Source: Ron Erwin fit profile of man who would target prostitutes, drug users

A tip led Albuquerque police to Joplin where they conducted searches of homes and businesses belonging to businessman Ron Erwin.

Albuquerque television station KQYE is quoting a police department source as saying Erwin's "behavior fits the profile of someone who would target women who lived the lifestyles the 11 victims shared. They all had connections to prostitution or drugs." The 11 women were found in a mass grave in the West Mesa section of Albuquerque last year.

As noted earlier in The Turner Report, Albuquerque police say the one victim who was different from the others, 15-year-old Lawton, Okla. runaway Syllannia Edwards, might provide the key to solving the murders.

The difference between the murder of Miss Edwards and the other victims was noted in the November 13, 2009, Albuquerque Journal:

The other women found buried in shallow graves near 118th and Dennis Chavez SW earlier this year were in their 20s and 30s. They were local women who knew one another and whose lives had intersected through substance abuse and prostitution. They were white or Hispanic.


"When you have a case like this with a serial killer, there is sometimes just one oddball piece of the puzzle that doesn't make any sense," said one official who is familiar with the investigation. "But we're hoping (Edwards) will be crucial to solving this case, crucial in breaking it wide open. The other (victims) all kind of blended into the landscape. But (Edwards) may be unique enough to really help the investigation out."The police source told the television station that Erwin had traveled to Oklahoma where Miss Edwards lived.