ST CHARLES, Mo. — The St. Charles Police Department is hoping an age-enhanced photo of a suspected serial killer will breathe new life into the cold case investigation.
The I-70 killer, as he’s known, preyed mostly on women working alone in retail stores along about 1,200 miles of the interstate from Indianapolis, Indiana through Wichita, Kansas in April 1992. Police also believe he may be responsible for some unsolved shootings and killings in Texas dating back to 1993 and 1994.
One of his victims was a man, but police said he had long brown hair at the time and believe the killer may have mistook him for a woman.
Locally, 24-year-old Nancy Kitzmiller was found shot to death on May 3, 1992 in The Boot Village store along Interstate 70 at Zumbehl Road in St. Charles.
Robbery couldn’t have been his motive, as he only got away with about $100 from any of his scenes, said St. Charles Capt. Ray Floyd. Most of his victims were petite brunettes and they were not sexually assaulted.
“He was homicidal,” Floyd said.
St. Charles police will convene a meeting in November with all of the police agencies who investigated homicides connected to the killer along with the FBI and ATF. At that meeting, investigators plan to dissect all of the evidence they have from the cases and see what can be tested using modern DNA techniques, Floyd said.
Floyd said it’s possible the killer is connected to two killings in Texas as well.
A key piece of evidence that linked the killer to the crimes was the gun he used, Floyd said.
It’s known as an Erma Werke Model ET22 pistol. It’s a somewhat rare gun, Floyd said, as there were only about 6,500 made and imported from Germany. It has a nearly foot-long barrel.
The St. Charles Police Department bought one of the guns in an online auction in 2014, to show it to the public in hopes of generating leads.
The following is a summary of the cases connected to the killer, whose spree began in Indianapolis and stretched more than 1,200 miles west to Wichita, Kansas:
- April 8, 1992: Robin Fuldauer was found shot to death inside a Payless shoe store in Indianapolis.
- April 11, 1992: Two women, Patricia Smith and Patricia Magers, were found shot to death inside a bridal store in Wichita, Kansas. This crime gave detectives one of their biggest leads as a man who came to the store to pick up a cummerbund saw the killer inside the store. The killer tried to order the man to stay inside the store at gunpoint with the distinct murder weapon, but the man ran away and gave police the description that has been used in police sketches.
- April 27, 1992: Michael McCown was found shot to death at Sylvia's Ceramics in Terra Haute, Indiana.
- May 3, 1992: Nancy Kitzmiller was found shot to death in St Charles.
- May 7, 1992: Sarah Blessing was found shot to the death at a small store in Raytown, Missouri, near Kansas City.
- Sept. 25, 1993: Mary Ann Glasscock was killed at the Emporium Antiques stores in Fort Worth.
- Nov. 1, 1993: Amy Vess was shot to death in a dance apparel store in Arlington, Texas.
- January 15, 1994: Vicki Webb was shot in the back of the head in the Alternatives gift shop, but survived. Floyd said she told police the sketch of the I-70 killer matched the face of her attacker, but Texas authorities have not been convinced of the connection as different guns were used in each spree.
St. Charles police are also offering a $25,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in this case.
The suspect is described as a thin man with dull red hair, or sandy blonde hair with a red tint. He is between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall and between the ages of 52 and 70 years old with lazy eyes.
If you have information, please call 1-800-800-3510.