All three of the most recent victims were known crack addicts, and two were homeless. The latest, Cheryl Lee Ray, 37, whose body was discovered Thursday, lived in a $230-a-month hotel room a few blocks from the Miami Cemetery.
Her head had been bashed against a gravestone; the grass around it was charred.
"They call these the 'Mean Streets,'"said George Purcilla, who said he had known Ray since she moved into the Willard Garden Hotel five years ago. "No one wants to be here."
Between September 1994 and January 1995, six prostitutes were strangled and dumped along the Tamiami Trail, a busy suburban road southwest of the neighborhood.
Rory Conde is awaiting trial in those murders. Police say Conde told them he killed prostitutes because he was angry that his wife left him and took their two children in 1994.
In the latest killings, all three women suffered blows to the head, and all were set on fire. The body of Vida Hicks, 43, was found Aug. 1, and that of Diane Nelms, 44, on Oct. 5. Nelms was burned almost beyond recognition.
"When we look at all three cases, with the similarities we've seen, we believe they're related," said Assistant Police Chief John Brooks.
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