SHARE Three mattresses mark the site of transient camp where a body was found in Yreka Wednesday night. The body was the third one found in the same area on Westside Road near the Walmart Supercenter and not far from Interstate 5.

By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight

A third body found near Yreka Creek could be evidence a serial killer is a work in the North State, a criminology expert said today.

The discovery of the latest body Wednesday not far from Interstate 5 and a Walmart Supercenter prompted Yreka police to warn people away from the area where three murder victims have been found in less than eight months.

While police said there currently is no evidence the three men were killed by the same person, Jack Levin, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who has written numerous books on serial killers, said the discovery of the bodies in a small area indicates there’s a good chance the North State has one of the notorious murderers on its hands.

“It’s very unusual to find three bodies in proximity to one another...I do think it’s most likely a serial killer,” Levin said. “Three bodies in the same place off the side of a highway — You’ve got to think that you’re talking about the same killer.”

The body found Wednesday was about 500 feet from South Yreka Creek near the 1900 block of Westside Road, near the Walmart Supercenter and from Interstate 5. The other two bodies were near the north end of the creek and Deer Creek Way.

Yreka police say the death of Christopher Schaefer, the first person found there, has been ruled a homicide. The body of Schaefer, whom Police Chief Brian Bowles said was homeless, was discovered in November.

The second body, found earlier this month, is “an apparent homicide,” police said, while the third body was badly decomposed, but police still aren’t ruling out foul play.

Bowles said while nothing at this point leads him to believe the three men had the same killer, it’s not out of the question.

“At this time in the investigation, there’s no evidence the cases are linked,” Bowles said. “But we’re not ruling anything out.”

Bowles said Schaefer’s body had been where it was found for up to three months, while the latest two victims probably had been there for less than a week each.

Bowles said Schaefer died from blunt-force trauma to the head, but autopsy results aren’t yet available for the second or third victims, whose identities have not been released. Bowles said police don’t believe the latest victims are any known missing persons cases from the area.

Levin said it’s easier to point to a serial killer when the method of killing for all the victims is known. But, he said, even if the latest two victims weren’t also bludgeoned, it very well may be the same killer.

What’s most common for a serial killer, Levin said, is that all their victims are killed in an intimate way, not, for example, by shooting.

“It’s true that most serial killers kill in an intimate way, so they might stab the first, strangle the second and bludgeon the third,” he said. “Very few of them kill with a gun...so once we know whether the other victims were killed in an up-close-and-personal way, we would have a better idea if you’ve got a serial killer on the loose.”

Bowles said it’s unknown at this point whether the men were killed near the creek or just dumped there.

Levin said he believes the men probably weren’t killed where their bodies were found, and it’s common for serial killers to leave their victims in the same place. Killers usually like to avoid detection by leaving the body where there isn’t as much evidence, he said.

“It is not unusual for all of the victims to be found in the same location,” Levin said. “Most serial killers are smart enough that they don’t leave the crime scene for the police.”

However, Levin noted some aren’t so smart and others are psychotic, which could lead to less logical counter-measures.

Since the bodies of all three victims — particularly the last two — were found fairly quickly, Levin said the suspect probably isn’t an advanced killer who has committed many more murders, if any.

Levin said it’s not always true that serial killers pick similar victims, but since Schaefer was homeless — an at-risk group for serial killings, along with prostitutes and drug addicts — the other two victims may have been as well and could have gotten a ride with their killer.

Serial killers don’t necessarily pick victims of the same sex with every kill, Levin said, and about one third of all serial killer victims are men.

Most serial killers are “sexual sadists,” Levin said, meaning they derive sexual excitement from hurting others. That doesn’t mean the killer — if male — is gay, Levin said.

While female serial killers do exist, Levin said they usually have specific motives, such as killing for money or insurance benefits, and very rarely are sexual sadists.

If there is a serial killer in the North State, it wouldn’t be the first. The relatively low-crime area saw four young women and girls killed by Darrell Rich, of Cottonwood, in 1978. Robert Maury, of Cottonwood, and Gerald Stanley, of Anderson, also claimed multiple victims in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Police are asking people to stay away from the area around the creek until further notice, even sweeping the area today with press releases to warn residents about the possible homicides. Bowles said they are questioning numerous persons of interest at this point, and the Department of Justice and FBI are assisting with the Yreka case.

Anyone with information on the case should call 530-841-2313 or 530-841-2300.

Reporter Jenny Espino contributed to this report.