Indiana police used a dog trained to hunt for cadavers to search more than 120 vacant structures in the city of Gary on Tuesday, following the discovery of the bodies of six women who may have been victims of a serial killer.
Darren Vann, 43, of Gary, a convicted sex offender, was charged in Lake County on Monday with murder and will make his first court appearance on Wednesday.
Authorities said that after his arrest on Saturday in the murder of Afrikka Hardy, 19, at a Motel 6 in neighboring Hammond, Vann told police he had killed six other women and directed them to their bodies in abandoned houses in Gary, about 25 miles southeast of Chicago.
Charges involving the other six women are expected in the next few days, Gary police said.
The police and their dog searched houses near where victims were found. Gary police had not been told there were more bodies but wanted to check the houses before they were sealed up, said city spokeswoman Chelsea Whittington.
"The purpose of the search is to ensure that the structures are completely vacant, get them boarded up and place them on the list for demolition," Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley said.
Gary has lost over half its population since the 1960s because of the decline in steelmanufacturing jobs, and has 10,000 abandoned buildings. Gary intends to demolish 1,000 of them in the next year.
Cook County, Illinois police are also searching abandoned buildings near the Indiana border, said Sheriff Tom Dart.
Police said Vann may have had victims dating back 20 years and they were reviewing about 70 missing-persons cases in Gary. The victims found so far appear to be have been killed more recently.
Indiana police said Hardy had advertised sexual services on the classified ads website Backpage.com and she and Vann met at a Hammond motel. Hardy was found dead from strangulation.
Other victims included Anith Jones, 35; Kristine Williams, 36; and Teaira Batey, 28, officials said. Batey's family filed a missing persons report in late January.
A missing report for Jones was filed on Oct. 10, Hammond police said.
Vann was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 2009 after being convicted of sexually assaulting and trying to strangle a 25-year-old woman in Austin, Texas, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. Vann was released in October 2013.
