Indiana releases details on unidentified serial murder victim

By Fiona Ortiz CHICAGO (Reuters) - She was in her 30s or 40s, likely Hispanic, 5-feet 6-inches tall and has healed fractures in her nose. That is all authorities know about the woman believed to be a serial killer victim, whose skeletal remains were found a month ago in Gary, Indiana. The Lake County coroner in northwestern Indiana released the scant details on Tuesday, hoping the information will lead to the identification of one of seven victims of Darren Vann, who has been charged so far in two murders. "A preliminary forensic anthropology analysis suggests that she is likely Hispanic," Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey said in a news release on Tuesday. A forensic anthropologist has been helping to try to find clues to identify the remains. Vann, 43, was arrested on Oct. 19 after police were led to the body of a woman who was strangled in a hotel in Hammond, a town just south of Chicago and adjacent to Gary. Police say Vann confessed to the murder of the woman in the hotel then took them to the bodies of six women dumped in some of the many abandoned homes that dot fading steel town Gary. Vann, who served five years in prison in Texas for sexual assault, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Anith Jones, 35, and Afrikka Hardy, 19. He has not been charged in the murders of Teaira Batey, 28 and Kristine Williams, 36, two other bodies recovered in the abandoned houses and identified as possible victims. Two more victims might be close to being identified because family members said they recognized their clothes and jewelry, a source at the coroner's office told Reuters on Tuesday. Indiana State Police are processing DNA samples from the families and the two bodies to see if there are matches. "It has been very challenging. All three were skeletonized, that's why it's difficult. Thank goodness one had clothing still, one had jewelry, so that helped us out. But the third one had no identifying factors whatsoever," said the source, who asked not to be named. The next hearing in Vann's case is scheduled for Dec. 5, when the judge will decide whether to accept the prosecutor's motion to collect a DNA sample from him. (Reporting by Fiona Ortiz. Editing by Andre Grenon)