Brown was one of 10 black women found dead or who vanished from Peoria from 2001 to 2004, baffling authorities and raising racial tensions and fear in south-side neighborhoods where most of the women were last seen alive.

Last May, former concrete worker Larry Bright ended the wondering for families of most of the women when he pleaded guilty to eight slayings in a deal with prosecutors that sent him to prison for life rather than to death row.

But Bright, 40, denied that Brown or 40-year-old Wanda Jackson were among the victims he dumped along remote country roads or burned to ash and bone in his back yard.

“You can’t lose your mind over it, you know,” said Page, whose granddaughter was strangled and had toxic levels of cocaine in her system when her body was found on Feb. 21, 2004. “I have to talk to God and think rational about it. My Savior pulls me through.”

Authorities say investigations into Brown’s and Jackson’s deaths remain open, and they continue to work closely with black leaders through relationships forged during the original investigations. But leads have virtually dried up since Bright’s guilty plea.

Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy said he still suspects Bright, despite Bright’s denials during hours of interrogations.

McCoy says he believes Bright probably killed Brown, but not Jackson, whose body was found more than two years before the other killings began.

“I find it hard to believe he wasn’t involved in Brown’s murder ... I could be wrong. I probably am wrong. It just fits,” McCoy said.

Brown died in the midst of Bright’s other killings, which stretched from July 2003 to October 2004. Like the other women, he said, she was black and led a lifestyle that included drugs and prostitution.

Her cause of death also mirrored Bright’s other victims, who died of strangulation or drug overdoses.

Bright’s attorney, Jay Elmore, insists his client has no motive to lie about the killings, noting that Bright’s plea agreement called for life in prison regardless of the number of victims because prosecutors wanted closure for families of women whose bodies were burned and never identified.

“No one involved in the case could point to a motive of why he would admit to killing eight people and stop there ... My impressions were and still are that he had nothing to do with those other murders,” Elmore said.

Bright, serving a life sentence without parole at Menard Correctional Center, did not respond to a letter from The Associated Press seeking an interview.

No reason to lie about deaths?

McCoy acknowledged that other investigators agree Bright had no reason to lie about Brown’s death and suspect she may have died at the hands of someone else, perhaps a copycat killer.

Peoria County sheriff’s Capt. David Briggs said Bright and others remain “persons of interest” in the killings, but police lack enough evidence to pursue charges.

The Rev. Timothy Criss, an advocate for victims’ families, says the women’s relatives — including Brown’s and Jackson’s — generally believe Bright committed all the murders.

“I think in their minds, it’s more probable than it is possible,” Criss said.

Still, Brown’s grandmother says she needs to know for sure.

“If he didn’t do it, they need to find the person who did,” said Page, who keeps her granddaughter’s ashes in an urn at her Peoria home. “If somebody knows something, I would like to tell them to come forward. Nobody does a murder without somebody knowing. Somebody out there knows.”

Cases revisited frequently

McCoy said police revisit the two unsolved cases frequently.

“We need that one little thing to push us over the edge,” he said.

Even as families struggle for closure, authorities say positive change has emerged in the wake of the killings.

Criss’ church, the City of Refuge Worship Center, has started a new substance abuse treatment center that has drawn more than 100 clients since it opened less than two months ago. Criss hopes it helps steer people away from drugs and the dangers that come with them.

“We honestly believe that if there had been something more in place for these young ladies that maybe they would not have fallen victim to what they fell victim to,” Criss said.

He said the new effort is needed because drug use and prostitution ebbed briefly during the killings, but returned after Bright’s arrest.

“That lifestyle hasn’t really changed ... so we hope there is never another person like Larry Bright,” McCoy said.

Authorities also say cooperation during the investigations built a much-needed bridge between police and Peoria’s black community, which comprises nearly a quarter of the city’s 113,000 residents.

“I think black people saw some results and that’s something that a lot of African Americans feel like we haven’t seen enough of,” Criss said. “There has been this overwhelming feeling that when things happen in the African American community, people don’t care. So I think people could put a face on caring for the first time in many years.”

A serial killer who prosecutors say burned some of his victims to ash and bits of bone in his mother's backyard pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing eight women.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Larry Bright, 39, escaped a possible death sentence and instead will get life in prison without parole.

Four of his victims' bodies were found dumped along little-traveled roads around Peoria in 2003 and 2004, and the remains of the others were found in burn pits in the yard at the home he shared with his mother.

The killings and the time it took authorities to connect them and then track down the killer caused an uproar in Peoria's black community. The victims were black and several were prostitutes and drug addicts. Bright is white.

The former concrete worker did not comment in court other than answering "Yes, Sir" and "No, Sir" to the judge's questions, but in a statement read by an attorney, he said: "I know I've committed some horrible and unthinkable acts. I am very sorry for the grief and heartache that I have caused."

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive but say Bright was fascinated with sex and pornography involving black women.

Bright pleaded guilty Tuesday to seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of drug-induced homicide.

"I think it's a fair resolution," defense attorney Jay Elmore said. "This guy is never going to see the light of day and he knows he should never see the light of day."

Prosecutor Kevin Lyons said he agreed to the deal after consulting with victims' families, who generally supported sparing Bright's life in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Before handing down the life sentence, Judge James Shadid told Bright that victims' families showed "more consideration, more mercy and more respect for your life than you showed them for theirs."

Accused serial killer pleads guilty to eight deaths in exchange for life in prison

A serial killer who prosecutors say burned some of his victims to ash and bits of bone in his mother's backyard pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing eight women.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Larry Bright, 39, escaped a possible death sentence and instead will get life in prison without parole.

