Serial Killer Task Force Struggling Open Meeting Planned As Unit Faces Shrinking Resources

Wed., Feb. 9, 2000

By Mike Roarke mikero@spokesman.com

Representatives from Spokane’s serial killer task force will hold an open meeting Feb. 28 to discuss their investigation.

Facing growing costs for evidence handling, depleted staffing and fewer tips, the task force hopes the meetings will renew community interest in catching the killer, Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk said.

The meeting will be held at the Public Works Building from 7 to 9 p.m.

Sterk said the forum is not a first step toward disbanding the special unit, which lost half its staff after the Spokane Police Department reassigned five investigators earlier this year.

The group was organized in 1997 to look into the unsolved murders of 20 women - a number that has since grown.

“It’s premature for the task force to go away,” Sterk said. “I think the killer is still here in Spokane.”

The task force is staffed by one Washington State Patrol detective and five from Spokane County. Sterk said money is in the budget for maintaining current staffing.

However, evidence processing costs now stand at about $180,000, Sterk said. Money has not been earmarked to cover that amount.

Additionally, a crime analyst was expected to join the task force this year. So far that has not materialized because of financing problems.

“We believe the suspect is in our database somewhere,” Sterk said, explaining why he wants an analyst to join the unit.

Spokane County sheriff’s Lt. Doug Silver said the task force is investigating a total of 27 deaths - 21 in Spokane.

Authorities believe at least 10 killings have been committed by the same person.

The last woman believed to be a victim of the serial killer was Connie LaFontaine. Her body was found in Pierce County in 1998.

The killer has mostly preyed upon women who have been involved in drugs, prostitution or both.

Separately, Sterk plans to hold four community forums to talk about the Sheriff’s Department. Three will be in March and another in April.

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