said Brittanee's mother, Dawn Drexel. "You go through a lot of emotions. Where is she? Is she OK? Is she not OK?"

"We're going to continue our efforts looking for Brittanee," said Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons. "There's just a lot of time and a lot of space to account for in her disappearance and a lot of places that she could be."

Myrtle Beach Police and working with the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office and the Charleston County Sheriff's Office on the case.

Based on information received by investigators, they "don't think she's still alive," Johnson commented.

Investigators are not releasing any information on the tips they received because they fear it might jeopardize the recently revitalized investigation.

Myrtle Beach Police say the Rochester, NY, teen disappeared after she was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. Drexel, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance, was in the area against the will of her mother.

Contact was lost between Drexel and her family in New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities say she disappeared. The last signal from her cell phone came the next night near the South Santee River.

Since she went missing, multiple search efforts for the teen have been executed from Horry County to Charleston County. While investigators have searched throughout three counties, each search effort has left police empty handed.

In a December 2009 attempt, search team consisting of approximately 70 people combed through an unidentified area of Georgetown County after a pair of knock-off Prada sunglasses were discovered near a body of water.

Those sunglasses, according to investigators, matched those worn by Drexel in a photo taken with friends in Myrtle Beach before her disappearance. Monica Caison with the CUE Center for Missing Persons says the sunglasses were located by a group of people collecting wood for a fire in December.

Members of the CUE Center, in coordination with investigators from the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, Charleston County Sheriff's Office and the Myrtle Beach Police Department used search dogs, multiple boats, divers and a remote-controlled robotic camera to search the immediate area where the Radar sunglasses were found.

Despite using a variety of search tactics, Caison said investigators exhausted their search without any additional leads.

CrimeStoppers of the Lowcountry continues to offer a reward for any information on Drexel's whereabouts. Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

Of course she's dead...

I tend to discount people who knew her being involved.
I think a perp was just trolling for a victim and stumbled across her by accident/happenstance.
Unfortunate for her.

[rumaj]

Mother of missing NC woman waits for word
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 9, 2010

TARBORO, N.C. (AP) -- For more than a year, Juray Tucker has worn a yellow ribbon on her nursing scrubs. A flier with a photograph of her missing daughter is taped to her car window. Every few hours, Tucker's husband checks their home phone for a message, still hoping she hasn't fallen victim to a possible serial killer.

"I got to be realistic -- whenever the phone rings," Tucker, a 59-year-old nursing assistant, said as she paused and shed tears in the living room of her mobile home. "It's always there. But I still hope and pray that she's alive."

Since 2006, nine African-American women have disappeared near the small central North Carolina city of Rocky Mount. Seven bodies were found along rural roads or in woods outside town, most so decomposed that investigators couldn't tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides.

Police say they have a suspect in five of the deaths in custody and talk of a possible serial killer. Yet Tucker's daughter is one of two women who have not been found.

For Tucker, this is a time of anguish and waiting that tests her faith and leads her to question her parenting.

"When I'm alone I always think, 'Lord, did I do everything that I could do? Have I done everything that I could do when it comes to her?'" she said.

After the discovery of the latest body, Gov. Beverly Perdue sent the National Guard last month to comb around Rocky Mount.

Tucker's daughter -- Yolanda Renee Lancaster, a 37-year-old mother of two -- wasn't found, and her mother says that gives her a glimmer of hope even as she agonizes over her disappearance.

She now questions decisions she made raising Yolanda when she was young: boys could not visit the house unsupervised. Her daughter wasn't allowed to go out to the movies at night.

Perhaps she was too strict -- maybe her rules pushed Yolanda into taking needless risks, Tucker wondered as she gazed from the living room of her home that houses her grandson's bed and family pictures.

Like other victims, Lancaster had a history of alcohol and drug abuse, habits that Tucker said her daughter developed after she began sneaking out of the house in high school.

"After you do everything that you can do to raise them the right way, when they grow up you got no more say. They choose their own way," Tucker said.

Lancaster disappeared in February 2009 after an argument with her boyfriend, said Tucker, noting the spats were common. But after a few weeks, she said she became worried. Normally, Lancaster would at least call to check on her two young children, whom Tucker has raised since they were infants.

The 11-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy used to ask about their mother. Now the questions have ceased.

MORE AT:
http://www.reflector.com/state-news/mother-missing-nc-woman-waits-word-34862
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Investigators dig up new leads in suspected serial killings
By J. Eric Eckard
Telegram Correspondent
Thursday, May 20, 2010

Although no new charges against Antwan Pittman have been filed, investigators have turned up more evidence in a string of murders in and around Rocky Mount that date back to 2003, authorities said.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight is heading up a task force of local, state and federal agents established to look into possible links in the deaths of 10 people and two women reported missing.

“In the last 60 days, new leads have developed,” Knight said. “The task force is diligently following up on those leads. I want to assure the public that we are continuing to work diligently on these cases.”

Knight would not elaborate on what new clues have been discovered.

Nine women and one man have been found murdered over the past seven years in rural areas, mostly in Edgecombe County. Two other women are reported missing, and some investigators have said that the slayings could be the work of a possible serial killer.

Pittman is charged with first-degree murder in the death of one of the women — Taraha Nicholson — and authorities said he’s a person of interest in at least five of the other murders. The 31-year-old Pittman, a registered sex offender, was arrested in September, and authorities said his DNA was found on Nicholson’s body.

One woman’s body was found in a wooded area behind Pittman’s former residence in Scotland Neck. Five of the women were found along Seven Bridges Road, and at one point, Pittman lived nearby in the Battleboro community.

The victims in the case had histories of prostitution and illegal drug use, and Pittman is known to have solicited prostitutes in the past. The lone male victim, Travis Raregus Harrison, 24, was a known crossdresser and had a similar background to the other victims.

The suspect’s trial was expected to start on May 3, but both the prosecutor and defense team said they needed more time to review the evidence in the case. And with more evidence coming in from law enforcement officers, the trial could be delayed for months.

District Attorney Robert Evans requested the delay at a hearing last month. Evans did not return phone calls seeking a comment for this story.

Memorials have been held for the victims in the case, and relatives of Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster and Joyce Renee Durham continue to hold out hope that they’ll turn up alive.

So far, the bodies of Nicholson, Harrison, Jackie Thorpe, Jarniece Hargrove, Christine Boone, Ernestine Battle, Denise Williams, Elizabeth Smallwood, Roberta Williams and Melody Wiggins have been found in wooded areas northeast of Rocky Mount.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CASE

Unraveling A Mystery

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/unraveling-a-mystery
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[WOLFPACK]

for that area around Rocky Mount NC.