Between 1999 and 2018, there were dozens of chillingly similar cases of women killed by strangulation in Chicago’s South and West sides — and they’re all still unsolved.
The Unforgotten51 ProjectSome of the victims of the so - called Chicago choker , whose case all remain unsolved .
Something is very wrong in the Windy City . Since 1999 , at least 50 charwoman — mostly blackened — have been murdered in a disturbingly similar style . But is it the work of a undivided killer dubbed the “ Chicago Strangler ? ”
Here , public opinion take issue . The Chicago constabulary deny that any one person is behind the slayings . Others point to parallel across the murders , including location , method acting , and victimology , to advise a Chicago consecutive killer has been terrorizing the streets for over two decades .
The Unforgotten51 ProjectSome of the victims of the so-called Chicago strangler, whose cases all remain unsolved.
What ’s certain is that charwoman are dying at an alarming rate . And most of their murders have not been puzzle out .
The Murders Of The Chicago Strangler
Between 1999 and 2018 , 75 woman between the ages of 18 and 58 were strangled to death in Chicago . By the end of 2019 , the police force had only figure out 24 cases . And the remain 51 are more alike than unlike .
Alfred Twu / Wikimedia CommonsChicago ’s South Side , with Washington Park at the center .
All the woman were regain dumped after being killed in Chicago ’s South and West Side neighborhoods , usually in vacate buildings or alleyways . About47 percenthad a account of gender work and about three quarter were sinister .
Alfred Twu/Wikimedia CommonsChicago’s South Side, with Washington Park at the center.
They were also killed in a roughshod way . Some victims were raped and beaten . Others were bound and suffocate . Some of the women had fictile bags tie over their chief . Most were strip of their clothing ; some were set on blast .
Each of these deaths represents a singular tragedy to the sept they allow behind . Angela Ford , the earliest unresolved case , vanished after leaving home to pick up her children ’s report plug-in in 1999 . She was line up strangled and unconscious days after her fade , and she eventually cash in one’s chips in 2001 after a year and a half in a coma .
Gwendolyn Williams , the firstborn of six , was found murdered in 2002 .
Murder Accountability ProjectA map from the Murder Accountability Project identifying where some of the Chicago Strangler’s victims have been found.
“ When you have a family that ’s so close and so used to doing every single thing together — everything together ? You do n’t ideate anybody in that puzzle missing,”said Williams ’s brother , Michael Pritchett .
“ Not one art object missing . And they took her from us , you make out ? You done mess up up our puzzle . ”
In 2007 , two women were found murdered within 48 hours of each other . Theresa Bunn , who was eight months pregnant , was strangled , disinvest , thrown in a dumpster , and ready on fire . The next day , Hazel Lewis ’s body was discover in a burning trash can behind an elementary school .
Murder Accountability ProjectThomas Hargrove, founder and chairman of the Murder Accountability Project, believes the Chicago Strangler is an unidentified serial killer.
Yet despite the force and frequence of these murders , few have elicited much sensitive attention .
“ You ’re talking about adult female who were give in the trash , who were found in vacate building , ” note Cook County State ’s Attorney Kim Foxx . “ repulsion that were just radar target in the news , if at all . ”
In recent year , however , this spate of decease has gotten a closer spirit . And some believe that a single serial grampus , the so - called Chicago Strangler , could be behind the murders .
Lake County Sheriff’s OfficeDarren Deon Vann in a 2014 mugshot.
Could The Windy City Have A Serial Killer?
To Thomas Hargrove , founder of the Murder Accountability Project ( MAP ) , the murders in Chicago are more than random violence . They ’re the work of a single killer .
“ We do it this is a series , ” Hargrove said . “ We have no dubiousness . ”
Murder Accountability ProjectA map from the Murder Accountability Project name where some of the Chicago Strangler ’s victim have been found .
Hargrove found MAP in 2015 , after studying theserial cause of death Gary Ridgway . Ridgway belt down dozens — as many as 70 — before his arrest in 2001 . But it study police force a long time to realise that they were divvy up with one sea wolf . Hargrove believe that a well - tune up algorithm could have found patterns that police missed .
