Officials will decide the next step today in the case of a Harford County man whom police call a suspected serial killer when attorneys set trial dates related to the alleged sexual assaults of six women.
Charles Eugene Burns, 35, was convicted last month of murdering Lillian Abramowicz Phelps by the side of an isolated Havre de Grace farm lane in late May 2006. His sentencing is scheduled for May 29, but attorneys will meet Monday to schedule another trial for his alleged assault of six prostitutes between January and May 2006 Assistant State?s Attorney Mark Nelson said.
Police believe Phelps? death is connected to the deaths of three other women whose bodies were found in a secluded area near Aberdeen, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore has not ruled any of those deaths as homicides.
According to employees at the medical examiner?s office, autopsy reports for Jennifer Lynn Blankenship and Joyce Ann Toliver had not yet been completed, while an autopsy of Sheila Ann Turner left the cause of death undetermined.
Charging documents said Burns choked at least two admitted prostitutes during sex ? choking at least one to unconsciousness. Prosecutors said Burns choked Phelps until she passed out, then killed her by running her over with his car.
Burns faces six charges of assault and one charge of attempted first-degree murder, among other charges.
