After three months of interviews and handing out photographs, Baltimore City homicide Detective Raymond Yost had what appeared to be a promising lead in Yolanda Brown’s death.
Yost, one of many officers assigned to a task force investigating several slayings of prostitutes, located the last man to speak, by cell phone, with Brown — one of five prostitutes killed this year, law enforcement sources said.
Brown, 36, had called the 41-year-old man’s phone “numerous” times March 20, the night she was slain. The man also had a history of assault charges, court records show.
But during a July interview, the man who said he was Brown’s friend appeared “very cooperative and forthcoming,” even offering to help detectives by showing them a house on Pennsylvania Avenue that Brown frequented before her death, according to police.
It was 108 days since Brown’s death — and detectives appeared no closer to solving the slaying than they were on “Day One.”
A month after Baltimore City police formed a special task force to investigate the strangling deaths of five prostitutes this year, no arrest has been made in any of the cases.
Officers have canvassed neighborhoods, interviewed friends and family members, distributed fliers, and sought DNA testing — all so far to no avail.
Police have made an arrest in two cold cases involving attacks on prostitutes — after Maryland State Police notified them they’d matched the DNA of William Vincent Brown, 41, to several old crime scenes from 2003 and 2004.
The difficulty in solving this year’s crimes underscores the dark, hidden world of prostitution — where vulnerable, drug-addicted women put their lives in the hands of total strangers, who can harm them and leave with little trace.
“It’s one of the most challenging kind of cases to solve,” said Johns Hopkins criminologist Darrel Stephens, a former police chief in Charlotte, N.C.
“Lots of times DNA evidence will help you put two people together, but for someone engaged in prostitution, they may be involved with several people. While it gives you leads, it doesn’t indicate who is responsible.
“It’s a profession not done out in the open,” Stephens said.
“Homicides are often solved with people coming forward with information. With prostitution, people take measures not to be seen, so there aren’t a lot of witnesses with information. Police face a very difficult situation.”
The homicide files
Yolanda Brown
She was found March 20 on the 3600 block of Winterbourne Road in South Baltimore, after police received a call reporting an unknown black male dumping a body from a green vehicle, police said.
Yolanda Brown had no shirt on and her jeans were pulled below her knees. She had been dragged from the south side of the street to the middle of the road, according to police. Two witnesses told police they witnessed a black male dragging her body.
Her father told officers he last saw his daughter two weeks before her death when she asked him for money. Her mother said she was using drugs again.
Other than the man whom Brown called several times before her death, police have few other leads. It’s unclear whether she was raped before her death, police said.
Elizabeth Garrett
On June 11, a landlord on the 3500 block of Buena Vista Avenue found Elizabeth Garrett, 25, dead on the bathroom floor of a vacant apartment.
She had old and healing injection marks on her arms. Her shorts were unbuttoned, and the zipper was down. In her pockets were a crack pipe and syringe plunger, police said.
Police are looking for a 24-year-old man they believe was living in the vacant apartment. They also are investigating a tip that a recently released inmate might be responsible for her death, sources said.
Amanda Bishop
A woman walking her dog found Amanda Bishop, 22, dead June 22 on the 1300 block of Nanticoke Street. She was nude, and her initials were tattooed on her left shoulder, police said.
Known to turn tricks on Wilkens Avenue, Bishop was a mother of three. She had thrice been the victim of domestic violence with current and former boyfriends, police said.
Officers are looking for a man driving a silver Hummer who used to “date” Bishop.
Nicole Sesker
Police have at least one clue in the death of Nicole Sesker, 38, the stepdaughter of former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm. Her body was found behind the only vacant house on the block of Garrison Avenue in Northwest Baltimore, leading police to suspect her killer knew the area.
Sesker’s body was left under a porch on the morning of June 28. A white T-shirt was pulled over her head, and her pants were discarded, police said.
Since her death, police have canvassed the neighborhood, interviewing dozens of people who knew her, including prostitutes who work in the same area on West Belvedere Avenue and Reisterstown Road where Sesker was last seen alive.
Brenda Hatfield
She was found July 7 on the 4500 block of Old Frederick Avenue behind the New Psalmist Church. With bruising on her neck and throat, Brenda Hatfield was naked and had a blue arm sling around her head. Her pink underwear and a pair of glasses were found 5 feet away, police said
Police would have never known she was there had it not been for a mysterious 911 call from the 900 block of Poplar Grove Street. Detectives are trying to figure out who made that call.
