Investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are looking for relatives of a long-deceased man to help solve the case of a New York serial killer.
According to the Mobile Police Department, Elijah “Lige” Howell/Howard died in Mobile in 1963. Howell/Howard lived in Prichard with his wife, Lillie Mae Wiggins Packer. The FBI is seeking friends and relatives of Howell/Howard because they “may be able to assist in the case of a woman and child found in another state.”
The post included a picture of a tattoo depicting a peach, and police asked if the body mark looked familiar to anyone.
According to reports, this tattoo belongs to an unidentified female victim of the Long Island serial killer.
This killer, yet to be found, is believed to have murdered between 10 and 16 people over a period of almost 20 years. Most of the identified victims have been prostitutes who promoted themselves on Craigslist.
In December 2010, four female victims, known as "The Gilgo Four," were found in Gilgo Beach.
More remains were found in March and April 2011 and are believed to be the victims of an earlier set of connected murders.
Included in the remains found in April were those of a female toddler and her mother, who has become known as “Peaches” due to a bitten heart-shaped tattoo of a peach on her body, depicted in the Mobile Police Department’s Facebook post.
Peaches’ partial remains were first discovered in a state park in 1997, and officials were able to confirm she was the mother of the toddler through DNA tests.
In 2018, Netflix produced a movie about the Long Island murders called "Lost Girls."
This year, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodey K. Harrison created a multi-agency task force along with the FBI, New York State Police, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office to finally locate the killer and bring him to justice.
It is unclear what the expected connection is between Howell/Howard and Peaches.
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