More victims feared after police find seven bodies in Indiana

The bodies of six more people were found in northwestern Indiana over the weekend after a convicted sex offender confessed to killing one woman, authorities said Monday.

The discoveries began after a 43-year-old man allegedly confessed to killing a woman whose body was found Friday at a Motel 6 in Hammond, Indiana. He then told investigators where more bodies could be found in abandoned homes in the nearby city of Gary, an economically struggling former steel town about 30 miles southeast of Chicago, police said.

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said Monday the suspect is a sex offender from Austin, Texas.

Freeman-Wilson said authorities are not certain how long the man has been in northwestern Indiana, although he does have a conviction for illegally entering a home in the area. 

John Doughty, police chief of the neighboring city of Hammond, said the case "could go back as far as 20 years based on some statements we have." 

"It is possible other victims could surface," Doughty added.

Hammond police Lt. Rich Hoyda said Sunday the man's name was not being released, because he had not yet been formally charged.

The bodies were found after Gary police followed up on information the man provided during questioning, Hoyda said. He would not comment on how the man knew the women, a possible motive or whether he confessed to more than one killing.

The Lake County coroner's office identified the first woman, found about 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Motel 6, as 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy, and said she had been strangled.

A second body was found Saturday night in an abandoned home in Gary. The coroner said family members identified her as 35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville, Indiana, who had been missing since Oct. 8.

Five other bodies were found Sunday in various Gary homes — including two more in the same property where Jones' body was found Saturday, the coroner's office said Monday. The cause of death was not specified for any of the women found in Gary.

The discoveries began after a friend reported Hardy missing.

"A friend of the deceased called us, and she was concerned when she didn't respond to her calling," Hoyda said. "We were sent there and found that person dead."

Police investigating Hardy’s death obtained a search warrant for a home and vehicle in Gary. Police conducted the search Saturday afternoon and took the man into custody. Hoyda said the man confessed during questioning and then told investigators "where several other female victims of possible homicide were located."

Gary, once was a thriving steel town of 178,000 where thousands worked in the mills, has been struggling for decades. Its population has shrunk to just over 78,000 and its poverty rate hovers around 40 percent. Thousands of homes are abandoned, many with weeds choking broken sidewalks — often on the same streets where other homes are tidy and well-kept.

On Monday, people in Gary tried to make sense of the tragedy.

"That's devastating. That's sick," said Jay Jackson, 25, a health care worker visiting a woman a few houses from where one of the bodies was found. "All we can do is pray for the city and hope for recovery."

Wire services