A 49-year-old man suspected in the killings of at least eight women over 21 years in Milwaukee has been charged in connection with two of the homicides, authorities announced Monday.

Walter E. Ellis of Milwaukee faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the killings of Joyce Mims, 41, and Ouithreaun Stokes, 28, who were strangled a decade apart.

Ellis was arrested around noon Saturday at a motel in Franklin, one day after authorities linked DNA from his toothbrush with samples found on Mims' and Stokes' bodies, according to a criminal complaint.

Ellis could be charged this week in connection with some of the other killings, Milwaukee County District Attorney John T. Chisholm said.

Until a news conference Monday, police had not said publicly that Ellis had been linked to the 1992 killing of Irene Smith, 25, and the 1994 murder of Carron D. Kilpatrick, 32, whose bodies were found within a block of each other.

Both women were strangled and stabbed, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said. Their murders were linked to Ellis' DNA in the past two weeks, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward A. Flynn said.

Ellis' DNA has been found on at least nine females killed between 1986 and 2007, Flynn said. Police officials have said they think someone else killed one of those victims, a white 16-year-old runaway whose throat was slashed. The other victims, all prostitutes and African-American, were strangled. And at least two were also stabbed.

The killings occurred in an area roughly bounded by N. King Drive, N. 27th St., W. North Ave. and W. Capitol Drive. One victim was found in the Menomonee River, but authorities believe she was killed elsewhere.

In two of the homicides linked to Ellis, other men had been charged in the slayings. Curtis McCoy was charged in October 1994 with killing Kilpatrick, his live-in girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, but he was later acquitted by a jury. Chaunte Ott was convicted of killing Jessica Payne, the 16-year-old runaway. Ott served 13 years in prison before he was released in January, after DNA analysis showed semen found on the girl's body was not his.

Authorities announced the link to a suspected serial killer in May after tests revealed DNA from the same person had been left at six homicide scenes dating from 1986 to 2007.

A task force of local, state and federal law enforcement officials dedicated to investigating the linked homicides received 193 tips in its first three months of operation, Flynn said last month. Some suspects were interviewed and ruled out, he said.

Investigators had run the DNA profile found on the murdered women against DNA databases nationally but did not get any hits. That meant the suspect was not in prison and had not provided law enforcement with a genetic sample in any state. Since 2000, Wisconsin has required all felons to provide DNA.

Investigators began to focus on Ellis after his name surfaced in connection with a number of unsolved homicides, Flynn said.

"Good police work and good police science have led us to Walter Ellis," Flynn said Monday.

Ellis was not home when police executed a search warrant at his duplex apartment in the 2800 block of W. Bobolink Ave. on Aug. 29, officials said Monday. Police took Ellis' toothbrush and razors, according to the complaint against him.

Tests conducted on the toothbrush at the State Crime Laboratory showed that the DNA found on Mims and Stokes belonged to Ellis, the complaint says.

A warrant for Ellis' arrest was issued Friday, and Milwaukee police sent out an alert notifying other police agencies of the vehicle Ellis was believed to be driving, Flynn said.

On Saturday, Franklin Police Officer Jason Fincel spotted the vehicle at the Park Motel, 7273 S. 27th St. in Franklin, Flynn said. A swarm of police officers descended on the motel. Ellis, who was not armed, was arrested after a struggle, Flynn said.

A woman living in the downstairs apartment at Ellis' duplex said she learned of his arrest over the weekend but was not certain of the reason until contacted by the Journal Sentinel.

"He didn't seem like that type of person," said the woman, who did not want to be identified. "It's so scary now. I could have been a victim. I'm shaking right now."

She saw Ellis and a woman who lived with him nearly every day but did not know much about them, she said.

Ellis never caused a disturbance during the several months that he lived there, the woman said. The block of W. Bobolink Ave. contains a mix of duplexes and single family residences.

Ellis was criminally charged 12 times between 1981 and 1998 for violent and property crimes, according to online court records. Flynn noted that although all felons incarcerated in Wisconsin have had to submit DNA samples, Ellis was last convicted of a felony in 1998, two years before the samples were required.

Ellis was sentenced to five years in prison for recklessly endangering safety, according to court records. Further details of that case were not available. Of the nine victims who have been linked to Ellis, none was killed between 1998 and 2006.

Online records show Ellis was released from federal prison in 1992. Details about that case were not available.

Court records show that Ellis lived for a time near N. 6th and W. Chambers streets, within a few blocks of most of the killings.

Relatives of Mims said she lived a few blocks from Ellis and was dating Ellis' uncle when she was killed.

"He just seemed like a regular guy," Mims' son, Purvis Mims, said of Ellis. "It goes to show you never know what's going on behind closed doors."

Purvis Mims said he did not know Ellis well but had met him about six times before his mother was killed.

Joyce Mims "probably knew him much better than we did," Purvis Mims said. "I always thought that she did know the (killer), because of the environment they found her in. I know she wouldn't have gone in an abandoned house with a stranger, regardless of the circumstances. She probably had a rapport of some fashion with him."

Mims, 30, said he was always optimistic that his mother's killer would be found, especially after authorities announced the DNA link earlier this year.

"I was pretty confident because a person who does those types of things, they don't stop," he said. "You don't just never do it again or never have any police interaction."

Joyce Mims' sister, Tara Noble, said Ellis' name did not sound familiar, but she said she was eager to view his photo to see if she recognized him.

Flynn on Monday requested that the media not make public Ellis' photo because investigators were still showing it to possible witnesses.

"I'm glad they got this man, because I just feel sorry for what my sister went through," Noble said. "We just think about how she was killed . . . My sister was found beaten and strangled. Those are words you don't ever want to tell somebody."

The massive investigation into the killings linked by Ellis' DNA, which included retesting of DNA samples from dozens of unsolved murders, led to hits in at least 10 unrelated cases.

Suspects since have been charged in two of those cases.

David W. Lewis, 47, was charged in June with first-degree reckless homicide in connection with the 1990 strangulation of 45-year-old Vernell Jeter.

William W. Phillips, 37, was charged this month with first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the 1990 death of 26-year-old Rhonda Hartwright, who was killed by a shotgun blast to her face.

Prosecutors expect to file charges in a third cold case soon, Chisholm said last month.Police have identified suspects in five other homicides that occurred in Milwaukee from 1983 to 1994, Flynn said last month. Four of those suspects are already incarcerated in connection with other crimes, he said.

Finally, investigators have developed DNA profiles of suspects in two other unsolved killings but have not been able to match the DNA with suspects, Chisholm said last month.



