Atlantic City Eastbound Strangler 4 Women Found Dead behind Motel Egg Harbor Twp, Nov 2006

[LR1]

I also wonder if perhaps the person responsible for the 2006 murders, and possibly others, acted out on some beef he had with Atlantic County, NJ that somehow triggered that killing spree. Perhaps it was an an arrest, a foreclosure or loss of a job that set him off. It's a shame, actually, because AC is such a great place to have fun.

As always, just my opinion.

I would also by far put the greater likelihood of the murders being done to fuel someones sick sexual fascination. Although few of these cases match the prolific nature shown here, an average of one killing every nine days, it's almost always how these cases turn out to be. But I've had alternative theories floating around in my head such as the one you brought up here, like a beef with some entity associated with the area where they were found. Whatever the motive a couple things I think the killer almost had to know after the first victim. He was not going to stop at just one and it would not be long before they started finding the bodies.

 

[LR1]

I also wonder if they were bound in any way? Did he ties the hands or feet? It doesn't say in any articles. If not, were the arms out stretched in the water?

No reports of any ligatures but that's something I wouldn't expect this bunch to disclose if there were. Whatever the eastward facing narrative implies, you would need to lay them at a 45 degree angle from the road for them to be facing directly east and if pointing they would need to be almost parallel to the road. They would be perpendicular to the road if there heads were in the water like he drug them back into the bushes just far enough to go temporary unnoticed.

 

[Skully]

The canal isn"t that deep, you could roll the body in and then get into the water and position it yourself, I would imagine. So they were laying long-ways in the canal? Head N, Feet S, and face turned to the E. Is that correct? So the bodies would be head to feet, lined up in the canal? Just trying to envision this without drawing it out.

 

[cynical_1]

The canal isn"t that deep, you could roll the body in and then get into the water and position it yourself, I would imagine. So they were laying long-ways in the canal? Head N, Feet S, and face turned to the E. Is that correct? So the bodies would be head to feet, lined up in the canal? Just trying to envision this without drawing it out.

I picture them laying face down in the water with bodies parallel to the bank (east/west) and the top of their heads pointed east towards AC.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I interpret how Blitz described them.

 

[cynical_1]

Regarding the bolded bit, is there any way we could rule out Steven Stallworth? Definitely a local, he fits this visual description, and had same MO and victim profile. Stallworth lived in Pleasantville, which is literally a 3-minute straight shot west of the dump site. I haven't paid attention to this case awhile and can't recall if he has been ruled in or out. I can't imagine such an intriguing potential POI would be ignored this late in the game unless there was reason to do so.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_b47a2b00-2035-11e5-9d5c-ff57458359db.html

Steven Stallworth was born in 1987 which would make him 19 yrs old in 2006.

Today, July 1, 2015,an Atlantic County Grand Jury indicted Steven R. Stallworth, 28, of the 600 block of Noah's Landing, Pleasantville, for the murder between July 31, 2013 and December 1, 2013, of Tara Rogers Alicea, 30, of Monroeville, NJ — a crime of the 1st degree, and the desecration of her remains — a 2nd degree crime.
http://www.acpo.org/pressreleases/2015/070115indicted2.pdf

He appeared in court on Oct. 15, 2016. He's being held on $2 Million cash bail and appeared without an attorney.

A potential POI? Definitely.

 

[Skully]

I picture them laying face down in the water with bodies parallel to the bank (east/west) and the top of their heads pointed east towards AC.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I interpret how Blitz described them.

I envisioned them also parallel to the bank, yes, but I thought that the heads or faces if you will, were turned to the East, as if he turned the face to look at AC. So I was not understanding this correctly. The head of the body, was turned to the East. But they were face down. Thank you.

 

[sakura.shinra]

For those who suspect that the heads facing east aspect of this case has religious overtones it might be of interest to note that in 2006 the Islamic holiday of Ramadan started on Sat. September 23rd and lasted until Sun. October 22nd.

The first two victims went missing during this time.

That is very interesting to note, and it lead me to look at Islamic burial practices to see if anything stood out in regards to the positions of the AC4. Traditional Islamic burials position the deceased face up with their head pointing towards Mecca, which complicates things a little bit, since the direction of Mecca changes depending on where in the world you are. In Atlantic City, the direction of Mecca is 60[SUP]o [/SUP]Northeast. Furthermore, the fact that the killer left the women fully clothed and appears not to have engaged in sex acts with them fits the profile of a mission-oriented fundamentalist Muslim just as easily as it does for a fundamentalist Christian killer.

On the other hand, fundamentalist Islamic groups like Daesh and Boko Haram routinely use the act of rape as a weapon of terror against women, as well as forcing women to marry the same Jihadi fighters that raped them. This use of rape as a tool to generate terror is missing from the AC4 case, but that does not rule out the possibility of a Muslim killer. It just makes it less likely that, if the killer is Muslim, he belongs to a group that advocates the use of sexual assault in this way.

The thing that makes this killer less likely to be Muslim, for me, is the victims themselves. While we all know that horrific terror attacks in places like France and Australia and the US dominate the media narratives on fundamentalist Islamic groups, statistically speaking, the majority of victims of these groups are themselves Muslim.
Most of the world's terror attacks occur within Muslim communities in order to frighten people into submission to the strict interpretation of Islam adhered to by these groups. Also, Islamic groups like to "claim" their actions, and their attacks are designed to terrify while also sending a message - "Submit or risk becoming the next victim." Where is the message in the killing of four prostitutes? Why hasn't the act being claimed?

