Aamer Madhani

USA TODAY

HAMMOND, Ind. — Police said Monday that Darren Deon Vann, a convicted sex offender, confessed to killing seven women and may be responsible for several other victims in northwest Indiana dating back to the 1990s.

Police Chief John Doughty said Vann, 43, told officers he had "messed up" in committing the latest killing and was surprised police tracked him down so quickly. Vann was convicted of sexual assault in 2009 in Texas.

Doughty identified Vann hours after authorities discovered the bodies of six slain women in Gary, Ind., following Vann's weekend confession. The discovery of another slain woman Friday night in a nearby Hammond hotel is what initially spurred the investigation

The Lake County coroner's office said the six women were found Sunday in Gary. The coroner's office called the deaths homicides. Two victims were strangled, and injuries on the other five women were being determined.

Police in Hammond were led to Vann after finding the body of Afrika Hardy, 19, at a Motel 6 on Friday. She had been strangled, according to the Lake County coroner's office. Vann had solicited Hardy, who was involved in a prostitution scheme, through a website called Chicagobackpage.com, according to Doughty.

Vann was charged with Hardy's murder late Monday afternoon, and more charges are likely to be filed in the coming days.

Doughty said a woman who facilitated the meeting at Motel 6 helped police find the suspect.

"Information was obtained from the facilitator that revealed a phone number that Hammond Police detectives were able to use to help locate the suspect," Doughty said. "This information led to a search warrant being executed in the city of Gary" on Saturday afternoon.

During a police interrogation, Vann allegedly admitted his involvement in Hardy's killing, then told police he was involved in several other killings. He suggested some may have dated back several years.

Sunday, Vann led police to three victims in Gary. Police subsequently located three more women that day from information Vann provided.

Among the victims were Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville, Ind.; Teairra Batey, 28; and Christine Williams, 36. Batey and Williams were Gary residents. The three other victims have not been identified.

Jones' body was found in the same abandoned home where one other body was found Sunday night.

Hammond's mayor, Thomas McDermott, described the suspect on his Facebook page Sunday as an "admitted serial killer." McDermott wrote that the suspect told police of the location of another victim and that he admitted "to a couple of homicides in Hammond back in '94 or '95."

Chelsea Whittington, a spokeswoman for the city of Gary, said the suspect moved to Gary from Austin and was divorced.

The Gary Police Department said in a statement after the arrest that it sought "to dispel the rumor that there is a 'serial killer' on the loose."

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and Police Chief Larry McKinley called for the city's residents to "remain calm and patient as our teams work this investigation and do what they do best."

Theresa Terrett, 59, who lives down the street from the house where two victims were found said the incident has made her determined to leave this city.

"It's freaky," said Terrett, who has three young children. "I was looking to get out of here, but this has just pushed me over the edge."

Vann is being held by police in Hammond, Doughty said.

The city of Gary, pop. 80,000, has roughly 10,000 abandoned homes. Freeman-Wilson said the blight "certainly assisted him in concealing his acts."

"We, at this juncture, don't have any evidence [the killings] occurred in these structures," Freeman-Wilson said.

She said Gary Police had no previous interaction with Vann.

Doughty said Vann registered as a sex offender in Texas, but he was not registered in Indiana.

The Austin Police Department said in a statement that Vann had been convicted for an aggravated rape in 2007 in that city and spent five years in prison.

Detectives in Texas will conduct a detailed review of potentially related cases based on information from Indiana investigators. Across the border from Indiana, the Cook County Sheriff's Department in Illinois says it also has begun a review of its cold cases to see if Vann could have connections to possible murders there.