Serial Killer Has Struck Again Task Force Says Woman Found Tuesday Is Spokane’S Eighth Victim In Nine Months

Detectives are blanketing the Spokane area today in a desperate attempt to stop a serial murderer who, after a hiatus as long as six months, killed again in the past week.

Michelyn Derning, a former executive secretary plagued by domestic violence and drugs, is the latest victim of a predator who has murdered seven other women during the last nine months, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators believe Derning was shot to death and her naked body concealed in a vacant lot near Main and Crestline sometime between last Friday and Tuesday. A homeless man found the body hidden under a hottub cover and other debris Tuesday night.

The fact that Derning was shot, dumped in an out-of-the-way area and had lived a “high-risk” lifestyle helped convince investigators that she was murdered by the same killer responsible for six homicides in Spokane and one in Tacoma, said Roger Bragdon, Spokane’s acting police chief.

The other victims also were concealed in some way, either partially buried or covered with branches, Bragdon said.

He and Spokane County Undersheriff Mike Aubrey refused to give more details about connections among the cases.

“But this one is different from the others in that we have a recent sighting of the victim,” Bragdon said.

Derning was seen alive in downtown Spokane on July 3, which may be a break for the city-county task force investigating the serial killings.

The bodies of the other victims were found weeks or months after the women had been reported missing by friends or relatives.

The last victim, Linda Maybin, was missing for nearly four months before her body was found April 1 in an abandoned gravel pit near 14th and Carnahan.

The time lapses have made it difficult for detectives to trace the last days of the victims’ lives because the memories of friends and associates faded in the interim.

It also made it harder to recover evidence from the bodies, which in some cases had been exposed to the elements a long time.

“This time, we have a better chance of someone being able to come forward and possibly provide us some information that might send us in the right direction,” Bragdon said. “It might just be the break, it might just be the luck, we’ve been looking for.”

For the next one or two days, Spokane police and sheriff’s detectives will suspend almost all other ongoing cases in order to help the task force pursue the killer.

They will interview friends, relatives and associates of Derning, following up on tips from the public, Bragdon said.

Detectives are especially interested in talking to anyone who saw Derning between July 3 and Tuesday.

Investigators want to know where and when she was spotted, whom she was with and what she was wearing. They also want information on any vehicles she might have been in.

“No. 1, we rely on the general public in cases like this,” Bragdon said. “Somebody saw something.”

Derning lived in an apartment at 324 W. Fifth and was known to frequent the downtown area, where she pedaled around on a bicycle.

While she had no arrests for drugs or prostitution in Spokane County, Undersheriff Mike Aubrey said the 47-year-old divorced mother of one lived a lifestyle similar to that of the other serial killer victims. Many of them worked as prostitutes or used illegal drugs.

“She has associates that are involved in both those activities,” Aubrey said.

Family members said Derning had struggled with a drug problem for years and spent time in a rehabilitation program in the San Diego area before coming to Spokane more than a year ago.

In May, she was arrested by Spokane police on a misdemeanor malicious mischief charge after her former boyfriend, Thomas Hylkema, accused her of breaking some of his property.

Bragdon said detectives interviewed Hylkema but don’t consider him a suspect in Derning’s murder.

The task force is also seeking information on a missing woman who fits the profile of the victims. Melody Ann Murfin, 43, hasn’t been seen since May 10.

Anyone with information on the Derning case or Murfin’s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.