Police intensify search of vacant homes in Gary, Ind.
GARY, Ind. — Police in this northwest Indiana city on Tuesday fanned out across neighborhoods where investigators found the bodies of six women they suspect were killed by Darren Deon Vann.
Gary Police chief Larry McKinley said 20 officers, along with a cadaver dog, inspected 90 homes, and he will dispatch police officers to other neighborhoods Wednesday as Vann is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the killing of Afrika Hardy in the nearby city of Hammond.
Gary spokeswoman Chelsea Whittington said police had no specific information suggesting there are more bodies in some of the city's roughly 10,000 vacant homes. The cadaver dog was dispatched out of an abundance of caution.
"The purpose of the search is to ensure that the structures are completely vacant, get them boarded up and place them on the list for demolition," McKinley said. "We need our residents to feel safe and for them to know that their police department is out on the streets taking the measures to ensure this."
Authorities in Gary and Hammond are investigating Vann in the deaths of seven women. The 43-year-old Gary resident allegedly told police he committed more killings, some that date back to the 1990s. Authorities are trying to corroborate his claims.
McKinley said the FBI is assisting Gary and Hammond authorities with profiling experts and other technical experts. Gary is also coordinating with police in nearby Merrillville, Ind. He said investigators there have turned up evidence that suggests one of the victims, Anith Jones, might have been killed in that town and then moved to an abandoned home in Gary.
Police in Austin, where Vann was convicted in 2009 for aggravated rape, and law enforcement in the Chicago area have begun to review cold murder cases to see whether Vann could have connections. The Cook County Sheriff's Department is focused on unsolved cases involving runaways and those suspected of engaging in prostitution.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he will dispatch officers in the coming days to comb abandoned properties along the Illinois-Indiana border.
Vann has been charged with the murder of Hardy in Hammond. Gary police will get their first chance to directly question Vann on Wednesday after he makes his initial court appearance.
Vann allegedly said he left Hardy, 19, dead in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Hammond last week. Vann had arranged to meet Hardy, a prostitute, through an ad on a website called Chicagobackpage.com. He told investigators he strangled his victim with a cord, according to court documents.
Hardy's killing triggered an investigation that led authorities to Vann, who allegedly admitted killing at least six other women whose bodies he discarded in abandoned houses in Gary. McKinley said Gary police plan to file cases against Vann in the coming days.
Police say Vann — who used the screen name Big Boy Appetite — arranged to meet Hardy — who used the screen name Octavia and Ms. Youngin — last Thursday, but he canceled, saying he couldn't get a babysitter.
An associate of Hardy, who was a partner in the escort service with the victim, received another call from Vann on Friday to arrange a meeting. Hardy texted her associate that Big Boy Appetite was in the room with her at 5:13 p.m. The associate called and texted Hardy, when it appeared the appointment was going beyond the allotted time.
The associate told police she received a text back that did not make sense and made her suspicious. The associate and a male friend went to the hotel to check on Hardy. They entered the room, and the associate discovered Hardy's body in the bathtub.
The two "found Hardy's body in the bathtub, and the water from the shower was running," according to an affidavit filed with the Lake County Superior Court. Inside the room, investigators found a broken fingernail, a button from a shirt and a torn condom wrapper.
The female associate provided police with a phone number she said was used by Big Boy Appetite to arrange the meeting with Hardy. Police spotted a dark-colored SUV in a hotel surveillance video that was parked not far from Hardy's room. A man in a dark jacket and sweat shirt was also spotted in the motel parking lot in the video.
Police obtained a search warrant of records for the cellphone used by Vann, which led them to a home in Gary, where they spotted an SUV matching the one in the hotel surveillance video. The vehicle belonged to Vann's sister.
Upon being told his rights, Vann allegedly acknowledged he had killed Hardy, saying he choked her with his hands, then used a cord. Vann allegedly told police he moved Hardy's body to the bathtub and used white gloves during the slaying.
A search of the sister's vehicle turned up a cellphone the suspect acknowledged belonged to Hardy, a men's shirt with a missing button and condoms that were the same style and brand as the wrapper on the floor of the motel room. Police found a white glove inside the house and a jacket and hooded sweat shirt.
At a news conference Monday, Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said Vann told officers he had "messed up" in committing the latest killing and was surprised police tracked him down so quickly.
In the Texas case in which Vann was convicted of aggravated rape, the victim told police she went to Vann's apartment, where he asked if she was a police officer. After she told him no, he choked her, hit her several times in the face and told her he could kill her. He then raped her.
Vann pleaded guilty to the incident in 2007 and served five years in prison for the crime, according to the Austin Police Department.
In Gary, neighbors of one of the victims, Teaira Batey, had mixed feelings about how Gary police and city officials have reacted to the killings. Batey had been reported missing to Gary police in January.
"I think they've done the best they can to deal with all the vacants, and they're trying to put people at ease," LaDonna Bazziel said. "Hopefully, this puts the fire in them to start moving faster to do something about all these abandoned homes."
Last month, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson announced plans for the first of 1,000 homes to be leveled with the help of a $6.6 million state grant. This month, the city completed the demolition of the old Sheraton Hotel, an eyesore that had become a symbol of this once great steel town's fall. Police followed up on an anonymous tip that Vann had stashed a body in the rubble. They searched the site with a cadaver dog Tuesday but found nothing.
Tuesday, McKinley, the Gary police chief, said city officials were working to speed the boarding up and demolition of vacant structures.
Some residents, including some of Batey's friends, felt frustration with the city for failing to find her sooner.
"No matter how she lived her life, she was a person," said Angie Johnson, a friend of Batey. "How can someone just disappear and it take so long for anybody to do anything about it?"
The Lake County coroner's office also released some details on Tuesday about two victims that authorities have not yet been able to identify.
One woman was 5-foot-3 and was wearing a silver-colored linked bracelet with the phrase "Best Aunt." The woman was also wearing two silver-colored rings, one with a heart shape and the other with scalloped engravings.
The other victim was 5 foot tall and was wearing black Rue21 jeans size 3 / 4 and white Nike gym shoes.