DNA links man to slayings

DETROIT -- Police said Tuesday they have linked the DNA of a 37-year-old man to a string of murders of prostitutes on the city's east side.

The man was arrested July 30 on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct after he grabbed a suspected prostitute, police said. Investigators say the man was trying to kill the woman.

A warrant has not yet been issued against the man in the prostitute killings, but he is in police custody.

Police said the man, an east-side resident, fit the profile of a suspect they had been seeking since 1999.

Police on Tuesday said the man's DNA is linked to the murders of four prostitutes during a six-year period. Detectives believe the man could be responsible for more murders.

From 1999 to 2005, at least 13 prostitutes were killed in the area bounded by Van Dyke, Alter Road, East Jefferson and McNichols.

The women, most of them drug users, were under 30.

The victims died as a result of blunt force trauma, police said.

In some cases, the women knew their killer, police said.

Last month, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings released a sketch of a man considered a "person of interest" in the prostitute slayings.

Residents on the east side were relieved at the news Tuesday evening that a suspect was in custody.

"I've heard of the murders. Needless to say, it's a big relief," said community activist Toni McIlwain, president of the Ravenwood community organization.

The group represents homeowners and residents in a 40-block area of Detroit's east side near Harper and Chalmers.

"We're so close (to the area where the murders occurred)," said McIlwain of the community center she operates in the area.

McIlwain said the murders hit too close to the community center that children visit for summer and after-school programs.

"It's bad enough that the kids see (the prostitution)," McIlwain said.

"If they targeted any of the prostitutes, they could target the kids as well."