Four of his victims' bodies were found dumped along little-traveled roads around Peoria in 2003 and 2004, and the remains of the others were found in burn pits in the yard at the home he shared with his mother.

The killings and the time it took authorities to connect them and then track down the killer caused an uproar in Peoria's black community. The victims were black and several were prostitutes and drug addicts. Bright is white.

The former concrete worker did not comment in court other than answering "Yes, Sir" and "No, Sir" to the judge's questions, but in a statement read by an attorney, he said: "I know I've committed some horrible and unthinkable acts. I am very sorry for the grief and heartache that I have caused."

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive but say Bright was fascinated with sex and pornography involving black women.

Bright pleaded guilty Tuesday to seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of drug-induced homicide.

"I think it's a fair resolution," defense attorney Jay Elmore said. "This guy is never going to see the light of day and he knows he should never see the light of day."

Prosecutor Kevin Lyons said he agreed to the deal after consulting with victims' families, who generally supported sparing Bright's life in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Before handing down the life sentence, Judge James Shadid told Bright that victims' families showed "more consideration, more mercy and more respect for your life than you showed them for theirs."

A serial killer who prosecutors say burned some of his victims to ash and bits of bone in his mother's backyard pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing eight women.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Larry Bright, 39, escaped a possible death sentence and instead will get life in prison without parole.

Four of his victims' bodies were found dumped along little-traveled roads around Peoria in 2003 and 2004, and the remains of the others were found in burn pits in the yard at the home he shared with his mother.

The killings and the time it took authorities to connect them and then track down the killer caused an uproar in Peoria's black community. The victims were black and several were prostitutes and drug addicts. Bright is white.

The former concrete worker did not comment in court other than answering "Yes, Sir" and "No, Sir" to the judge's questions, but in a statement read by an attorney, he said: "I know I've committed some horrible and unthinkable acts. I am very sorry for the grief and heartache that I have caused."

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive but say Bright was fascinated with sex and pornography involving black women.

Bright pleaded guilty Tuesday to seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of drug-induced homicide.

"I think it's a fair resolution," defense attorney Jay Elmore said. "This guy is never going to see the light of day and he knows he should never see the light of day."

Prosecutor Kevin Lyons said he agreed to the deal after consulting with victims' families, who generally supported sparing Bright's life in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Before handing down the life sentence, Judge James Shadid told Bright that victims' families showed "more consideration, more mercy and more respect for your life than you showed them for theirs."

Larry Bright, 39, of Peoria already was charged with killing two women and pleaded not guilty to those deaths. Then on Tuesday he was indicted with the first-degree murder of 29-year-old Tamara Walls and pleaded not guilty on Friday to killing her.

Prosecutors say Bright confessed to a total of eight slayings, including the three for which he is charged. The confession came when he was arrested a year ago by a police task force investigating the unsolved deaths and disappearances of black women in the Peoria area, authorities said. Bright faces the death penalty if convicted.

The former concrete worker was charged last year with killing Linda K. Neal, 40, and 41-year-old Brenda Erving. Their bodies were found in 2004 along remote country roads.

Prosecutors say they linked Bright to Walls' death through a jawbone found at a rural site where he allegedly admitted hiding remains after burning four bodies to ash and bone in his backyard, then scattering the remains. Authorities said Walls was reported missing in September 2004.

The charred jawbone showed evidence of dental surgery that was confirmed by both dental records and Walls' family, Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said.

Authorities say they are awaiting DNA tests that could lead to additional charges against Bright.

He tried to plead guilty during his first two court appearances last year, but judges rejected the attempts to protect his rights. Bright's attorneys say his family has since persuaded him to fight for his life despite his remorse over the killings.

Prosecutors have declined to discuss a motive but say Bright, who is white, developed a fascination with sex and pornography involving black women. The victims were all black and led what authorities called "questionable lifestyles," including prostitution and drug use.

Bright is being held without bond in the Tazewell County Jail.

Investigators linked the bone to Tamara Walls after comparing her dental records to a bone found at a Norwood site where Larry Bright allegedly admitted hiding burned remains, Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said Wednesday.

"Dental records reveal and family members confirm that she had a surgical procedure that caused this (marks on the jawbone)," Lyons said.

A Peoria County grand jury Tuesday indicted Bright on two counts of first-degree murder in the death of the 29-year-old Walls, who was reported missing in September 2004.

The former concrete worker has confessed to killing eight women, burning some of the bodies to ash and bone and scattering their remains, prosecutors said. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Bright was charged last year with first-degree murder in the deaths of Linda K. Neal, 40, and Brenda Erving, 41. Neal's body was found in September 2004 along a remote country road near Hopedale, southeast of Peoria, and Erving's body was found in October 2004 in rural Peoria County.

Bright's court-appointed attorneys entered not guilty pleas in those deaths. His attorneys did not immediately return calls for comment.

On Tuesday, a Peoria County grand jury handed down a two-count indictment alleging the former concrete worker, 39, choked Tamara "Tammy" Walls to death sometime between August and October 2004.

The two first-degree murder counts reflect two legal theories that prosecutors would have to prove at trial. One count alleges Bright choked Walls, 29, with the intent to kill. The other alleges he choked her and knew such action could cause death or great bodily charge.

Bright will next appear in court Friday for a hearing on where the trial will be held. Peoria County Circuit Judge James Shadid could decide at that hearing to move the trial out of Peoria County because of the pre-trial publicity.

