Ok, read this story, compare it to the facts in our Jane Doe case, along with the information that websleuthers have posted, and tell me just how similar this sounds:
Sam Lewin 9/21/2004
Police are describing a Nebraska man arrested for rape as a person of interest in a series of slayings in the South and Midwest, with American Indian women a disproportionately high number of the victims.
Carl Lawson, a 32-year-old Lincoln resident, was taken into custody this month. A trucker, Lawson faces rape, kidnapping and assault with intent to kill charges stemming from the alleged abduction of a woman from a truck stop in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. The 51-year-old woman reported to investigators that Lawson told her "you can bite me, scratch. The first three or four I killed. It bothered me, but I kinda like it now."
She says she was raped and beaten, eventually passing out during the assault. When she came to she was on the side of an interstate. A passing motorist picked her up.
Lawson has denied the accusations, saying he struck the woman following a dispute over drugs and money.
His protest aside, officials with both the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation say they are looking at Lawson in connection with a series of unsolved slayings that have baffled investigators, a case so complicated that officials are not sure how many victims there are or even how many killers are involved.
One thing is certain: many of the known victims were Native American and most are believed to have worked as prostitutes. Casey Jo Pipestem is one example. A passing motorist discovered the nude body of Pipestem, 19, on January 31 in the Texas town of Grapevine. Officials say she was choked to death and her body then dumped from a bridge. Pipestem was a member of the Seminole Tribe.
At least four victims were last seen at a truck stop, and at least three were strangled. Some were also sexually assaulted. The bodies were found near highways and creeks in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and Indiana.
Not all suspected victims of the killer have been identified. Police are still looking for help in learning the name of a woman found dead on Oct. 15 of last year in Gray County, Texas. She is described as an American Indian about 40 years old, about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 140 pounds. She had black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a man's plaid shirt and tan slacks the day before at a truck stop in Sayre, Oklahoma. Witnesses recall that she was looking for a ride.
The most recent killing appears to be Jennifer Hyman, 24, of Oklahoma City, last seen at an Oklahoma City truck stop. Hyman, a prostitute, was found nude and strangled below a Tallahatchie River bridge near Oxford, Miss. on Aug. 20.
Lawsons home in Lincoln has been searched and some items seized. His bail is currently set at $3 million.
