Key takeaways from an AP investigation into how police failed to stop a serial killer
DeAngelo Martin killed four women and raped two others over a 16-month span before he was captured.
Only now, a year after Martin was sent to prison, is it clear that police failed repeatedly to follow up on leads or take investigative steps that may have averted the killing spree, despite receiving repeated warnings that Martin was a violent predator, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The AP found myriad failures. Here are some key takeaways from its investigation:
Killings put Detroit on edge
DeAngelo Martin lured four women in 2018 and 2019 into vacant homes and murdered them, leaving their nude or partially clothed corpses amid cheap booze pints, crumbling walls and hypodermic needles.
The killings rattled Detroit, caught Martin in June 2019. He pleaded guilty in 2022 to killing four women — Annetta Nelson, 57; Nancy Harrison, 52; Trevesene Ellis, 58; Tamara Jones, 55 — and raping two others. He was sentenced last year to serve between 45 and 70 years in prison.
