The body of a fifth victim had been found a few blocks away, but it was the discovery of a sixth body Saturday, in a pickup camper parked in a backyard, that led police to the arrest of the suspect and a collective sigh of relief in a neighborhood gripped by the mystery of the dumped bodies.
The last body was discovered by the property owner who, while investigating the source of a foul odor, opened the camper that was used occasionally by his nephew and made the grim finding and called police. Tony Morales. During that time, they were killed. Morales said he could not discuss how the victims were killed. He was a gentleman, and never picked up on girls. Jessie Collins, who lives next door to Morris and alongside whose house four of the bodies were found, said she would occasionally talk and wave to her neighbor, who had moved in with his camper less than a year ago.
The deaths had confounded police for months because at least four of the victims had died of apparent cocaine overdoses, and there were no apparent signs of trauma to suggest how else they may have died. Until Saturday, police were not sure whether the cases were related. Some investigators discounted murder-by-cocaine because it is an expensive and imprecise way to kill.
Randy Force had said last week. On Sunday, police were not divulging what they had learned after interviewing Morris. Prostitutes had speculated it was the work of a serial killer, even though police said there was no evidence to support the theory. Police Sgt.
Juan Hernandez, who patrols Van Buren, said the women were more frightened than they let on. Police had not identified the body discovered Saturday, but said the others had used drugs and led a transient lifestyle. They have been identified as Janice Irvin, 43, whose body was discovered July 14 a few blocks from the Collins home, and the four women whose bodies were left alongside the home: Barbara Codman, 46, found Sept.