The new charges come almost a year after Bright was charged with the choking deaths of Linda Neal, 40, and Brenda Erving, 41, both of Peoria.

Bright allegedly confessed to killing the eight Peoria women during a 15-month span beginning in July 2003. Four were dumped along rural roads in Peoria and Tazewell counties. The others were incinerated and the bones crushed before being disposed of behind Bright's home and in rural areas of both counties, according to authorities.

For months, prosecutors have said they were waiting for the results of DNA analysis of bones and other debris found at Bright's house. It was unclear on Tuesday what led prosecutors to file charges in Walls' death.

No one was available Tuesday at the Peoria County State's Attorney's Office to discuss the new charges. Bright's two Springfield-based attorneys also were not available Tuesday.

If convicted of killing the women, Bright faces either life in prison or the death penalty.

Possible trial dates will be discussed when 39-year-old Larry Bright next appears in court Jan. 27, Peoria County Circuit Judge James Shadid told the attorneys during a brief court hearing.

James Elmore, one of Bright's court-appointed lawyers, said outside court that the potential death penalty case could go to trial by late summer or early fall. Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons did not immediately return a call for comment.

Elmore told the judge that Bright's three-attorney legal team would file a change of venue motion within a month to move the trial out of Peoria County because of extensive media coverage of the case. Prosecutors did not say whether they would contest the move.

The judge on Monday also approved a psychiatric evaluation for Bright. Bright will be examined by Springfield forensic psychologist Terry Killian, who earlier found the former concrete worker fit to stand trial.

Prosecutors say Bright has confessed in the deaths of eight Peoria women since mid-2003, burning half of the bodies for up to two days in backyard pits and dumping the others along little-travelled country roads.

Bright is charged with first-degree murder in two of the deaths and faces the death penalty if convicted. Authorities are awaiting results of DNA tests that could bring new charges against Bright, who was arrested in January by a task force investigating the deaths and disappearances of black women in the Peoria area.

After his arrest, police say Bright led them to hundreds of charred skull and bone fragments that he dumped in neighboring Peoria and Tazewell counties, including on his grandmother's property.

Authorities say the remains - none bigger than a golf ball - are from at least two different victims, but aren't sure DNA tests will provide identities because some fragments were so badly burned. Elmore said tests have been completed at an Illinois state police lab, but the findings have not been released.

Bright, who smiled at his mother as he walked into court, tried to plead guilty during his first two court appearances, but judges rejected it to protect his rights. His attorneys have entered a not guilty plea and say Bright's family has convinced him to fight for his life despite his remorse over the killings.

Prosecutors have declined to discuss a motive but say Bright, who is white, developed a fascination with sex and pornography involving black women. The victims were all black and led what authorities called "questionable lifestyles," including prostitution and drug use.

Bright is being held without bond in the Tazewell County Jail.

"He's especially close to his mother, and it's important to her," said defense attorney Jay Elmore of Springfield.

Such an attitude change is in sharp contrast to how the former concrete worker acted when he first appeared in court in January, charged with the murders of two women.

Then, he repeatedly tried to plead guilty, once asking a judge several times to allow him. Each time, he was rebuffed by judges who said they needed to protect his rights.

Elmore's comments came after a hearing in Peoria County Circuit Court was continued to allow Bright's team of attorneys to work on several motions they plan on filing in the case.

Bright, 39, allegedly confessed to killing eight Peoria women during a 15-month span beginning in July 2003. Four were dumped along rural roads in Peoria and Tazewell counties. The others were incinerated and the bones crushed before being disposed of behind Bright's home and in rural areas of both counties.

Prosecutors have only charged him with the deaths of Linda Neal and Brenda Erving. The rest, it appears, are dependent on DNA identification.

If convicted, Bright faces the death penalty.

Elmore said he wanted a mental health expert to examine his client to see if Bright was mentally ill or even insane at the time of the alleged murders. If the expert finds Bright was insane or mentally ill, that could be used in his defense.

Another motion likely to be filed within a few weeks is to move the trial out of Peoria. Elmore said such a move was likely due to pretrial publicity.

Elmore declined to speculate on when the case would go to trial. It's highly unlikely, however, that Bright will go to trial this year.

Prosecuting accused killers has convinced Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons that Illinois' death penalty reforms are as flawed as the capital punishment system they tried to fix.

Still, Lyons has no doubt about pursuing a death sentence for alleged serial killer Larry Bright, who authorities say confessed in the deaths of eight Peoria women, burning some bodies in backyard pits then scattering the remains.

The 39-year-old former concrete worker likely won't stand trial until next year, but his case has rekindled debate over an Illinois justice system haunted by innocent men sent to death row.

Lyons contends the reforms, including a state-funded "pot of gold" for defense lawyers and mental health experts, are poorly veiled attempts to make death sentences too much trouble for prosecutors.

Supporters say prosecutors' complaints are proof of the success of the reforms passed after then-Gov. George Ryan cleared death row before leaving office in 2003 after courts found 13 men had been wrongly convicted.

Lyons, one of the most vocal critics of the reforms on behalf of other prosecutors, lobbied against last spring's failed effort to allow death sentences only when a defendant's guilt was proven beyond all doubt, rather than simply beyond reasonable doubt.

"Instead of striking a balance, the trouble we have with it is that the burdens and the hoops become so many and so detailed that it borders on the absurd," Lyons said.

Supporters say the reforms - including added protections against false confessions, unreliable eyewitnesses and jailhouse snitches - are working.

