TheLoop21.com

By: Devona Walker (Add to your loop)
Mon, 08/24/2009 - 20:01

A serial killer's on the loose, but no one seems to care.

See a photo gallery of some of the missing women.

All nine women are from the rural community of Rocky Mount, N.C. Their bodies were found along the same stretch of road just outside of town. They lived on the margins, struggling with either alcohol or drugs. The killing started in 2005.

“It seems like with minorities you don’t see them on Nancy Grace or anything like that,” said 28-year-old Stephanie Jones, a local woman who has been prodding law enforcement to take the murders seriously.   

“But there was a white lady who went missing last week. As soon as she went missing, they had a press conference. And that’s great. That’s what they should do. But around here, they should have done that too. There should have been a press conference. There should have been a search. There should have been an effort.”

In Albuquerque, N.M., another serial killer has taken the lives of 11. That killer, nicknamed the West Mesa Bone Collector, preys on Hispanic women living on the margins. In L.A., a killer coined as the Grim Sleeper has killed at least 12 black women. He’s been on the loose since 1985.

The common thread here: Women of color, dismal response from law enforcement, little attention from the media, and as a result, killers who are still on the loose. 

Last month, the FBI started to take an interest in North Carolina. But you gotta thank Jones for that. After holding a fish fry to raise the funds, Jones rented out a billboard, printing the names and faces of the dead. Soon after, the local newspaper did a feature on her efforts. Then the local police, who had not communicated with some of the family members for more than three years, started returning phone calls. A “task force” has reportedly been started. Next month, Jones hopes to have enough volunteers to search the fields where many of the bodies were found. That’s something the authorities have not yet bothered to do.

“When this last woman went missing, back in February, I knew she was another victim. I would see her everyday. She had her spot. This one morning I drove by there, and I didn’t see her,” Jones said. “We were just waiting to find her body, I already knew she had been killed.”

The local authorities still refuse to admit there is a serial killer. They never sent out flyers to the community to beware, or photographs of the missing or the dead. Their approach all along, according to Jones, is these women are missing “because of their lifestyle.”

"When the second body was found, under similar circumstances and a similar lifestyle, common sense should tell you that maybe the same person killed them both. Then when the third body was found, in just about the same way, they should have been able to connect the dots. They never did connect the dots,” Jones said.

“They say it’s their lifestyle, that women who have this lifestyle are known to turn up missing, that women who have this lifestyle don’t want to be found... And it might be their lifestyle, but they didn’t deserve to be killed.” 

In this small, largely segregated town, many in the black community know each other, or at least know of each other, according to Jones. She knew “of” all the women. She knew they struggled with addictions. But she also knows they have families who love them. Their lifestyle may have put them in harm’s way, outside the view of polite society, but that does put them outside of society’s compassion or justice.

“There’s no excuse,” Jones said, adding that one of the dead was found by a prisoner who happened to be working on a road crew, another was found by a farm worker. Police only return to the area where the bodies were found to pick up a body, then they leave.

“It’s gotta lot to do with their lifestyle and because they were black. They didn’t even have a chance..."

Stephanie Jones may be reached at stephaniejones@embarqmail.com. Interested parties can also contact her Web site and her myspace page. She is still looking for volunteers.

Devona Walker is TheLoop21.com's senior financial/political reporter and blogger. She can be reached at devona@theloop21.com.

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