News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan

City of Detroit closing thousands of abandoned homes after string of serial killings

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Flickr User John Morris

Officials in Detroit are warning residents a likely serial killer is targeting sex workers in the city.

Police and volunteers are searching vacant homes throughout Detroit’s east side, for more possible victims.

Detroit Police say they’ve found the bodies of three women in separate abandoned homes.

Though only one has officially been ruled a homicide, police say indications are they were all sex workers in their 50’s likely targeted by the same killer.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says the city is launching a massive effort to close abandoned homes he says are magnets for crime.

“And we have a goal to have every single house on the east side boarded-up by the end of July…and every house in this city boarded-up by the end of September.”

The city has also torn down thousands of abandoned buildings using federal funds.

But that money - made available after the recession - is drying up, and Duggan is proposing a 200 million dollar bond issue to help demolish the remaining blight. 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email