Aug 11, 2002 4 min read

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Scraps of information from unsolved cases and crimes of all sorts are pouring in as Baton Rouge police search for clues that will lead them to a serial killer. Linking one other crime to the killer could reveal the identity of the man authorities believe strangled Gina Wilson Green, stabbed Charlotte Murray Pace, cut Pam Kinamore’s throat and may have harmed other women over the past 11 months.

“We’ve had other agencies contact us about possible links, but so far only three (murders) have been linked,” said East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s Lt. Darrell O’Neal. “We’re all working together, and we’re not going to overlook anything.”

So far, the search has been difficult. The one thing that police say has connected the three deaths is DNA evidence; they won’t give specifics.

Meanwhile, police in other cities have been checking their files for unsolved cases that could be connected to the killer and some, particularly in neighboring parishes, have found things they felt should be compared.

“We have one (murder) that occurred back in 1998 that we have submitted some information for comparison,” said Police Chief Bill Landry in Gonzales, about 25 miles east of Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge police haven’t said Pace, Green and Kinamore were sexually assaulted, but Landry said people arrested for “perverted acts” need to be reviewed. His officers sent the detectives a list of arrests for crimes such as indecent exposure and obscenity.

Police in St. Tammany Parish, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans and about 70 miles from Baton Rouge, sent over information about a recent unsolved rape at a rest stop on Interstate 10, which runs to Baton Rouge.

The rapist reportedly drove a white truck, and Baton Rouge police are looking for a white pickup truck in connection with Kinamore’s murder.

The truck also piqued speculation the killer could have been involved in two attempted kidnappings in neighboring Ascension and Livingston parishes. In both cases, the assailant was described as driving a black pickup truck, and investigators were checking to see if anyone recently had a white truck painted black.

The problem in linking other cases is that little connects the three victims, besides the DNA evidence.

There are some overlaps, including the lack of any sign of forced entry into any of the victims’ homes.

When Green, a 41-year-old nurse, was found strangled in her home on Sept. 24, Pace lived just three doors away near the LSU campus.

Pace, 22, a recent graduate of Louisiana State University, was stabbed to death May 31, two days after she moved to another neighborhood.

Kinamore, 44, a decorator and antique store owner, was abducted from her home elsewhere in the city July 12. Her family is offering a $75,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the murderer.

Relatives of another woman wonder if she also was a victim of the killer.

Eugenie Boisfontaine, 34, lived on the same street as Pace and Green when she was murdered in 1997. Like the other three cases, there was no sign of forced entry at her home.

Her family has been meeting with family and friends of Green, Pace and Kinamore to swap bits of information and look for any connections.

Boisfontaine’s family wants to find “anything that could possibly link these women together,” said Lynne Marino, Kinamore’s mother.

Meanwhile, women across the state are worried and taking precautions to protect themselves.

Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster has gone so far as to remind them they can pack a gun for protection.

“You have the right to get a gun permit,” he said earlier this month. “Learn to use it.”

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On the Net:

http://www.ci.baton-rouge.la.us/dept/brpd/