Norfolk Gay Killings 'Solved'

Chesapeake Police Chief Richard A. Justice told the Virginian-Pilot that authorities have sufficient evidence to declare Portsmouth resident Elton M. Jackson, 41, the sole suspect in a series of killings that have rocked the Gay community in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia for the past 10 years.

Last May, Chesapeake police charged Jackson with the July 22, 1996, strangulation murder of Andrew D. Smith, 38, whose nude body was found on the side of a road in Chesapeake. Smith, who was Gay, was considered the 12th victim in the serial killings that began in July 1987. Although Chesapeake police declined to declare Jackson the serial killer at the time of his arrest, they said the method he allegedly used to kill Smith and dispose of his body matched that of the previous 11 killings.

The bodies of all of the victims linked to the serial killings were found dumped beside out-of-the-way roads, most in Chesapeake and most near entrances to interstate highways. Investigators said most of the victims were either Gay men or men who frequented places where men seek out other men for sex. According to investigators, nearly all of the victims were day laborers or persons with no fixed addresses. Some were known to have engaged in sex for money, while others were known to have used illegal drugs, authorities said.

The Virginian-Pilot reported yesterday that court documents released Wednesday show that the FBI for the past year has considered Jackson the suspect in all 12 murders. The Virginian-Pilot quoted a letter that an FBI official in Norfolk sent to the FBI's crime lab in Washington, D.C., as saying Jackson was the FBI's "best suspect in its nine years of investigation."

Jackson has denied killing Smith and insists he is not the serial killer responsible for the deaths of the previous 11 victims.

Authorities had not brought charges against Jackson for the other 11 murders as of late this week, and prosecutors in a position to bring those charges declined to comment, the Virginian-Pilot reported.

But the Virginian-Pilot said Chesapeake Police Chief Justice called the case "solved."

"It was an exasperating case," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "I think it's a strong case. ... The detectives have done a good job on it. But nothing is ever guaranteed in our criminal justice system."

At the time of Jackson's arrest last May, Detective Cecil Whitehurst, the lead investigator on the case with the Chesapeake police, thanked the citizens of the Norfolk area, including members of the Gay community, for their help in the investigation. Most of the Norfolk area Gay bars agreed to display police posters with photos of the victims.

The murders triggered a controversy among some Norfolk area Gay activists who complained that the majority of the Gay community seemed unconcerned about the killings because the victims tended to be hustlers, drug abusers, or "down-and-out" types who had little contact with most Gay bar patrons. Police said most of the victims were known to hang out in sections of Norfolk and Portsmouth known as Gay male cruising spots.

Experts in studying the habits of serial killers also appeared puzzled over the fact that the victims were both white and black, a development that seemed at odds with the notion that serial killers seek out a single "type" of victim. Seven of the victims were white and five were black.

Court documents released at the time of Jackson's arrest, along with new court documents released this week, state that DNA tests indicate Jackson and Smith had a sexual encounter shortly before Jackson's death. The documents also state that fibers obtained from a sheet in which Smith's body was wrapped contained fibers that were similar to fibers police found from a carpet in Jackson's house. In addition, DNA samples taken from three cigarette butts found in Jackson's car match Smith's DNA.

Jackson told police he had a consenting sexual encounter with Smith but denied he murdered Smith.

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