"I think justice is being better served," said Stephen Richards, head of the state appellate defender's death penalty trial assistance division. "People actually innocent or with reasonable defenses have a better shot at not being convicted and executed."

Seven men have been sent to death row since Ryan cleared it and an eighth has been sentenced to die but is awaiting a ruling to reconsider the verdict. More than 100 death penalty cases are pending across the state, court officials said.

During the 1990s, before Ryan halted executions in 2000, the state was sentencing more people to death. Illinois had a high of 17 death sentences in 1990 and a low of six in 1997, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics, part of the Justice Department. When Ryan emptied death row in 2003, he commuted 167 death sentences to life in prison and pardoned four men.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has continued the moratorium on executions.

Lyons, a five-term prosecutor, objects most to a state fund that has doled out more than $13 million to defend hundreds of death penalty cases statewide since it was established about five years ago.

He said the fund pays for teams of defense lawyers who spend even more money on psychological exams for their clients, sometimes hiring several experts until they get the findings they want. The fund also pays for researchers who spend months sifting through an accused's background, seeking any evidence that might sway a jury if the case moves to the death penalty phase.

"I don't suggest the defendant simply has a party of one, his attorney and that's it. I can't tell you exactly what the balance should be, but I know it shouldn't be how it is now," said Lyons, who has prosecuted about a dozen death penalty cases.

It's too early to say how the reforms will affect Bright's case, which is still in its early stages.

Brown County State's Attorney Jerry Hooker said that by effectively eliminating the death penalty, the reforms have taken away a bargaining chip for prosecutors to seek prison sentences without parole that can spare victims' families from having to relive the crime at parole hearings.

"If the legislature wants to have a debate on whether to have the death penalty or not, that can be done," said Hooker, president of the Illinois State's Attorneys Association. "But let's not make legislation that handcuffs prosecutors and keeps us from doing our job."

Defense attorneys say it should be tough for the state to impose the death penalty.

"That is the ultimate penalty and it's irreversible. They should know if they're going to do that they're going to have a fight on their hands," said James Elmore, one of Bright's court-appointed attorneys.

Rob Warden, executive director of Northwestern University's Center for Wrongful Convictions, discounted prosecutors' criticism.

"I've always thought asking prosecutors what we should do about wrongful convictions is tantamount to asking foxes what we should do with hen houses," Warden said.

Death penalty opponents say more still needs to be done.

"No human system can be devised that ensures mistakes or misconduct won't happen," said Jane Bohman, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

The task force formed to investigate the deaths and disappearances of 10 African-American women has slowly dwindled from more than a dozen detectives and other crime specialists since Bright's arrest.

"The major task, which was to find who was doing all the killing, is complete," Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy said Friday. "But there is some interviewing still going on. We have two murders yet to solve and some shoring-up to do with the other cases."

The task force, formed in September, began with 10 detectives from Peoria city police, Peoria and Tazewell county sheriff's departments, and Illinois State Police. After a few weeks, the task grew to 15 officers, added a phone line for tips and a $20,000 reward was offered.

Within two months, Bright's name had been tossed around. Prostitutes who escaped Bright described the "guest house" he took them to behind 2418 W. Starr St., just outside Peoria's southwestern limits, where he raped and beat them.

Bright, 38, confessed in January to luring women to his home by offering them free drugs or cash for sex. During a 15-month period beginning in July 2003, Bright says he strangled eight women, though he has been charged with only two murders.

Two other deaths remain unsolved - Wanda Jackson and Frederickia Brown, Peoria women who Bright claims he did not kill.

"We haven't turned our back to these deaths," McCoy said. "We are going to continue actively working them."

As of this week, only one detective from each of the Peoria and Tazewell County sheriff's departments remains.

Police continue to ask information on the unsolved deaths. To report information, call your local police agency or CrimeStoppers at 673-9000 or 347-9000.

It was the second time Larry Bright, 38, had tried to plead guilty but been refused.

Bright appeared in Peoria County Circuit Court for arraignment on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Linda K. Neal and Brenda Erving. He has not been charged in the remaining six deaths, but prosecutors say additional charges are expected.

After his lawyer, Thomas Penn, pleaded innocent on his client’s behalf, Judge James E. Shadid explained to Bright what that meant and what legal process lay ahead.

"Judge, I really wanted to plead guilty," Bright said, his voice barely audible.

"At some point you may have the opportunity to do that, but today is not the day," Shadid replied. He explained that he refused the guilty plea to protect Bright’s rights, noting that prosecutors could choose to seek the death penalty.

Assistant State’s Attorney Nancy Mermelstein said prosecutors would decide by a March 15 case management conference whether to seek capital punishment. Shadid assigned the case to the capital defender’s office and set an April 13 trial date.

If convicted of one of the deaths, Bright could face 20 to 60 years in prison. If convicted of both, he could face life behind bars or the death penalty.

The former concrete worker was first charged in the death of Neal, 40, and tried to plead guilty during his initial court appearance in that case last month. A judge rejected it and appointed Bright a public defender.

A grand jury later indicted Bright on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Neal and Erving, 41, both of Peoria.

Bodies of six women began turning up along rural roads around Peoria four years ago — one in 2001, another in 2003, then four last year. Neal’s body was found strangled Sept. 25 along a remote country road near Hopedale, southeast of Peoria, and Erving’s body was found in October in rural Peoria County.

Prosecutors said Bright confessed to four of the deaths, three of them last year and one in July 2003, along with the deaths of four other women who had been considered missing.

