UPDATE: DNA evidence has linked the death of Casey Mahoney, whose body was found last week, to two earlier homicides at the hands of the so-called Kensington strangler. With the third confirmed victim, police say the suspect now fits the classification of a serial killer. MORE
RELATED: Philadelphia authorities offered rewards totaling $37,000 on Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “Kensington Strangler” who raped and murdered at least two women since early November.”We are serious about getting this psycho off the streets of Philadelphia,” said Mayor Michael Nutter at a street-corner news conference in the Kensington neighborhood where the attacks occurred. Deputy Police Commissioner William Blackburn said 154 swabs have been taken for DNA testing, of which 45 have been excluded. About 120 prostitutes and “johns” or mail customers have been arrested since Mid-November in an investigation that involves the police department’s homicide and special victims unit. MORE
RELATED: Triz Jefferies is not the Kensington Strangler, but someone sure wanted the entire city to think he was, according to police. Fliers with Jefferies’ name, photo and address were spread throughout Kensington. And after that same flier appeared on Facebook and was distributed via text message calling him a suspect in the stranglings, Jefferies, 24, became a prisoner in his own home yesterday. Scared of the vigilante justice he might face at the hands of the people milling outside of his home, Jefferies called police and asked them to “get me out of my house,” said police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers. A patrol car escorted him to the Special Victims Unit to be interviewed last night, Evers said. “It’s pretty messed up, whoever put his name out there knowing this wasn’t the guy but that it could cause him great harm,” Evers said. “He’s very, very scared about what’s occurred and he believes that someone he had issues with put his photo out as the Kensington Strangler.” Jefferies, whose photo resembles the sketch of the suspect, has “pretty much completely been cleared,” Evers said. MORE
RELATED: Attention Facebook Users: This message is an official message from the Philadelphia Police Department. The photograph of a male displayed on this Fan Page, Triz Jefferies which has been posted as a suspect wanted in the Kensington Strangler case IS NOT CORRECT. According to the Philadelphia Police Department, this male is not a suspect and is not wanted in reference to these crimes. To administrators of this site and users: please remove, and refrain from posting any photographs of individuals who are not officially identified as suspects by the Philadelphia Police Department. Failure to take appropriate actions may subject you to liability. MORE
RELATED: Just last week investigators released surveillance video captured just before a man attacked a woman in the early morning hours of Dec. 6 on the1600 block of Sergeant Street, police said. “This is not a phantom, this male did not crawl into a hole,” said Special Victims Unit Cpt. John Darby. “He’s out there interacting with others.” The footage of the suspect terrorizing the neighborhood came out a couple days after a third woman was found strangled in a vacant lot in Kensington. MORE
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