DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit's police chief is warning about a possible serial killer in the city.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Chief James Craig said the killer appears to be targeting prostitutes and others in the sex industry.

"We want to get the information out, particularly to our sex worker community; it's very important," the chief said. "We're in the middle of an investigation that actually started several months ago, but it wasn't until the murder today that we're convinced that we believe we have the makings of a serial killer rapist that has been operating on the east side of Detroit."

Early Wednesday, the decomposed, partially clothed body of a woman was discovered in a vacant house in the 3000 block of Mack Ave.

Craig said this was one of three women found dead in abandoned homes, and it's the same scenario in all three deaths. Each time, he said, a woman has been lured to a vacant building and beaten.

The chief said race does not appear to be a factor in the slayings.

"In two other cases, going even back to March, one woman was black and the other one white," WWJ's Vickie Thomas reported, adding that two of the three victims were in their early 50s.

The two previous cases were March 19 and May 24 of this year.

Asked if there could be additional victims yet to be identified, Craig said investigators will be looking into their files to see if any older cases could be connected.

"A lot of times these signature killers are rapists are very sporadic in a timeline; although the timeline here is pretty close." Craig said. "So we wanna get ahead of it. We think it's important that sex worker community is aware that there is a potential of a serial killer rapist."

"Again, we're not trying to create alarm," he added. "But it's important to get this information out, because we believe that members of that community will come forward with information that will be helpful."

There is no suspect description at this time.

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