Bright dumped their bodies along rural roads or burned them to ash and bone in a backyard pit, according to prosecutors. Authorities have said more than 100 charred pieces of bone have been recovered from sites where investigators say Bright told them he dumped remains of the women.

Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy said searches will likely conclude this week at about a half-dozen sites in neighboring Peoria and Tazewell counties. Remains are being sent to labs for DNA tests in hope of identifying the victims, he said.

"We want to make some positive IDs. The families need to have some closure, and we understand that," McCoy said.

Bright is being held without bond in the Tazewell County Jail. He has been in custody since December when he was charged with drug possession and unlawful restraint. Authorities say those charges stemmed from tips that ultimately helped link Bright to the deaths.

The tips came to a task force formed last fall when similarities between the six dead and four missing women led authorities to suspect a serial killer. All the women were black and led what authorities called questionable lifestyles, including prostitution and drug use.

Bright, who is white, has talked to authorities several times since he was charged last month, McCoy said. He has denied involvement in the two remaining Peoria area deaths, along with several others from around the country that have surfaced since he was charged, the sheriff said.

Two experts who have studied their strange and vile ways say there also is, with some exceptions, little extraordinary about accused serial killer Larry D. Bright.

Clinton Van Zandt, one of the nation's top criminal profilers, says Bright falls in line with the average serial killer, and there's not much that isn't "atypical" as far as serial killers go.

The now-retired FBI special agent profiled Timothy McVeigh after the Oklahoma City bombing, led the team that identified the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, and was at one time the FBI's chief hostage negotiator. To top it off, Van Zandt has worked in the FBI's behavioral science unit, where he's profiled a number of murderers, including serial murderers.

"I still get requests every couple weeks," Van Zandt said by phone last week.

Van Zandt, who points out he knows nothing about the Peoria case, said the statistics show (with no great surprise) that most serial killers are white males in their early 30s.

Bright, who is white, claims he strangled eight African-American women - all of whom have been characterized as living dangerous lifestyles and known to prostitute or use drugs - between July 2003 and October 2004. He also is suspected in others.

"If there is any trend, serial killers are seemingly getting a little older, and we're moving the

ages back a little," he said.

Bright is 38 years old.

But before Bright became the key suspect, local police investigating the deaths and disappearance of 10 African-American women since March 2001 were questioned frequently during public meetings and news media whether they believed the looming serial killer to be black or white.

Long-standing statistics point to serial killers and their victims being of the same race, according to Dr. Jeffrey Walsh, assistant professor of criminal justice sciences at Illinois State University.

Walsh has a specialization in forensic psychology and has helped research the travel patterns of more than 300 serial murderers for a book titled "Serial Murderers and Their Victims," published by Wadsworth Press and authored by Dr. Eric Hickey.

"Generally speaking, violent crime and serial homicide tend to be intraracial ... however, just as with regular violent crime, this is not always the case," Walsh said

Jeffrey Dahmer strangled and dismembered (and in some cases cannibalized) 17 boys and men of various races.

Last year, Derrick Todd Lee, the Baton Rouge serial killer, was convicted in two murders but linked to the deaths of seven women between 1998 to 2003. Lee is black and his victims white.

Local detectives were never convinced their suspected killer was black, or at least did not narrow their search, and police officials made that known publicly.

That's likely because most serial killers are white, Van Zandt said.

"I don't know if the number of cross-racial murders are increasing, but I know there have been more in the last 10 to 15 years," Van Zandt said. Still, "there's also been an increased ability to link homicides together from city to city, coast to coast."

The victims

Bright's victims, Van Zandt says, are "victims of opportunity."

Drug users and prostitutes often are an easy target for serial killers, and in fact often are targeted by serial killers, he said.

The infamous Jack the Ripper targeted prostitutes; Gary Leon Ridgway admitted in 2003 he was the Green River Killer and confessed to strangling four dozen women, many of whom were prostitutes; and local serial killer Joseph Miller killed at least two prostitutes in suburban Chicago in the 1970s before he was paroled to Peoria and killed three more prostitutes.

"We're talking about high-risk victims who are easy to get to, with high-risk activity ... and who's going to report them missing? It may be days, weeks or longer before anyone reports them missing," Van Zandt said.

Bright's motive is still unknown.

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons has said the deaths were not racially motivated.

"He gave some explanation of voices, although I think he has indicated by his statements that he is making decisions not related to an inability to control," Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz has said.

Lyons said: "Around the times of the murders that we know of, he appeared to the people that knew him to have a peculiar attachment to African-American women, sex with African-American women and to pornography with African-American participants."

Definition of a serial killer

By definition, a serial killer is somebody who kills three or more people, one at a time, often using similar methods with a "cooling off" period between killing. That's opposed to a mass murderer or a spree killer, Van Zandt said.

A mass murderer is someone who kills several people in one situation - for example, the killings at Columbine High School in Colorado or Richard Speck, who in 1966, killed eight student nurses in a single night in South Chicago. A spree killer, Van Zandt said, would be someone like Andrew Cunanan.

In 1997, Cunanan shot and killed five men, including Chicago businessman Lee Miglin and internationally renowned clothing designer Gianni Versace, in a cross-country murder spree before he killed himself. Although there was time between each of the killings, there was no "cooling off ... he went from one to the next," Van Zandt said.

Anywhere from 25 to 50 serial killers are functioning at any one time in the United States, and Van Zandt notes that the United States - not the only country with known serial killers or even serial killers who have accumulated large numbers of victims - has the world's most serial killers, 85 percent according to some studies. Somewhat of an anomaly, female serial murderers make up about 8 percent of serial killers in the United States.

