CHICAGO, Jan. 31 -- Police have charged a 37-year-old man with 10 killings of women on Chicago's South Side dating back to 1993.
An informant tipped officers about Andre Crawford.
He was arrested Friday and confessed to 10 murders and 11 rapes after he was linked to the crimes by DNA evidence.
Police Supt. Terry Hillard said Crawford gave a videotaped confession to seven "very brutal" crimes committed between September 1993 and June 1999 in two predominately black neighborhoods. He then confessed to three killings that are not part of the investigation and was charged with one count of attempted murder.
A woman who escaped an attacker Nov. 27, 1997, identified Crawford in a police lineup.
"Biological technology is advancing all the time and is very important to us, but nothing takes the place of good old-fashioned police work," said Hillard at a news conference Sunday.
Crawford, who has a 15-year criminal history, was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Monday. Most of the victims, all either drug addicts or prostitutes, were beaten, raped and strangled. Their bodies were found in abandoned buildings in Englewood and New City.
The attacks terrorized inner-city neighborhoods, and police formed a special task forced to find the killer. "It is the hope of the police department, and my hope, with the arrest of this suspect we have put the residents of these communities at ease," said Hillard.
One man arrested earlier was charged with three killings, and three men were charged with one killing. Two slayings and two rapes remain unsolved.