Serial Killer Andrew Urdiales

Two and a half years later, on March 11, 1995, again in the Palm Springs area, the elusive and as yet unidentified serial killer claimed yet another victim. Denise Maney, 32, a Riverside County prostitute, was picked up from a street and driven to a remote desert area. According to police and court records, Maney disrobed, after which the killer tied her hands behind her back. After sexually assaulting Maney, the killer placed a .45-caliber gun in her mouth and "blew the back of her head off." Following his modus operandi, the killer took her clothes with him and left her body in the desert.

Denise Maney (left) and Laura Uylaki

On April 14, 1996, halfway across the nation, a Cook County, Ill., prostitute was picked up off a street and driven to the Wolf Lake area straddling the Hammond, Ind., and Chicago border. Sometime during the ordeal Laura Uylaki was shot twice in the head with a .38-caliber revolver, and afterward her killer threw her nude body into Wolf Lake where it was later found on the Chicago side of the lake. Police theorized that the killer had taken the victim's clothing and other items to hamper their efforts in identifying her. However, police in Illinois did not connect the murder with those in California.

Cassandra Corum (left) and Lynn Huber

Three months later, the killer struck again, also in Illinois. On July 14, 1996, the nude body of Cassandra "Cassie" Corum, 21, another prostitute, was found floating in the Vermillion River in Livingston County, Ill., near the town of Pontiac. Duct tape had been placed over her mouth, and she had shot been once in the head. An autopsy later showed that she had also been stabbed seven times in the chest and head. Her wrists had been handcuffed, and duct tape had also been used to bind her ankles. Corum had disappeared from a bar in Hammond, Ind., after conversing with a man, and had left with him after getting into his pickup truck.

The following month, on August 2, 1996, the nude body of Lynn Huber, 22, of Chicago, was found floating in Wolf Lake, only a few yards from where Laura Uylaki's body had been found in the spring. Like most of the other victims, Huber had been a prostitute, and the killer had left none of the victim's clothing or identification near the murder scene.