Her female contact began texting Hardy a little after 9 p.m. because she wasnt getting the usual type of communication she expected. Then, a 1993 arrest in North Carolina was followed by marriage to a woman about 30 years older than him. The Police Chief in Hammond has stated the investigation into further crimes will likely take years. On Oct. 17, 2014, the weather in Gary was typical for fall, in the 60s and breezy. Darren Deon Vann (born March 21, 1971) is an American serial killer. The second time she attempted to leave, Vann tied her up and raped her again, according to The Tribune. When the friend received a text from Afrikka later, she suspected someone else had sent it. Abuelazam's crimes span from Michigan through Ohio and all the way to Virginia, with the majority having been committed in Flint, Mich. He refused to kill in his backyard and would instead fly around the country to hunt his victims. I think she was told something to where she would make money, and she would make it quick.. Darren Deon Vann is included in the following pages on Killer.Cloud the Serial Killer Database, Killer.Cloud the Serial Killer Database, an ongoing research project which aims to sort and classify serial killers based on documented references from books written about serial killers as well as other online resources listed at the bottom of each killers profile page. [10] Vann's attorneys requested that the trial be delayed,[11] and the trial was again delayed to January 25, 2016. Police said he led them to the womens bodies in abandoned structures in Gary, Indiana. It was then another woman stepped forward to report a horrifying nightmare shed lived through at Vanns hands. The person who found Afrikka was her friend and partner in the escort business. M Live reports that it took two years to convict Abuelazam of the murders, but he was ultimately given life in prison. And Id watch him, Matlock told CNNs Ashleigh Banfield. He was paroled early and came under suspicion of sexual assault several times after. The last victim, Afrikka Hardy, was just out of high school when she met up with Vann through an escort service. Christine Williams, 36. Little has stated that he strangled 93 victims during his serial killing career, and so far, at least 50 of his confessed crimes have been confirmed. You might be interested to know more about Darren Deon Vann. Her body was found in an abandoned house at 1800 East 19th Avenue in Gary on October 19. Suspect Darren Deon Vann, 43, helped authorities locate the bodies of six victims in Gary, Indiana, after he was arrested in the murder of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy, whose body was found at a . Darren Deon Vann started his serial killing spree. He operated within a minutely defined process that allowed him to take the lives of what ABC says were between eight and 12 victims before he broke his own rules and brought his murder spree to an end in 2012. On May 4, 2018, Vann pleaded guilty to seven murders. Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Gary, Indiana, had been missing since January 2014. According to a police affidavit tied to that incident, Vann threatened to burn down or blow up the home of a man who he believed was sheltering his girlfriend. After Vann was arrested, he led police to an abandoned house at 415 East 43rd Avenue in Gary on October 18 where her body was found. Afrika Hardy, 19. He was identified after the body of. His kills would then happen in remote areas or houses with attached garages so there'd be no witness to catch him in the act. Police said Vann confessed, telling them he messed up and expressing surprise he had been found so quickly, Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said. Id never allow him near my kids or in my home, because he just freaked me out., Matlock said things went downhill for Vann after he got fired from a temp agency, adding he had trouble finding good work after that. 2011) Criminal Information AKA "The Indiana Killer" Offender Type Serial Killer Method of Killing Strangulation Conviction (s) Murder (x7) Criminal penalty Vann is suspected in the deaths of at least seven women in northwest Indiana . His wife, Maria Vann, filed for a divorce in August 2009 and their marriage was dissolved in 2011. Childhood of a Future Serial Rapist / Mass Murderer The seventh of eight children born to Benjamin []. Did you encounter any technical issues? ), As for why, Doughty said, I dont have a specific reason he does this.. Sonya Billingsley, 53, of Gary, was also found in this house. Vann was born on March 21, 1971 in Indiana. Darren Deon Vann was no stranger to police. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. The killer was sentenced to life in prison, though it's more than likely that this killer would've received the death penalty had he committed his crimes in any other state. The trial date of June 22, 2015 was subsequently restored. One of the charges Darren Deon Vann was convicted for was "battery by bodily waste." That was the least of his crimes. Anthony Sowell, "The Cleveland Strangler," has a pretty straightforward MO, as you may have guessed. She was found dead in a bathtub in one of its rooms on October 17, 2014. Chief John Doughty of the city of Hammond identified the alleged killer as Darren Deon Vann, 43, and said he was convicted of a sexual assault five years ago in Texas. A mind-blowing confession it was too. In August 2010, Thomas Hargrove, a reporter with the Scripps Howard news service, used an algorithm (later the basis of the Murder Accountability Project which Hargrove founded) to analyze crime data which strongly suggested a serial killer was at work in Gary, Indiana. Vann had an initial court appearance related to Hardys killing on Wednesday morning, but was held in contempt of court when he refused to answer the judges questions. The former homes of children playing after school and dinners eaten at kitchen tables turned into dark, damp, hiding places only the dead resided in comfort. Nicknamed the "Vampire of Dsseldorf," Krten terrorized Germany between 1913 and 1929, claiming the lives of at least nine in a series of bloody. Getting no response, the woman and a male friend drove to Motel 6. 's most heinous serial killers. However, she couldnt reach the 19-year-old over a call after that. He was born on October 18, 2014, in Indiana. Despite showing the police where he hid the bodies, Vannpled not guilty in court. "We were best friends," Lori Townsend said of Hardy, her daughter. