Police in Dallas, Texas, arrested a 25-year-old man Wednesday in connection to the deaths of three ladies who’re believed to be intercourse employees, the newest suspect to be charged in a string of intercourse employee slayings in current months.
The Dallas Police Division mentioned Oscar Sanchez Garcia was recognized because the suspect in a preliminary investigation of three homicides in southwest Dallas by means of proof gathered by detectives. Sanchez Garcia faces three counts of homicide.
The our bodies of the three ladies had been present in a Dallas neighborhood, Oak Cliff, close to the Trinity River over a interval of three months, in accordance with police.
Kimberly Robinson, 60, was present in late April in an open area, police mentioned. About two months later, police discovered Cherish Gibson, 25, with stab wounds in the identical space. And a 3rd girl, who stays unidentified, was additionally present in a area on July 15.
Police consider at the very least two of the victims have doable ties to prostitution.
“Intercourse employees are targets for violence, particularly as a result of the people who find themselves concentrating on them… know that they’re marginalized,” ACLU’s Gillian Branstetter beforehand advised USA TODAY.
The arrests of a number of suspected serial killers in current months, together with architect Rex Heuermann, have reignited conversations round intercourse work and the way violence towards individuals who have interaction in intercourse work is frequent.
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Alleged serial killers charged with homicide
The case in Dallas follows different arrests and prices towards suspected serial killers which have gained nationwide consideration since late Could.
In one other Texas case, Raul Meza Jr., who was convicted in 1982 of the homicide of an 8-year-old woman, was charged with two further murders in Could. Police consider Meza could possibly be chargeable for 10 extra homicides.
The Austin American-Statesman, a part of the USA TODAY Community, reported Wednesday that police consider Meza is linked to a dying of girl in March 2022. In current days, police have been trying to find proof of human stays at Pflugerville area, an Austin suburb about 18 miles northeast of the state capital.
On the time of his arrest, Meza had advised police he was “prepared and ready to kill once more and looking out ahead to it,” in accordance with Austin Police Division Detective Patrick Reed.
Authorities in New York arrested Heuermann final week in connection to the Gilgo Seashore murders on Lengthy Island. The architect was charged with first-degree homicide in reference to the deaths of three ladies whose stays had been discovered over a decade in the past.
Police linked Heuermann to the murders through the use of DNA proof that matched between a pizza he ate and one of many ladies’s stays. He has pleaded not responsible.
A California man, whom Mexican authorities have known as the “Ted Bundy of Tijuana,” was additionally charged earlier this month with femicide. Bryant Rivera is accused of killing three ladies in Tijuana between September 2021 and February 2022, and was arrested by U.S. officers as a fugitive from Mexico.
Intercourse employees usually targets of violence
With the arrests of Sanchez Garcia, Heuermann and Rivera — who all allegedly focused intercourse employees — advocates famous that individuals who have interaction in intercourse work have lengthy been focused by serial killers.
An evaluation of developments and case traits from 1970 to 2009 discovered that 22% of U.S. serial homicide victims had been recognized intercourse employees. These numbers continued to extend over a number of a long time, the place 43% of intercourse employees had been confirmed victims between 2000 and 2009.
Different knowledge has additionally proven how intercourse employees are sometimes targets of violence.
“Particular person research of intercourse work within the US verify excessive charges of violence, usually from legislation enforcement,” in accordance with the Gender Coverage Report on the College of Minnesota. “Avenue employees (who usually tend to be of shade, trans, and housing precarious), are particularly susceptible.”
The Intercourse Employees Mission on the City Justice Middle surveyed a small pattern of road intercourse employees in New York Metropolis and located that 80% reported experiencing violence or threats of violence whereas working. Globally, intercourse employees have a forty five% to 75% likelihood of experiencing office violence, the Gender Coverage Report mentioned.
Violence towards intercourse employees:From Jack the Ripper to Rex Heuermann arrest, violence towards intercourse employees is frequent
Contributing: Claire Thornton and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY