TV Show Prompts New Tips About Serial Slayings Case

Investigators pursuing the killer of five women in Clairemont and University City have received 60 new tips as the result of a story aired nationally on the television program, “America’s Most Wanted,” San Diego police said Thursday.

Twenty of the more promising tips have been assigned to “active follow-up,” Lt. Gary Learn said at the weekly briefing on the serial-killing case.

“We’re still looking for that vital link of information that will bridge the gap and connect some of the other information we already have,” Learn said.

Saturday marks the first anniversary of the second death in the series of slayings. Janene Marie Weinhold, a 21-year-old UC San Diego student, was found stabbed to death in her Clairemont apartment Feb. 16 of last year.

Learn said many of the tips prompted by the “America’s Most Wanted” segment, which aired last week, were anonymous. He said about 10 to 15 came from the San Diego area, but others were phoned in from around the state and across the country.

He said most of the callers felt they had seen or knew someone who matched the composite drawing of the suspect--a light-skinned black male, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10, with a trim to medium build and short-cropped hair.

The suspect was seen fleeing a Buena Vista Gardens apartment unit in Clairemont on April 3, after the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Holly Suzanne Tarr. A maintenance man and a painter saw the suspect briefly, and Learn said the subsequent composite drawing has led to 3,150 tips now being processed by 13 full-time investigators.

Learn credited the “power of television” with helping to apprehend fugitives nationwide. He said “America’s Most Wanted” had been instrumental in the arrest of Charles Russ, who was returned to San Diego from Florida to face trial after having allegedly murdered his wife by driving over her with his car.

“I look at such shows only from a positive standpoint,” Learn said. “I don’t mean this to sound like an advertisement for them, but they have shown a positive impact in identifying and locating fugitives throughout the United States, who have then been brought to justice.

“We’re thankful for any additional publicity--and any help--they can give us on the Clairemont case. There’s nothing special about these new tips, but you never know. We might round a corner this afternoon and be right where we want to be.”