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. In November 2016, Judge Samuel Cappas denied Vanns motion to declare the states death penalty statute unconstitutional. Girls had also been found strangled in the area, ones Sowell is suspected of killing, as far back as 1988. The Gary Mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson, commented that the step might bring some consolation to the families and that, Its the least the city can do, according to the Northwest Indiana Times. Vann, apparently hoping for leniency, led police to the bodies after he was charged with strangling Afrikka Hardy, a 19-year-old woman whose body was found in a bathtub . . The victims were: Anith Jones (35), Teaira Batey (28), Tracy Martin (41), Kristine Williams (36), Sonya Billingsley (52), and Tanya Gatlin (27). In some cases, these houses were used as flophouses, and they were full of detritus left behind by drug users and the homeless people who wouldn't complain about the stench of a dead body. Matlock said he wasnt comfortable or happy with his mothers marriage, which lasted 16 years. Stranglers kill by Strangulation. He had at least one brother, Reginald Beard. By the time police found her in 2014, she was so badly decomposed that they needed dental records to ID her body. Cleveland.com details how at separate times the killer met all three of his victims and lured each back to his place where he'd then strangled them to death. Her body was recovered from 4330 Massachusetts St. Tracy Martin, 41, struggled with drug addiction, like many of the victims. List of serial killers in the United States, "Who is Darren Deon Vann? Darren Vann was hit with rape and other charges in March 2016 after a woman came forward with new information. She was reported missing on June 14 and her remains were identified in a house on 2200 Massachusetts Street. In 2013, after he was released from prison in Texas, he moved to Gary. Darren Deon Vann's ex-wife: 'I never knew him to be violent'. Darren Deon Vann is a famous Serial Killer, who was born on March 21, 1971 in United States. In 2010, Hargrove contacted the Gary, Indiana police to tell them he believed a serial killer was operating there but received no response. Vann was represented by a state-appointed public defender, Matthew Fech. Their bodies were not discovered until Vann led authorities to their exact whereabouts. Teaira Batey, 28, of Gary, Indiana, left to meet a friend on January 13, 2014, but she never returned. According to court records, the rape victim did not pursue filing charges beyond the initial statement to police. . On October 17, 2014, a female friend helped Afrika arrange a meeting with 43-year-old Darren Deon Vann at a Motel 6 at 3840 179th Street in Hammond, Indiana. It all started in 1989, as outlined in Cleveland.com's timeline of events, when Sowell assaulted a woman and was sentenced a year later to serve 15 years. In them, he claimed to have killed dozens of women, predominantly in Chicago, Illinois, but also in other locations such as California; North Carolina; Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minnesota and Detroit, Michigan.[29]. A revealing phone call rang in to 911 dispatch in the middle of the night when one of Shawn Grate's victims took advantage of her capturer's unconscious state, tipping off the authorities to what they would soon discover was a serial killer. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Madison would go on to wrap the bodies of his kills in garbage bags and store them in specific areas where they'd serve as sentimental plaques of a sort. GARY, Ind. Vann was convicted of murdering these seven women: Afrikka Hardy, 19, had recently moved to Chicago after graduating from high school. Her body was found in an abandoned house at 1800 East 19th Avenue in Gary on October 19. A former police officer by the name of Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 for being the infamous "Golden State Killer," proving that serial killers can truly be hiding behind any corner or within any face. Thats where, in December 2007, he was arrested again, this time for aggravated sexual assault. Killing was just a way to get rid of the evidence. One home where Darren Vann left his victims. With the more than 180 photos found in the killer's possession when he was brought in, it's possible, as Rolling Stone notes, that Franklin had killed more than 25 women, potentially leaving 15 unaccounted for in southern California. He was reportedly arrested in Gary, Indiana for . . Elias Abuelazam, "The Serial Stabber," did enough stabbing during his serial killer run that it became nearly unbelievably excessive. He then placed their bodies in abandoned houses in the city of Gary, Indiana. Her mummified body was in a closet they had overlooked. Hardys closest family was her mom, Lori Townsend, and her aunt on her moms side. It was in the 1990s that Edward Matlock first got to know Vann. He stashed one victim in his garage, another in a bush, and the final victim in the basement of an empty house close by. appreciated. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really Vann murdered at least six more women and left their bodies in vacant buildings frequented by drug addicts. Darren Deon Vann's hometown has 10,000 abandoned houses, more than enough for him to hide six bodies. Here's a look at every serial killer that's been caught in the past decade. His reasoning for his acts, detailed in the letters he sent to News 5 Cleveland, was because "they were already dead, just their bodies were flopping wherever it can flop but their minds were already dead!". As with many of our recent killers on this series, not much is known about the childhood of Darren Deon Vann. Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary, Indiana, was a mother of four and employed at the time of her death. Police said Monday that Darren Deon Vann, a convicted sex offender, confessed to killing seven women and may be responsible for several other victims in northwest Indiana. Darren Deon Vann was born on March 21st 1971 in Indiana, state of the United States of America. He helped lead police to the bodies he left in abandoned homes after the murders. There may have been more victims, police said. 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