You don’t hear about serial killers much these days, except when talking about those from decades past. New technology and techniques make it harder for serial killers to exist, but a man suspected of killing four people has been apprehended in Virginia.
The Washington Examiner reported that a man (who will not be named by The Daily Wire per policy) “has been charged with at least two murders so far,” and is suspected of killing two others and transporting their bodies in a shopping cart.
“We’re here today to talk about a serial killer, and that is a phrase that I’ve used sparingly in my three decades in this profession,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said during a press conference on Friday.
From the Examiner:
The most recent victims were found Wednesday in a wooded area, next to a Target shopping cart in Alexandria, Virginia, officials said. One body is believed to be that of Cheyenne Brown from Washington, D.C., who went missing in September. The other body remains unidentified.
Two other bodies have been found since August, in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Allene Elizabeth “Beth” Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville were found near each other, but their deaths occurred at different times, Davis said.
Police are looking for other potential victims.
The suspect reportedly met his victims on dating sites before luring them to motels. Authorities say at least two victims met the suspect at the Moon Inn in Alexandria. He reportedly “inflicted trauma” on the victims, though it is unclear what “trauma” was inflicted before he killed them.
Police said surveillance footage showed the suspect with Brown, the missing woman, at a Metro stop in D.C. on September 30 – the day she disappeared. Brown reportedly took the Metro to the Huntington Station, which is in Fairfax County, Virginia. Cell phone data showed she was in the area near the Moon Inn. The suspect was reportedly staying at the motel at that time.
Fairfax County police attempted to help Washington, D.C., police when they asked for assistance finding Brown, but couldn’t find her. After receiving new information, they returned to the Moon Inn. At that time, a homicide detective noticed a shopping cart nearby and, remembering other cases showing the suspect using a shopping cart, decided to look in the vacant lot across the street from the motel. There they found two bodies stuffed in a large black trash can.
The suspect has been charged “with two counts of first-degree murder and two felony counts of concealing, transporting, or altering a dead body,” the Examiner reported.
Police Chief Davis told The Washington Post that police are looking for similar crimes to see if the suspect is, indeed, a serial killer, dubbing him the “Shopping Cart Killer.”
“He didn’t suddenly turn into who he is three months ago,” Davis said, according to the Post. “That’s why we are painstakingly going through his whereabouts, his relationships [and] employment history to figure out if in fact there are other victims.”