All these victims have been linked to the I-65 Serial Killer through DNA.
Detectives and the FBI believes there may have been a cluster of armed robberies and/or sexual assaults in a specific area(there is one of interest I’m looking into) around the time of the Rochester Assault between 1990 and 1992.
Law enforcement believes there may have been armed robberies or sexual assaults prior to the Heath murder in 1987. It is possible that Unidentified Subject was in prison for several years prior to the Heath murder. Some detectives speculate that armed robberies or sexual assaults may have occurred with a similar Modus Operandi- early morning robberies/sexual assaults near an Interstate, may or may not have been exclusively hotels/motels dating back to the 1970s.
| Name & Date | Location | Incident | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vicki Heath, 41 Radcliff, Kentucky Saturday, Feb. 21, 1987**DNA Linked 2010** |
Link | Super 8 2028 N. Mulberry St. Elizabethtown, Kentucky |
At 6:38 a.m. guest called Elizabethtown Police Department and stated “the lobby was in disarray and could not find clerk”. Police arrived short time later, found hotel lobby a mess.Lobby chairs were overturned, front desk materials on floor and payphone ripped off the wall. Vicki Heath was found behind dumpster in grassy area muddy from recent snow that melted. Skirt and shirt ripped. She had been sodomized and shot in the head with a .38 |
| Mary “Peggy” Gill, 24 Merrillville, Indiana Friday March 3, 1989**DNA Linked 1989** |
Link | Days Inn 8290 Louisiana Street Merrillville, Indiana |
Approximately 2:00 a.m. local college student attempted to check in, Peggy was not present. Peggy failed to call Betty Pierce hotel manager at 5:00 a.m. Betty called hotel to no avail and called Merrillville PD at 5:51 a.m. Police began searching hotel and found Peggy, nude on 2nd floor vacant wing. She was shot in head with.22 twice behind the left ear and raped. Cash drawer was pried open with $179 missing. |
| Jeanne Gilbert, 34 Rensselaer, Indiana Friday March 3, 1989**DNA Linked 1989** |
Link | Days Inn 4252 US-24 Remington, Indiana |
At 4:30 a.m. CST, Jeanne made a courtesy wake up call to a guest. Approx 6:00 a..m. guests attempt to check out, lobby is locked and no one is inside the office. Police are called and wait for hotel manager to unlock door at 6:45 a.m.. Alarm clock is going off from 5:00 a.m. The cash drawer was pried open and $247 was stolen. Jeanne’s purse and hotel keys are on desk. A few minutes later White County Sheriff Deputy notifies Jasper County Sheriff that a nude body was found 20 miles away at side of road on Country Road 150 W. near Brookston. Jeanne was positively identified at 9:00 a.m. She had been raped, shot with .22 in shoulder, chest and back of her head. |
| Living Female Victim Tuesday Jan. 2, 1990**DNA Linked 1991** |
Link | Days Inn 3445 Jonathan Moore Pike Columbus, IN |
At 5:00 a.m. female victim at front desk said “a stereotypical looking trucker” about 6’1″with a weathered face in his late thirties to mid forties.He wore blue jeans and blue & black button up plaid flannel. He had on dark stocking hat, with medium length brown but mostly gray hair sticking out. His beard was brown but mostly gray, nit, the hair was “long and stringy”. He needed change for cigarettes and they talked for a few minutes before he asked where he got “get something to eat”. She told him places and left. Fifteen minutes later he returned with hot coffee in a foam cup. He asked for change again and threw the hot coffee in face and jumped the counter and pulled a 6″ brown handle knife.Made give him the money from the drawer, $20 from her purse and stole 3 gold rings from her. He spoke to her in a low & calm voice promising not to hurt her. She was lead through the office and into the south hall where he sexually assaulted her and then forced her out the exterior to the parking lot. He followed behind her she walked into the end of the lot and then fell through the ice. She walked up the embankment and then a quarter-mile in a field to a mobile home. She was sheltered & called the Columbus Police Department at 5:55 a.m. Victim worked with police immediately to get a composite sketch of offender circulated the following day. Victim worked with Indiana State Police to help create the 1991 Wanted Poster by O’Deen. |
| Living Female Victim Rochester, Minnesota 1991**DNA Linked 2013** |
Link | Rochester, Minnesota | Name, date and exact location have not been disclosed. Indiana State Police and Elizabethtown Police Department have confirmed that a female victim was sodmized and stabbed multiple times during an robbery of similar circumstances. Victim survived. Source states that Indiana State Police and Elizabethtown Police Department began investigating a cluster of armed robberies and sexual assaults in Minnesota and Wisconsin. A single rape kit found in evidence from 1991 matched the I-65 Serial Killer in 2013. Victim gave an ‘identical’ description in 1991 to the Columbus Victim in 1990. Victim verified the 1991 Wanted Poster by O’Deen. |
