Eastbound Strangler | |
---|---|
Other names | Atlantic City Serial Killer |
Details | |
Victims | 4 |
Span of crimes | October –November 2006 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | New Jersey |
Date apprehended | N/A |
The Eastbound Strangler is an unidentified serial killer believed to be responsible for the murders of four women near Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2006. A $25,000 reward offered for information has gone unclaimed. [1]
Four dead bodies of women identified as sex workers were found in a drainage ditch [2] filled with shallow water on November 20, 2006 [3] behind the Golden Key Motel [4] on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township, situated on the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey. [5] All of them were placed face down [6] in a row, facing east, about sixty feet apart from each other. They were clothed except for having their shoes and socks removed. [2] They were believed to have been strangled to death.
41-year-old repairman Terry Oleson, who was being allowed to stay for free at the Golden Key Motel in exchange for repairs when the murders took place, was implicated by his girlfriend as the killer. They were reportedly having a domestic dispute at the time. In Oleson's room, investigators found cameras set up and images of his girlfriend's teenage daughter undressing. There have been no DNA matches to connect Oleson with the crimes and he was never named as a suspect. [4]
Eldred Raymond Burchell, who had given himself the nickname of the "River Man" (possibly reference to Green River Killer Gary Ridgway), was suspected after he had confessed to another prostitute that he had killed people. However he has not been connected to any murders. [7]
Charles Coles, a drug dealer and a friend of Kim Raffo; was questioned by police but released without charge, [8] as was Mark Hessee, an acquaintance of Kim Raffo and Barbara Breidor. [9]
In 2010, law enforcement officials investigated a possible connection between the Eastbound Strangler and the Gilgo Beach serial killings [10] but later ruled it out. [11] In 2023, the theory on a connection between the two cases was revisited following the arrest of a suspect in four of the Gilgo Beach killings, according to Suffolk County police; [12] prosecutors later ruled it out again. [13]
Investigation Discovery's Dark Minds, hosted by M. William Phelps, aired an episode on the case. February 2, 2012. [17]
The case was featured in episodes 3 ("Danse Macabre") and 4 ("A Darkness on the Edge of Town") of The Killing Season . [18]
The case was mentioned in the 2021 Lifetime movie "The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice," which also dedicated itself in part to the four victims, which seemingly linked it to the Long Island Serial Killer case. [19]
Gary Leon Ridgway is an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders committed between the early 1980s and late 1990s. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the second-most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders.
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Steven Gerald James Wright is an English serial killer, also known as the Suffolk Strangler. He is currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of five women who worked in Ipswich, Suffolk. The killings took place during the final months of 2006 and Wright was found guilty in February 2008 and given a whole life order
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I need to pick up his trail before he kills again