NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Atlanta Constitution on Oct. 20, 1994.
Police searched today for the killer of a 39-year-old woman whose slaying may be linked to the killings of seven other prostitutes in southeast Atlanta.
The stabbed and slashed body of Valerie Payton was found in high weeds near railroad tracks in southeast Atlanta on Wednesday. A sign taped to her nude body said, "I'm back in Atlanta."
"This is something we're definitely going to look at and we're talking about, but it's too soon to say if there's a link or not a link," said homicide Lt. Danny Agan.
However, "there are a number of names we have been working on" as suspects in the cases, he said.
Police would not discuss details of the crime scene but said they are looking for any similarities to the unsolved slayings of seven other crack-addicted prostitutes.
Agan said Payton had a record of prostitution but no drug arrests. Neighbors, however, said she was a crack addict who worked the area around Kenyon Street, where she lived with her 9-year-old son.
The boy was looking for his mother after school Tuesday because she always walked him home, neighbors said.
"It was his birthday," said Dorathea Smith. "I think that's what made him scared."
"She would walk him to school rain or shine and always go back and get him, rain or shine," said Estella Gibbs. "This is like clockwork. He was still looking for his mama [Wednesday] morning."
The child is being cared for by a relative.
A CSX railroad employee spotted the body just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Agan would not discuss the sign found on the body - neighbors said it was taped to her chest - nor would he speculate on whether the woman was killed where she was found or her body dumped there.
Atlanta police developed a list of 21 cases of unsolved homicides involving women dating back to 1988 and have tentatively narrowed it to seven with similarities. No notes were reported found with any of those bodies, and all were strangled.
But according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal- Constitution, detectives are investigating a possible connection between the slayings and the June 22 rape of a woman on John Wesley Dobbs Avenue who was stabbed and bitten during the attack.
She told police her attacker had dreadlocks and a big nose. A man with dreadlocks and black eyes was seen with at least two other of the murder victims, according to the documents.
The GBI, invited to join the investigation last week, was at the crime scene Wednesday.
People in the neighborhood say they are frightened because several of the other slayings have been in the southeast Atlanta area.
"It looks like we've got a serial killer on the loose," said Affrac Sims. "It's too close for comfort."
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