Prosecutors say DNA evidence links suspect to Kansas City serial killings

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Prosecutors in Kansas City, Missouri, say D-N-A evidence links a man described by neighbors as mild-mannered and friendly to the serial killings of women and girls in the Kansas City area.

Lorenzo Gilyard is suspected of killing 13 women and girls whose strangled, shoeless bodies were found in secluded spots around the city, between 1977 and 1993. Most of the victims were prostitutes.

Gilyard is being tried for seven of the killings. Prosecutors dropped the other six counts today, but those charges could be refiled later.

If convicted on even one count of first-degree murder, the former trash company supervisor's only possible sentence would be life without parole. Prosecutors agreed in January not seek the death penalty as long as Gilyard's attorneys agreed to a trial before a judge without a jury.

Gilyard's attorney says his client "did not kill anyone."