‘A killer on the loose’

Originally Published November 22, 2006; Page 1A
By LEO STRUPCZEWSKI
Courier-Post Staff

Investigators said Tuesday at least two of the four dead women found lying face down in a drainage ditch behind a string of motels here were homicide victims.

Autopsy results on a third victim were inconclusive and the fourth is to be examined today, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz said.


One of the women has been identified as Kim Raffo, 35, who lived in a rooming house in the 100 block of Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, Blitz said. Her death, caused by strangulation, has been ruled a homicide, he said.

Another woman, also a homicide victim, was asphyxiated "by unspecified means," according to medical examiner Dr. Hydow Park.

"It's ridiculous, man; it's scary," said George Tarrau, standing outside the room he was renting at the Golden Key Motel. "There's a killer on the loose."

Tarrau said he and his girlfriend had been staying at the motel for three nights because it was so cheap. A sign out front advertised rooms for as low as $15 a night.

Blitz said the investigation began shortly after 3 p.m. Monday when two women walking along an access road behind the motels found a body in a ditch by the side of the road.

The road and the ditch run parallel to the Black Horse Pike and the Atlantic City Expressway outside Atlantic City.

Police found the other three bodies in a line east of the first. All the women appeared to be Caucasian and all were lying face down with their heads pointed east, Blitz said. None was wearing shoes or socks and the bodies were in various states of decomposition, he said.

The bodies had not been covered but a line of shrubbery along the access road kept them from plain view, Blitz said.

Police said they do not know how the bodies were placed there.

Raffo's body was found directly behind the Golden Key Motel at 8050 Black Horse Pike, Blitz said. She was wearing Capri camouflage pants and a white tank top with the words Hard Rock Cafe on the front, Blitz said.

Blitz said he believed Raffo's body had been in the water for "a few days."

The second woman's body was found 148 feet east of the first, Blitz said. She was 5 feet tall and weighed 160 pounds. She was wearing a denim miniskirt, a bra, and a mesh shirt. That body will be autopsied today, Blitz said.

The third woman was wearing blue-jean Capri pants and a long-sleeve, brown zippered jacket. She was 5 feet 7 inches and weighed about 145 pounds, Blitz said. She is believed to be in her 30s and was found 90 feet east of the second body. The cause of her death was inconclusive and it is believed she had been in the water up to two weeks.

The fourth woman was found 83 feet east of the third body, Blitz said. She was described as being in her 20s, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. Blitz said she was wearing blue jeans, a red hooded sweatshirt and black bra. She had a butterfly tattoo in the small of her back and was believed to have been in the water up to a week, Blitz said.

Three of the women appeared to have blond hair, Blitz said. The fourth had dark hair, he said.
Blitz said there have been three other homicides in Egg Harbor Township since the beginning of the year but there is no evidence to suggest that these bodies are linked to the earlier killings.

On Tuesday afternoon, a command center had been set up in an Atlantic County Emergency Services van in the parking lot of the Fortune Inn.

Investigators were heavily dressed for the cold weather as they tromped through the marsh.

The nearly mile-long stretch of motels just outside of Atlantic City had been targeted by Egg Harbor Township Police in the past for prostitution and drug problems, police Capt. John Pope said.

"It's bad, very bad," said Parish Patel, who said his cousin owns the Golden Key Motel. "Atlantic City is a gambling place. It brings all kinds of people."

Patel said his cousin, whom he declined to name, is in England for a wedding. Patel said he stopped by his cousin's motel to make sure everything was fine.

A man who was working the front desk at the motel declined comment. So did those working at the Fortune Inn and the Star Inn, which is between the Golden Key and Fortune.

A motel occupant, Fatima Smith, said she has lived there for nearly three months. She's been there longer than most who make their way through the transient haven, but minds her own business, she said.

Friends have stopped by to make sure she's safe, she said.

Jesse Majette, a New York resident, checked into the Golden Key Motel shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday. He said he hadn't heard about the bodies until a television reporter told him about it.

Majette said he visits the area once every two weeks or so and hopes to move soon.

"It's relaxing," he said of the area. "New York can get pretty rough… But I guess it's pretty rough over here now, too."

Reach Leo Strupczewski at (856) 317-7828 or lstrupczewski@courierpostonline.com