Youth Accused of Attempt to Murder Two Women

A teen-age boy who claimed to be on a Satanic mission to kill prostitutes and is under investigation for a series of unsolved murders of South Los Angeles streetwalkers has been charged with raping and trying to murder two women, authorities said Friday.

Detective Michael Meeks said one of the victims told investigators that the youth told her he was Satan and on a mission to kill prostitutes.

“He’s got a very low tone of voice, and he started telling her that he was Satan, he was the anti-Christ, and it was his duty to kill all of the prostitutes,� Meeks said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Municipal Court.

Meeks said that since his arrest, the youth has been under investigation by the Police Department’s Southside Slayer Task Force as a possible suspect in the murders of 17 women, most of them black prostitutes.

A member of the task force, Detective Tom Lange, downplayed the significance of the youth as a possible suspect, saying many other suspects are also under investigation in the case.

The youth, whose name was withheld because of his age, was charged last month in Juvenile Court with abducting two reputed prostitutes off South Los Angeles streets, raping them, stabbing them and leaving them for dead. The assaults occurred Aug. 12 and Sept. 8.

He is additionally charged with a felony mayhem count for allegedly biting off part of the tongue of one of his victims.

The youth remains in custody without bail and faces a Nov. 4 pretrial hearing.

The 17 victims in the Southside Slayer case were killed from 1983 to July, 1986, and most of their bodies were found in South Los Angeles or neighboring cities. Police believe the slayings are the work of more than one killer.