 

[euggrie]

I find the location of the bodies quite confusing, I believe they were facing down and their heads were pointing at the same direction but not east.
I made a draw on a map with the coordinates, so if they were pointing east, they would have to be laying in diagonal because the pitch is not running from west to east.

EDIT: This other picture would explain my point better, I think (sorry for the image quality, the map can't be zoomed in more)

 

[Skully]

THANK YOU! So the bodies had to be head to feet against the bank and the face were turned to the right, face down, If I am interpreting the verbiage correctly. "The heads were facing East"- so for that to happen, the faces were all turned to that position. It makes the first picture up thread correct as the little markers are head to feet towards the bank.

 

[Skully]

I was wondering too, what do these ladies wear in the cold of Oct and Nov in AC? They are found with the cloths on, and some say that is an indication of "no sex". I don't think all sex requires you to take your cloths off, but maybe your shoes, if you don't want someone to track dirt or mud into your car or home, or what ever. So he may have been into the foot thing, keeps the shoes and socks, but they are still dressed after the sex act then he strangles them, and are taken to the canal. So sex can be his thing, just not what we think.

 

[euggrie]

What I noticed tho, the ditch width might be a bit smaller than the track next to it. An average car track width is 70 inches so the ditch must be around that width in the back of the motel, but it gets much narrower when you move toward SE, so I don't think it's possible for the bodies to lay in a ~45 degrees angle because they wouldn't fit, even if they were short women.
Imho, the bodies' heads were pointing toward the southeast. It's still strange and odd that they were all in the same direction and facing down, but I don't think it's not something related to the East.

 

[Skully]

I agree, it's not something related to the East, as in religion. We are not able to view the crime scene, but I can tell you that bodies after death do strange things because they are limp, no pain involved after death, decomposition and in water there is slippage. So it is possible that he had them head & feet to the bank, because he could wedge them and they would bend and arch and stay in that position if wedged.

I think he had to re-enact an event or a first time kill, each time to satisfy his needs. he liked to see them in that position for what ever reason, other wise, just dump a body. Maybe because the first body wasn't found right away, he felt safe dumping them there.

 

[euggrie]

Ah that would be another valid interpretation, I was assuming the bodies were facing down (maybe to accelerate the decomposition of their faces?)

 

[Rachel1]

I was wondering too, what do these ladies wear in the cold of Oct and Nov in AC? They are found with the cloths on, and some say that is an indication of "no sex". I don't think all sex requires you to take your cloths off, but maybe your shoes, if you don't want someone to track dirt or mud into your car or home, or what ever. So he may have been into the foot thing, keeps the shoes and socks, but they are still dressed after the sex act then he strangles them, and are taken to the canal. So sex can be his thing, just not what we think.

I read that two of the ladies where wearing Jean crop pants (those pants that only come to calf and don't hit the ankle) and that one was wearing a skirt. I forget where I even read it at this point ( because it's been over ten years, so I've read a lot!) So I can quote where that info came from.
Anyway all seemed to be in normal attire for October-early November here. It doesn't get really cold here until later in the season.

 

[Skully]

The other thing that I wonder about is the train tracks there. I read that there was a train station. Was it a train for passengers or a freight train for transporting goods and materials. How many stops did it make and was there work being done on the tracks at that time? If anyone knows of the history of this railroad, please chime in.

 

[euggrie]

I think it's still methodic if their heads were all pointing in the same direction in the ditch, but I don't think he was trying to give a message, just probably a very OCD guy.

 

[Skully]

I read that two of the ladies where wearing Jean crop pants (those pants that only come to calf and don't hit the ankle) and that one was wearing a skirt. I forget where I even read it at this point ( because it's been over ten years, so I've read a lot!) So I can quote where that info came from.
Anyway all seemed to be in normal attire for October-early November here. It doesn't get really cold here until later in the season.

thank you, I thought maybe because it was cold, and most acts are in a car, behind a building, outside somewhere, it would be cold and they didn't undress. That would explain why they still have cloths on, they never needed to take them off if it didn't require it. I know you get what I am saying.

 

[Skully]

I think it's still methodic if their heads were all pointing in the same direction in the ditch, but I don't think he was trying to give a message, just probably a very OCD guy.

Yes, methodic, but he got something out of it, maybe just OCD, or re-enacting his first kill. They do that. Perhaps his first kill was a woman in a bath tub, face down and head turned to the side? IDK, but he didn't stop, he is still out there, just not getting caught, if not in prison or dead.

 

[Barbie619]

I find the location of the bodies quite confusing, I believe they were facing down and their heads were pointing at the same direction but not east.
I made a draw on a map with the coordinates, so if they were pointing east, they would have to be laying in diagonal because the pitch is not running from west to east.

EDIT: This other picture would explain my point better, I think (sorry for the image quality, the map can't be zoomed in more)

This mapping is very confusing. The hotel is located on the Westbound side of the Atlantic City Expressway, which would put the North & South in the opposite direction in my mind, but this map has it South & North! Can this map be flipped, maybe it's my right brain challenge.... Or not enough coffee yet!:gaah:

 

[Skully]

It's fine, I get a good idea of where they were. But yes, you can use the little compass on the map and turn the view into any direction. I use Google maps and I do it all the time. But if that is the correct NSEW, leave it, it's fine, and thank you.