By AP/KWMU
East St. Louis, Ill. – Illinois State Police say they hope a new federally funded DNA database will help them identify three women whose bodies were dumped along busy highways early in 2002.
Police have determined that the three all died at the hands of serial killer Maury Travis after he had raped and tortured them. Some of the killings were even videotaped.
But Travis never identified the three women, and he hanged himself in a St. Louis jail cell three days after he was charged with the murders.
Officers say now, though, that they hope to match DNA from the three bodies to DNA submitted by the families of missing persons from all over the nation.