One of the greatest challenges to police is trying to link unsolved murders together, both criminal experts say.

'The new Ted Bundy'

Why do some serial killers claim killing some victims but not all of them, or claim they killed someone they didn't?

Local police are still looking at Bright's possible connection to other deaths.

Task force investigators have not ruled Bright out for the deaths of Frederickia Brown and Wanda Jackson, both of whom fit with Bright's victim profile and were found dead of similar circumstances, in addition to being found dumped in rural areas.

Bright also has been questioned in the July 2004 disappearance of a white Canton woman of whom Bright was an old acquaintance, and the 2000 murder of a black prostitute in Racine, Wis., the same city where Bright was living with a relative at the time.

Van Zandt said serial killers will sometimes withhold information on certain deaths, while others accept responsibility for killing someone they didn't.

"You get both ends of the continuum," Van Zandt said. On one hand, it's a crime that only the killer knows about - a secret - which they may not want to share, but on the other hand "there will be somebody who wants to be the new Ted Bundy," he said.

Bundy, whose killing started in Washington state, became nationally known after he confessed to killing more than 30 women and girls, although he was convicted of murdering only three before he was executed.

Other serial killers have bragged of murdering many dozens of victims.

Ridgway, the self-confessed Green River Killer, admitted to strangling four dozen women. John Wayne Gacy, who preyed on men and boys in Chicago in the 1970s, was convicted of killing 33 people.

Serial killers may confess to some murders and ask for "favors" in return for additional information to give police and families closure, or use the possibility of giving that same information as a way to maintain power or control over a situation.

But killers may also admit to a crime they didn't do, so as to allow the real killer to go on killing.

Van Zandt says serial killers will sometimes use the knowledge they have about a particular death, or at least what the offender claims to know, to exert power - which they once had over their victims - over authorities.

Walsh agrees.

Bundy "would leak new information out as his execution neared," Walsh said. "The hope on the part of the offender is that the new information will be important enough to law enforcement and the interest of the families that they will be stayed while the new information is investigated."

"Also, they know everyone is perplexed by their behavior and responding negatively, they may too now be somewhat surprised by their own actions, and to minimize the damage, they now downplay their involvement or the full scope of their homicidal behavior," Walsh continued. "In other words, trying to diminish the perception that they are this 'monster' that they are being portrayed as."

Bright admitted to strangling eight women. Of his eight victims, Bright allegedly dumped four of his victims' bodies in rural Peoria and Tazewell counties. But Bright altered his method of disposing of four other victims by burning their bodies in a backyard "pit," crushing their bones and then disposing them in his yard and other remote areas of both counties.

Explaining this, both Walsh and Van Zandt say, serial killers often "evolve."

"They learn how to be better killers," Van Zandt said.

Sometimes serial killers read about other serial murderers, see or learn other ways to kill or dispose of their victims on television or in the movies, and "they learn how to better shock and outrage society," he continued, noting killers may be after publicity or want credit from the public for the killings.

The self-dubbed Zodiac killer preyed on men and women, usually couples, in California during the 1960s and '70s, claiming 37 victims. The Zodiac killer would write letters to local newspapers, and an occasional cryptogram, that sometimes included gory details of his killing and taunted police.

Like the Zodiac killer, other serial murderers also may be prompted to go on killing because they have the feeling they are "beating the system," said Van Zandt.

The retired FBI agent also said a number of serial killers have admitted to learning their new methods from TV and the movies after they've been caught.

"For Hollywood to say they're not responsible, I find reprehensible," he said.

Sometimes what helps police catch a serial killer is the killer's own false belief that he cannot be caught.

"Serial killers can get much better or the opposite by starting to believe they are when they are actually becoming more sloppy or careless," Van Zandt said.

But while a serial killer may evolve in some aspects, others often remain the same.

Walsh points out that Bright is a "place specific" killer.

While one of Bright's victims was killed at a house in the 500 block of West McClure Avenue in Central Peoria (where he lived at the time), his other victims were slain at his one-room "guest house" behind Bright's mother's 3418 W. Starr Court home just outside South Peoria.

"Interestingly, place specific offenders are the most rare of the three mobility typologies - place specific, local and traveling," Walsh said of Bright.

"Offenders will change their routine for a few reasons: the fantasy changes, they perfect the methods with practice, they are trying to avoid getting caught, they are decompensating and things are becoming less controlled and possibly delusional," Walsh said. "That said, the offender will not usually change the entire experience and will maintain various signatures."

Bright, for example, continually lured all his victims with expectations of free drugs or cash for sex.

Letting some go

A handful of women felt Bright's killer grip around their throats, but got away.

Did they truly escape? Or did Bright let them go?

Van Zandt says serial killers may lure an intended victim to where they plan to kill them and find there isn't the need to kill.

"Part of the thrill for a serial killer is 'I make the decision, I choose if she dies,' " Van Zandt said. "There is nothing more Godlike to make the decision whether they live or die ... it's powerful. It's the control of life over another human being."

Other reasons may be more "simple." They just may turn out not to be the right victim, Walsh said.

"Sometimes the victim does not comply or fit the fantasy, and they are released because they are not 'worthy,' (according to the killer)," he said. Very often the offender is objectifying the victim and not seeing him or her as a person but rather as an instrument for their immediate pleasure. If the objectification is not effective or does not work or a connection is made, the victim may not fit."

