Milwaukee Police Arrest Walter Ellis, Saying His DNA Links Him to Nine Women Killed on the North Side Since 1986
Ellis, 49, was first charged in two of the deaths, with more charges expected. His DNA had never reached the state database after a 2001 prison release.
Published
Nine women were killed on Milwaukee's north side over 21 years. On September 7, 2009, police announced that DNA from all nine bodies had led them to Walter E. Ellis, 49.
Prosecutors charged Ellis that day with first-degree intentional homicide in two of the deaths: Joyce Mims, 41, killed in 1997, and Ouithreaun Stokes, 28, killed in April 2007. Police said his DNA was found on the bodies of nine women aged 16 to 41, killed between 1986 and 2007 within a 3-square-mile area. They named the others as Tanya L. Miller and Deborah L. Harris, killed in 1986; Irene Smith and Carron D. Kilpatrick, killed in 1992; and Sheila Farrior, Florence McCormick and Jessica Payne, killed in 1995. "This case was solved with shoe leather and science," Police Chief Edward A. Flynn said. Detectives had matched DNA from a toothbrush seized from Ellis's home under a search warrant. A warrant for his arrest was issued on Friday, September 4, and the next day an officer in suburban Franklin spotted his car. Ellis was arrested at a motel after struggling with officers.
Ellis had pleaded no contest in 1998 to second-degree reckless injury and served three years of a five-year sentence. A 2000 Wisconsin law required DNA samples from convicted felons, but his never reached the state database. By September 10, prosecutors had charged him with seven murders. Chaunte Ott, who spent 13 years in prison for one of the killings, had been freed in January after DNA testing pointed to another man, later identified as Ellis.
CNN reported, citing Chief Flynn, that Ellis left prison in 2001 without having a DNA sample collected, while NPR reported that a sample was taken from him in prison in 2001 but could not be found.
Sources
- Police: DNA links man to 9 slain women, WPVI-TV 6abc (AP)
- DNA trail leads to arrest in Wisconsin serial killings, CNN
- Did Missing DNA Thwart Hunt For Serial Killer?, NPR
- Wisc. detectives detail cracking serial killer case, Police1 (AP)
Related News
- February 18, 2011: Walter Ellis Unexpectedly Pleads No Contest to Killing Seven Milwaukee Women Over 21 Years
- December 1, 2013: Walter Ellis, Milwaukee's North Side Strangler, Dies in a South Dakota Hospital While Serving Life for Seven Murders