CLEVELAND, Ohio a The day after 14-year-old Alianna DeFreeze was found killed in an abandoned building in the city’s Kinsman neighborhood, City Councilman Zack Reed asserted that a serial killer might be responsible in the deaths of four other women in that area.
But Cuyahoga County Jail records show that Christopher Whitaker, the man accused of killing Alianna, was jailed during two of the four other slayings that Reed cited. In the other two cases, he was days away from being arrested in unrelated cases.
Cleveland police on Friday said that they’ve tested Whitaker’s DNA against DNA in the CODIS cold-case crimes database and found no matches in any other major crimes, although the data is still being analyzed.
Police and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner used Whitaker’s DNA to link him to DeFreeze’s death. He is charged with aggravated murder.
Reed said he is glad the police arrested a suspect in the case and hopes that the charges stick. Reed said that he doesn’t regret sparking fears of a serial killer because he said that he reported the smell of dead bodies near the home of serial killer Anthony Sowell.
Sowell was not under investigation until months after the deaths.
“It’s still disconcerting that there are four unsolved murders of women on East 93rd,” Reed said. “We need to find out what is the lure to 93rd and why do these horrific crimes happen there? Whey do they feel like they can come here and do that?”
Jazmine Trotter, and Ashley Leszyeski were killed between March 22 and May 28 of 2013. Leszyeski was found about a half-mile away and Trotter about a mile and a half away from the building where DeFreeze was found.
Whitaker was in the Cuyahoga County Jail between March 21, 2013 and Sept. 17, 2013.
Christine Malone was last seen alive on March 18. She was reported missing March 23 and was found dead the same day in a building about two blocks away from where DeFreeze was found, according to police.
The fourth woman, Jameela Hason, was found dead was found dead Dec. 17, 2012 in an abandoned home on Manor Avenue, about a half-mile away from where DeFreeze was found. She was stabbed 11 times in the neck and had spinal injuries.
Whitaker was not in custody that day, but he was arrested the next day on a burglary charge after he walked into the University Heights Police Department and asked officers for a ride to the nearest homeless shelter, according to police reports.
University Heights officers found he had an active warrant in a burglary case from Bedford and took him into custody. He was in Bedford police’s custody until he was taken to the county jail on Dec. 20, the records say.
Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said during a news conference on Wednesday that investigators continuously search for connections between crimes, including homicides. They are also investigating any connection to any crimes that have DNA evidence entered into the national database.
“I won’t live through another Anthony Sowell,” Reed said. “I’m glad that they’re doing a thorough investigation to ensure that this individual is the person who killed Alianna. But we’ve been down this road before, and days, weeks, and months go by and we find out that’s not the person who did it.”
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