The encounter on a dark road in the pre-dawn hours of a cold March day still haunts the only witness in one of five unsolved slayings of prostitutes that occurred this past summer.
Along a deserted road bordering Leakin Park in Northwest Baltimore on March 20, the witness said he came upon a horrifying sight: a man dragging a woman’s body from his car to the side of the road. “We drove up on him. He was just standing there over the trunk of his car; the body was already on the ground.”
The witness, who did not want his identity divulged, said the brazen killer had parked his car in the middle of the road near a path leading into the park. “We couldn’t drive past him. He didn’t move or even turn around when we rolled up.”
Unable to see clearly, the witness said he could provide police with only a partial description of the killer — a stocky, bald black man.
Startled, the witness said he and a friend put their car in reverse, backed out of the road, then drove to a safe location and called police. “I didn’t want to have nothing to do with that.”
But the witness in the homicide investigation of Yolanda Brown may be the only clear evidence police have as they search for clues in the five strangling deaths they believe are unrelated, but still remain unsolved.
A four-member task force made up of veteran homicide detectives in the Baltimore Police Department has been investigating the deaths of the five women, whose bodies were found between March and July. To date, no arrests have been made.
Among the victims was Nicole Sesker, the stepdaughter of former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm. Her body was found under a porch on Garrison Boulevard in June. The latest victim — whom police have now identified as Brenda Neighoff — was found strangled to death July 5 on a deserted path near an auxiliary parking lot of the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Northwest Baltimore. All the women, including Neighoff, had convictions for prostitution.
Police spokesman Sterling Clifford said there are no new developments in any of the five cases.
Staff Writer Luke Broadwater contributed to this report.
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