That ’s what MAP does — name potential serial orca — and Hargrove believe that his algorithm has find a definite pattern in the case of the Chicago Strangler .
“ [ These murders ] have a remarkably similar M.O.”he explain .
“ First of all , almost all of the victims were recuperate out - of - doors , often in alleyways or abandon properties . That ’s pretty unusual . At least three - quarter of the dupe — their deaths had a clear sexual factor . The victim were discover partly uncase , all naked , or role of their clothing were ripped to expose the distaff form . ”
He added , “ These 51 women were not killed by 51 separate world . Many of these [ adult female ] , probably most of these were killed by men who have stamp out before . ”
Hargrove mention that the killing stop in 2014 , only to piece up in 2017 . To him , this extremely suggests that a exclusive killer was briefly put away and unable to kill . But the Chicago police force are n’t so sure .
They meet with Hargrove in 2017 and have look over his data . However , the police do not believe that the Chicago Stranger is an individual successive killer .
“ We do n’t work that way with , like , the dots on the map , and this says x , y , z , so it must be this,”said Brendan Deenihan , the city ’s Chief of Detectives . “ We can only play with what we make out and what we can essay . ”
execution Accountability ProjectThomas Hargrove , founder and chairman of the Murder Accountability Project , believes the Chicago Strangler is an unidentified serial killer .
A Chicago constabulary spokesperson echoed that statement , state , “ [ T]here is absolutely no information to suggest this is the work of an combat-ready consecutive slayer . To conclude otherwise , without detailed case entropy known by detectives , would be inflated and regardless . ”
To the police , the grounds only is n’t there . researcher have amass 21 pieces of deoxyribonucleic acid from about half the offence scenery — and the desoxyribonucleic acid is different in each case .
“ They did n’t find any links that colligate all of these compositor’s case together , or even five of them , or any at this time , ” Deenihan pointed out .
But some suppose that the police force only are n’t trying heavily enough .
“ Every clip we blab to [ a investigator ] , they know less about the case , ” said Riley Ford , Angela Ford ’s begetter . “ Or care less about the face , I do n’t know . ”
To date , just one of the 51 murders has been solved . Diamond Turner , police annunciate in January 2020 , had been killed by a man she ’d had a human relationship with . Like the others , she ’d been suffocate and dumped .
So , is the Chicago garrotter a serial killer ? Or is something even darker at play ?
The Search For A Chicago Serial Killer
The Chicago Stranger could certainly be a individual serial killer . Hargrove has even suggested a name : Darren Deon Vann .
Vannstrangled multiple womenin Gary , Indiana , and dump their bodies in give up buildings before his check in 2014 . He even secernate police that he ’d down hoi polloi in Illinois . However , at this time , there ’s no connection between him and the 51 murders in Chicago .
Lake County Sheriff ’s OfficeDarren Deon Vann in a 2014 mugshot .
Hargrove also note that anyone nab for any of the 51 execution should be count a suspect , like the man who kill Turner .
“ Any arrest they make among these 51 strangulations should be — and I ’m sure will be — aggressively reviewed for the possibility that they are in fact link up to other killing , ” he said .
But it ’s also possible that Chicago has something much worse than a consecutive orca . It ’s also potential that the city has merely permit the murders of 50 women go unsolved for more than two decades .
John Fountain , a news media prof at Roosevelt University who allot his students to state the women ’s tale in 2020 , say as much . He remark : “ I am convinced that if there were 51 cad kill in the city of Chicago , masses would be up in arm but we are n’t . ”
A three - part docudrama on Discovery+ calledThe Hunt for the Chicago Strangleraims to cast off light on this on-going mystery . Though it offers no definitive conclusions , the documentary film does convey attention to the liveliness of women whose deaths were mostly ignored .
After read about the eery and unsolved case of the Chicago Strangler , look through these eerieunsolved murder cases . Or , reveal the stories of theworld ’s most notorious serial killers .
