Law enforcement investigated and found the possible Stockton serial killer is not connected to two unsolved slayings in the Midwest four years ago, NBC Bay Area learned Friday.
Stockton police investigating a string of killings in their city and one in Oakland said Thursday there may be a connection to two people killed in Chicago in 2018, but further investigation by police in Chicago showed no link, Stockton authorities told KCRA in Sacramento.
Police released surveillance video from Chicago of a man they believe is linked to two execution-style fatal shootings that occurred just 36 hours apart that year. Investigators determined the same gun was used in both shootings.
Chicago investigators said the man in the footage has a similar walk, or limp, to the "person of interest" in the Stockton killings.
The possible Stockton serial killer is linked to seven shootings, six of them fatal. The first actually occurred in Oakland in April 2021 and involved a 40-year-old man. The most recent was Sept. 27 and involved a 54-year-old man shot and killed in Stockton.
Police say the five men killed in Stockton were ambushed and shot to death, alone in the dark. A woman also was shot in Stockton, but she survived.
As the only known survivor, she described the assailant as a man between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet, 2 inches tall.
Four of the seven victims were unhoused, and police worry the killer may be targeting them specifically.
On Thursday, Stockton police Chief Stanley McFadden and officers went around to homeless encampments, passing out flyers showing the person of interest and advising people to avoid dark areas and moving alone.
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"My job as chief is to be everyone's chief and we're out here with flyers, we're having conversations about how they can be safer," McFadden said.
The Stockton Police Department has set up a tip line for anyone with information about the killings: 209-937-8167.
