Staff Blog
What if there is no single Kensington Strangler?
Last week, the story of the "Kensington Strangler" — the person-at-large who may or not be responsible for multiple murders and choking assaults in and around Kensington — reached fever pitch in the Philly news media, the Inquirer and Daily News both running lurid headlines about the massive police manhunt underway in Kenzo.
But in amid all the hype, it's not clear that the Kensington Strangler really exists — or, rather, that a single person has been responsible for certain recent crimes. In fact, it's not clear to what extent some of these crimes could happen fairly often.
To be sure, police have linked the same person (by DNA) to the two murders-by-strangulation that ignited the story. That Kensington Strangler does exist, and has yet to be identified.
But several more cases of murder and assault involving choking have not, despite appearing over and over again in articles about the Strangler, been linked to the same suspect.
And CP wondered: Kensington is, after all, a neighborhood ridden with both violent crime and prostitution — could it be that the sudden media spotlight was simply picking up incidents that happen more frequently than we'd like to believe?
Indeed, Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers told CP late last week that he thought the media was "going overboard," and cautioned that half-dozen or so crimes being examined may not, in fact, be linked:
We believe the three [assaults on prostitutes that involved choking] are closely tied. The two homicides are definitely tied. And the three assaults and homicides may be tied together. . . But this is [an area with] high risk activities.
In fact, Evers said, the police have already arrested one area man accused of choking a woman — but who police say is unconnected to any of these cases. Police have also detained a person of interest in the recent murder of a third woman, but do not presently believe that person to be connected to the other two murders or choking cases.
In other words, there's no doubt women are being attacked and choked in Kensington — but whether it's the work of a single individual, or a disturbing glimpse into patterns of regular violence against these women — is much less clear.
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I fail to see the speculation. First, no, its not common to find people in vacant lots dead by strangulation in the streets of Kenso. True, drug violence, prostitution ( although isolated parts of the area)but bodies of missing people found dead via strangulation stands out like a soar thumb. Secondly,it is true that not all the reported incidents my be related but nevertheless I take offense at what is being insinuated–that violence of the kind that has been reported is just part of Kensington. Yes, in the life of pimps and prostitutes, sure, there is violence but that is isolated to either Frankfort Ave and Kinsington Ave. Kensington is much larger than those two strips.
I agree wit KensingKING.
[...] Kensington Strangler Strikes Again? A partially-clothed woman with a plastic bag covering her head was found deadin a desolate lot in Kensington yesterday. Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey says investigators are uncertain whether this crime is related to a string of other murders in the area. [Daily News]Â But what if there is no Kensington strangler at all? [Citypaper] [...]
Clearly there is one person commiting these crimes because all three murders were swabbed and all three had the same DNA on them. What does that mean exactly? It means that one and only one person is committing these homicides. Therefore, even though I would love to agree with you that the media and scared Kinsington residence are hyping a mass serial killer theory – I simply cannot.
Even the victims who survived the stranglings all described the same guy or a description that’s very much the same.
Now I am aware that this article was posted in early december, but even then the murders of the first to females were connected by DNA – which once again shows us that the same man committed these murders.
There is one theory that police detectives and FBI are throwing about and that is this man may be a man who caught HIV or AIDS from a prostitute and is now taking his revenge out by these stranglations. Which tells us another thing about this kill – he is positive with HIV or AIDS. Because police do not assume in cases like these, so they must know he’s positive with the disease.
Are you kidding me?!?! Being a reporter, YOU should do your homework. KENSINGTON was and still is a area that hard working people live and love. There are still hardworking people who live here and are scared to leave their homes, or allow their children to go out after dark. How dare you criticize, or put down a entire neighborhood, because of its hardship. Guess what “Mister Reporter” DRUGS,PROSTITUTION, AND VIOLENT CRIMES happen everywhere in Philadelphia, oh and YES even in the surrounding SUBURBS of Philly. Its easy to sit behind your desk and type how YOU feel, but have YOU ever walked the streets of our neighborhood. I grew up in “Kensington” and now live minutes away and wont trade my childhood for anything in this world. To me its sounds as if you a “bully” think you are better than the hard working “KENZO” who bust their bums. A true “KENZO” will always protect their family and neighbors. Maybe you should try it out sometime after all this is the “CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE”
You sound like an uneducated sorry sap in my opinion. If you did your research, you would know that this man is a serial strangler and a predator. Living here for 20 years, born and raised, this is not something that is a pattern. Yes, there is violence, prostitution, and drugs in the Kensington neighborhood. However, that does not make this situation any less serious. It’s almost as if you are saying what he is doing is OK and just a regular day in our neighborhood. It is not. People like you disgust me.
[...] few weeks ago, we posed the question: What if there is no single "Kensington Strangler?" … amid all the hype, it's not clear that the [...]