Both experts say it could be something like the victim says they have a child or maybe the victim doesn't have the right body type.

The reasons can vary, but "release is pretty rare" as there is risk of getting caught, Walsh added.

Investigations

Serial murder investigations may go on for years and never get solved.

"They generally last until a suspect is caught and prosecuted," Walsh said.

Over the last three decades, the FBI has chronicled at least 32 dead women in an area a few miles on either side of Interstate 45 along the 50-mile stretch between Houston and Galveston in Texas; and the killer, known only as BTK, which stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill," claimed responsibility for seven unsolved killings in Wichita in the 1970s and an eighth in 1986. The killer was not heard from for years but then resurfaced in March with new letters.

Although Albert DeSalvo was convicted as the Boston Strangler, some were not convinced, and similar deaths popped up after DeSalvo was imprisoned and later stabbed to death.

But two serial murder task forces formed by local police in the past dozen years have snared two Peoria serial killers.

The first task force investigation, at work in 1993, caught Joseph Miller in less than a month. Miller was later convicted of killing four women in Peoria.

The latest task force was together for two to three months when Bright was eyed as a suspect and in jail on separate charges. About a month later he claimed responsibility for strangling eight African-American women. Police are still investigating whether the Peoria man is related to others. So far, Bright is charged with murdering two women, and prosecutor's say others are expected to follow.

Fields is talking about the murder of her mother, Linda. She was strangled in Racine five years ago this month.

"Her body was found in the yard of a lakeshore home wearing only a nightgown with her shoes placed neatly beside her," 12 News reporter Mike Miller said.

The murder is still a mystery, but Racine police want to question 38-year-old Larry Bright.

He was arrested a few days ago in Peoria, Ill. Bright has told police there that he strangled eight African-American women.

He's even led them to some of the bodies in his yard, but he said he was not involved in the Racine murder of Linda Fields.

Bright was, however, known to be in Racine at the time, and Fields' daughter thinks he is the killer.

"Somebody told me they saw my mother leave with a white man that night and begged her not to leave with this guy because the guy was known for physically abusing ladies, and even had choked some people," Fields said.

She thinks Racine police might have worked harder to solve the case if her family hadn't been so poor.

"We didn't have no money to hire no private investigators. They knew that. They knew we were poor. We were trying to scrape up money to even bury the lady," Fields said.

Racine police said they did question Bright after Linda Fields was murdered, but there just wasn't enough evidence for an arrest -- then or now.

"I do believe he was a person of interest and he was interviewed at least, and we did look over some physical evidence. But at that point, he was not considered a suspect -- just like he 's not yet been considered a suspect here," Racine Police Sgt. William Macemon said.

Police said they have done everything possible in the case. They wonder if Bright has admitted to killing eight women in Illinois -- and even leading authorities to the bodies -- why wouldn't he admit to Linda Fields murder if he did do it?

Racine police said they do plan to question Bright again and re-examine more evidence.

But as of now, the Fields killing remains a mystery.

Those sites included Larry Bright’s grandmother’s home and the property he shared with his mother, but prosecutors said they do not believe the family members were aware of the killings and hidden body parts.

“Anything is possible, but there’s nothing that has piqued our interest about that,” Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons said.

Prosecutors have charged Bright with one murder, but say he has confessed to seven others in a 11/2-year killing spree they suspect grew from Bright’s obsession with sex and pornography involving black women.

The victims all were black and lived what authorities called “questionable lifestyles,” including prostitution and drug use. The four bodies that were found were all dumped along little-traveled roads, and had been strangled, asphyxiated or died of drug overdoses, authorities said.

Altogether, four sites were excavated this weekend, including the rural Peoria property where prosecutors say Bright burned some of his victims before hiding their remains throughout Peoria and Tazewell counties.

Human remains were found on the property and at Bright’s grandmother’s house in Bellevue, just west of Peoria, Lyons said.

Additional searches are expected to begin later this week at two other sites that the 38-year-old former concrete worker provided during an 80-minute confession, Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy said.

Authorities hope DNA tests will link the bone fragments to four victims. New charges could be filed before Bright’s next scheduled court appearance Feb. 24, Lyons said.

Bright, who is white, tried to plead guilty during a bond hearing Thursday in the September slaying of 40-year-old Linda Kay Neal. But a judge rejected it and appointed the public defender’s office to represent him.

Peoria County Public Defender Thomas Penn did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.

Bright is being held without bond in the Tazewell County Jail, where authorities say he has been on suicide watch since his confession last week. He has been jailed since December, when he was charged with drug and unlawful restraint.

If the women were lucky, they got away. But in at least eight cases, authorities say, he killed the women, then dumped their bodies along rural roads or burned them to ash and bone in a backyard pit.

It was the women who escaped Bright's clutches, many of them prostitutes or others on the fringes of society, who helped lead a task force to him, authorities say.

Bright has been charged with only one slaying, but prosecutors say he confessed to seven others and they are gathering evidence to support more charges. Kevin Lyons, Peoria County state´s attorney, has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

At his first court appearance this past week, the 38-year-old former concrete worker told a judge, "I just would like to plead guilty, sir." The judge told him to consult with a lawyer first.

The bodies of asphyxiated prostitutes and drugs users began turning up along rural roads around Peoria four years ago -- one in 2001, one in 2003, then four last year. Despite Bright's statements, the earliest slaying remains unsolved.

All six of those victims were black, and four other black women were missing. Under pressure from Peoria's black community, investigators formed a task force to find what they feared was a serial killer.

