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FEARS are rife that a serial killer may be striking in East London's West Bank industrial area after a severed head was found next to a factory yesterday...

Dispatch Online
Site Last Updated: Apr 21 2010 6:50AM
Fear of serial killer in EL
2010/04/21

FEARS are rife that a serial killer may be striking in East London's West Bank industrial area after a severed head was found next to a factory yesterday.

It was the eighth set of remains discovered in the area in the last year - six of them in the last six months.

Yesterday police were combing an area between the Mercedes-Benz South Africa plant and Nuffield Road near the harbour, but could not locate the missing torso.

The grisly find was said to be the third murder this month alone near a footpath frequently used by pedestrians walking from the East London CBD, Duncan Village and Parkside to West Bank factories.

Many pedestrians are believed to be women working in the factories in the industrial area of West Bank or homes in the suburb.

Last Saturday a teenager and his friend out hunting stumbled onto a body so badly decomposed that it could not be identified, said East London police spokesperson Lieutenant Mtati Tana .

Two weeks ago - on April 5 - the body of another unidentified woman was found lying near the same footpath. “The body was half-naked and it is suspected she might have been raped before she was killed.”

Police are yet to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Tana also told the Dispatch that more bodies had been found in the same spot in January this year, and in October, November and on two other unspecified dates last year. None of the victims had yet been identified.

Police were reluctant to link the deaths to a serial killer, but it was believed they were considering bringing in an expert investigator to look into the matter.

Yesterday, a few police crime scene experts were combing the area for evidence when the Dispatch arrived.

The crime scene was highly protected with officers in civilian clothes walking up and down the area searching for clues.

Inside the thick bush where the severed head had been found, a Dispatch reporter saw women's clothing and shoes, handbags, a blanket and numerous bags of fast food rubbish. There were also stolen cables lying around.

Provincial police head Lieutenant- General Mpumelelo Landu confirmed in a statement yesterday that the bodies of two women were found in West Bank earlier this month.

He made no reference to yesterday's find or the previous murders in the area."Police are investigating both the cases and at this time cannot confirm if there is a connection between the two cases," Landu's statement read.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Marinda Mills , however, confirmed that the police organised crime unit was investigating a number of cases reported in the area over the last two years.

She would not confirm the exact number of cases under review.

"At this stage, we can't say this is the work of a serial murderer as we are busy investigating," Mills said.

"If there is a need for us to call an expert we will do that but for now our local guys are busy with the matter."

Police said no arrests had been made. - By BONGANI FUZILE and JAN HENNOP - bonganif@dispatch.co.za - janh@dispatch.co.za

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