DNA sample links inmate to 3 slayings

FLINT - A painter serving time in a state prison camp has been linked to the killings of three Flint women between 1998 and 2001, authorities said.

Ivan L. Page, 38, faces murder charges for allegedly strangling the women during a four-year span in Flint.

Officials said DNA evidence connected Page to the unsolved homicides that had stumped investigators for years: Patricia Peeler, 34, whose nude body was found May 13, 1998, on E. Witherbee Street.

Lisa Marie Price, 31, whose body was found partially hidden on the lawn at 5610 Susan St. on Oct. 8, 1999.

Deena Brown, 34, who was found strangled with an article of clothing outside Northridge Academy on Jan. 20, 2001.

Police were to swear out a three-count warrant this morning charging Page with first-degree murder.

Although police had DNA evidence connecting the three deaths, Page's name didn't surface until last summer when police were alerted that there had been a hit in the state DNA database.

Page was sentenced to prison in March 2006 on a cocaine and weapons conviction in Flint and was ordered to give a DNA sample on his birthday.

When the sample made it into the state database, police said Page's name came up linked to DNA found at three crime scenes.