The man who always kills women on 9 February…and 3 other terrifying unsolved serial murders
People in America still live in fear of these serial killers striking again
IS there anything more terrifying than the idea of a serial killer roaming the streets, waiting to strike again?
These four sick multiple murderers have never been caught, and could still be out there somewhere.
While the families of the victims, some of whom were children, have never had justice.
We look at four of the most terrifying unsolved serial murders, which all took place in America within living memory.
February 9 killer
Ladies living in Salt Lake City are sure to be extra vigilant on February 9, the day when this serial killer always strikes.
First, pregnant Hispanic woman Sonia Mejia was assaulted and strangled to death on February 9 2006, when she was alone in her flat.
Two years later to the day, Damiana Castillo was also strangled to death in her flat – just a mile from Sonia’s home.
At first, it seemed like a grisly coincidence – although DNA evidence later proved the murders were committed by the same man.
There was no sign of forced entry in either murder – and the killer has never been caught.
Phantom killer
The area of Texarkana was gripped by fear in the spring of 1946, due to a case dubbed the Moonlight Murders.
The killer is thought to have attacked eight people within ten weeks, five of whom were killed. All the murders took place at night and on the weekend.
The case captured public imagination so much that, 30 years later, it inspired a horror film called The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Only the first two victims, Mary Jeanne Larey and Jimmy Hollis, were able to describe their attacker.
They saw a six-foot-tall man with a plain white sack over his head, which had holes cut out for the eyes and mouth.
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It’s not known whether he wore the mask during the other attacks – the only other survivor didn’t get a look.
The killer always used a .32 caliber pistol, spread his murders three weeks apart, and carried them all out in the dead of night.
After one of the murders, Sheriff William Presley told the press: “This killer is the luckiest person I have ever known. No one sees him, hears him in time, or can identify him in any way.”
It was after this statement that the killer could his ghostly nickname.
Suspect Youell Swinney was jailed for car theft in 1947 and released in 1973. He was never charged with the killings.
Some experts have speculated the murders could be the early work of the notorious Zodiac Killer – but this has never been proven.
West Mesa Bone Collector
In February 2009, a dog walker stumbled upon a human bone on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, in New Mexico.
This discovery resulted in the LARGEST crime scene in US history, as police scoured through the dumping grounds of an unidentified killer – known as the Bone Collector.
The remains of 11 women, all prostitutes, were eventually unearthed in the area.
No DNA, murder weapons, or leads of any kind have been found in relation to the murderer – and sex workers in the area still live in fear.
The Alphabet Murders
In the early 70s, a string of young girls were all brutally murdered in Rochester, New York.
But age and gender wasn’t all they had in common.
Victims Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz and Michelle Maenza all happened to have alliterative initials – hence the name the Alphabet Murders.
Many people were questioned over the murders, with one prime suspect killing himself during the investigation – only to be posthumously cleared in 2007 by DNA testing.
Rochester man Kenneth Bianchi, who later became the Hillside Strangler, is often connected to the murders.
He has never been officially cleared, but still maintains his innocence.
While in 2011, 77-year-old New Yorker Joseph Naso was charged with murdering four women in California in the late 70s.
His victims were called Roxene Roggasvh, Pamela Parsons, Tracy Tofoya and, amazingly, Carmen Colon.
He has since been jailed for the murders of the four ladies and two other victims, but has been ruled out of the Rochester murders because of DNA evidence.