Suspected serial killer Darren Vann is facing new charges more than a year after he led police on a bloody scavenger hunt in Northwest Indiana, confessing to killing several women and hiding their bodies in abandoned homes.
Vann has been charged with five additional counts of murder and 10 additional counts of rape, attempted murder and criminal confinement, the Gary Police Department announced Monday. Further details on the charges weren't immediately released.
Vann was arrested in October 2014, one day after police found the body of 19-year-old Afrika Hardy in a motel bathtub.
After his arrest, Vann admitted killing several women and told police where the bodies could be found.
Vann was charged with murder in Hardy's Oct. 17 strangulation and in the death of Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville. Jones, 35, was reported missing by her sister just days before her body was discovered.
Vann pleaded not guilty to the two deaths.
Vann is suspected in at least five other women's deaths, all of which were believed to be sex workers. Investigators used Vann's cellphone records to track his movements after he revealed to police he liked to check on the bodies he'd stashed after a fresh kill, authorities said.
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In an interview with NBC 5, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart compared the investigation into Vann to the investigation into serial killer John Wayne Gacy saying, "When you’re dealing with someone who kills a lot of people, give up trying to predict."
Little has been revealed about Vann's court proceedings because a judge earlier issued a gag order in the case.
