8 young women killed in small La. town

JENNINGS, La., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Investigators say a serial killer appears to be at work in a small town in southwestern Louisiana, where eight young women have been slain in four years.

Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff Ricky Edwards has set up a Web site to provide information on the killings. While Edwards will not say one person was responsible for all eight, he said in a recent statement the evidence suggests they "may be linked to a common offender," CNN reported.

The bodies were all found in Jennings, a town with a population just over 10,000 that usually averages one homicide a year. In May 2005, fishermen found the body of Loretta Chaisson Lewis, 28, in a canal.

The most recent victim was discovered this August.

The victims were between 17 and 30. All were drug users and some worked as prostitutes to support their habit, Edwards said.

Mike Dubois, whose sister, Whitnei, 26, was found dead in 2007, says the investigation is taking too long.

"How can there not be anything? I want justice, not just for my family, but for the families of all the girls," he said. "We live in fear that someone else is going to get killed."