O.C. detectives looking for possible fifth victim in serial killings

Orange County detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman they believe was the fifth victim of two men charged with raping and killing four women.

The woman, last seen in Stanton, is described as a petite, young African American with black hair and numerous tattoos. She may have ties to Compton, the Anaheim Police Department said in a statement.

She was last seen between Feb. 14 and Feb. 16 near Katella Avenue and Orangewood Avenue or Beach Boulevard north of Katella Avenue. She probably checked into a motel, Anaheim authorities said, but left her belongings behind without checking out.

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On Monday, Franc Cano, 27, and Steven Dean Gordon, 45, were charged with raping and murdering four women, all with ties to prostitution and all of whom vanished off the streets of Santa Ana and Anaheim.

The two men, who both served prison terms for sexually assaulting children under the age of 14, were arrested late Friday near a trash-sorting facility where the body of one of the women, Jarrae Nykkole Estepp, was found on a conveyor belt last month.

Cano and Gordon are also accused in the death of Kianna Rae Jackson, 20; Martha Anaya, 28; and Josephine Monique Vargas, 34. All three went missing last fall.

The men are suspected of raping and murdering the women while wearing their court-ordered GPS devices, Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada said Monday.

The string of disappearances in Santa Ana began in early October, but it was the discovery of Estepp’s body in an Anaheim trash collection site that was the break in the case.

Only Estepp’s body has been recovered; authorities said they would be looking for the remains of the other women in landfills, among other places.

Police also said they have recovered an RV that was parked near the trash-sorting facility, and that the two suspects were believed to be connected to the vehicle.

adolfo.flores@latimes.com

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