Bright had no documented history of violence, although he had spent three years in prison for burglary in the 1980s and had a few other brushes with the law, authorities say.

"He was one of those people who just wouldn´t stand out," said State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz in adjoining Tazewell County, which has been included in the search for bodies.

But Lyons said Bright apparently developed an obsession with pornography involving blacks and was a regular customer among prostitutes in this blue-collar collar city of about 120,000 people. Bright is white.

Lyons said Bright's name came up again and again as more than 1,000 tips poured in. That led authorities to about a half-dozen prostitutes who told them about barely escaping with their lives after sex with Bright turned violent, Lyons said.

Bright´s name also surfaced as police investigated the September slaying of Linda Kay Neal, 40, the only case in which he was been charged.

Customers at a bar where Neal was a regular identified Bright as a man Neal was with the night she disappeared. But he was "one of many people on the radar screen at that point," Lyons said.

"When all is said and done, it was those tips from the public and police hitting the streets that solved the case," Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston said.

Bright was arrested in December when tips to the task force led to charges of drug possession and aggravated unlawful restraint. Authorities alleged that he held a prostitute against her will and threatened her with a gun.

Bright's DNA matched evidence found on Neal´s body, said lawyer Joe Borsberry, who had represented Bright on the earlier charges.

Prosecutors said Bright had denied any link to the killings until police prepared to search for remains Wednesday on his mother´s property. Lyons said Bright probably wanted to spare his mother more pain.

In court last week, Lyons told the judge that Bright had picked up Neal outside a bar on Peoria's south side, in an area frequented by prostitutes. He said they went back to his home, drank, and had sex.

Then Bright strangled her, Lyons said. He drove her nude body to a remote area near Hopedale, and used a leather shoelace tied around her neck to drag her to the edge of the Mackinaw River.

Other victims were cremated in a backyard pit. He burned them for up to two days with pieces of wood, then disposed of the ash and bits of charred bone in rural areas, Lyons said.

Umholtz contends Bright feels some remorse, illustrated by his unsuccessful effort to plead guilty. "My impression is he also wanted to bring about some closure for the victims' families," Umholtz said.

Victims´ families said Bright´s confession ended long months of uncertainty.

"Everything happens for a reason; why we'll never know," said Willie Sanders, stepfather of Brenda Erving, 41, whose body was found in October in rural Peoria County.

"We have to deal with it the best we can."

If the women were lucky, they got away. But in at least eight cases, authorities say, he killed the women, then dumped their bodies along rural roads or burned them to ash and bone in a backyard pit.

It was the women who escaped Bright's clutches, many of them prostitutes or others on the fringes of society, who helped lead a task force to him, authorities say.

At his first court appearance this past week, the 38-year-old former concrete worker told a judge: "I just would like to plead guilty, sir." The judge told him to consult with an attorney first.

The bodies of strangled and asphyxiated prostitutes and drugs users began turning up along rural roads around Peoria four years ago _ one in 2001, another in 2003, then four last year. Despite Bright's statements, the earliest one remains unsolved.

Under pressure from Peoria's black community _ all six of those victims were black and four other black women were missing _ investigators formed a task force to find what they feared was a serial killer.

Bright had no documented history of violence, although he had spent three years in prison for burglary in the 1980s and had a few other brushes with the law, authorities say.

"He was one of those people who just wouldn't stand out," said State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz in adjoining Tazewell County, which has been included in the search for bodies.

But Lyons said Bright apparently developed an obsession with pornography involving blacks, and became a regular customer among black prostitutes in this blue-collar collar city of about 120,000 people. Bright is white.

Lyons said Bright's name came up again and again as more than 1,000 tips poured in. That led authorities to about a half-dozen prostitutes who told them about barely escaping with their lives after sex with Bright turned violent, Lyons said.

Bright's name also surfaced as police investigated the September slaying of 40-year-old Linda Kay Neal, the only case in which he was charged.

Customers at a bar where Neal was a regular identified Bright as a man she was with the night she disappeared. But he was "one of many people on the radar screen at that point," Lyons said.

"When all is said and done, it was those tips from the public and police hitting the streets that solved the case," said Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston.

Bright was arrested in December, when tips to the task force led to charges of drug possession and aggravated unlawful restraint alleging he held a prostitute against her will and threatened her with a gun.

Bright's DNA matched evidence found on Neal's body, said attorney Joe Borsberry, who had represented Bright on the earlier charges.

Prosecutors said Bright had denied any link to the killings until police prepared to search for remains Wednesday on his mother's property. Lyons said Bright likely wanted to spare his mother more pain.

In court this past week, Lyons told the judge that Bright had picked up Neal outside a bar on Peoria's south side, in an area frequented by prostitutes. He said they went back to his home, drank and had sex.

Then Bright strangled her, Lyons said. He drove her nude body to a remote area near Hopedale, and used a leather shoelace tied around her neck to drag her body to the edge of the Mackinaw River.

Other victims he cremated in a backyard pit, burning them for up to two days with pieces of wood, then disposed of the ash and bits of charred bone in rural areas, Lyons said.

Umholtz thinks Bright feels some remorse, illustrated by his unsuccessful effort to plead guilty.

"My impression is he also wanted to bring about some closure for the victim's families," Umholtz said.

Victims' families said Bright's confession ended long months of uncertainty.

"Everything happens for a reason; why we'll never know," said Willie Sanders, stepfather of 41-year-old Brenda Erving, whose body was found in October in rural Peoria County. "We have to deal with it the best we can."