Police now say Stockton, Calif. murders aren't linked, but 2018 Rogers Park murders remain unsolved
CHICAGO (CBS) -- On Thursday night, CBS 2 broke the story that officers were looking into the possible connection between a serial killer in Stockton, California, and the suspect who killed two men in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood in 2018.
Since then, police have said there is no link.
Still, a killer is on the loose for years after those Rogers Park murders. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot dug back into the investigation on Friday.
Le Mignot spoke off camera with those who were close to one of the men who was killed, 24-year-old Eliyahu Moskowitz. They said the wounds are still raw when it comes to how Moscowitz had his life taken so tragically along the Lakefront Trail at Lunt Avenue.
Moscowitz and the other man, 73-year-old Douglass Watts, were shot and killed execution-style just 36 years hours apart.
First, Watts, 73, was shot and killed on the morning Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018, while walking his two dogs in the 1400 block of West Sherwin Avenue.
On the night of Monday, Oct. 1, 2018, Moscowitz, 24, was walking down the lakefront bike path on when someone shot him. Moscowitz worked at an Evanston Jewel grocery store.
Family and friends did not want to speak with us about the crimes Friday. But in 2018, family friend Shalom Klein said concerns quickly grew within the Jewish community that Moscowitz might have been targeted because of his religion.
"He was wearing religious garb. He had a hat a jacket on," Klein, executive director of the Jewish Neighborhood Development Council, said in 2018. "It was the holiday, so it was very noticeable that he was a Jew."
Chicago police would later say neither murder appeared to be a hate crime.
The masked gunman was caught on surveillance video, and police said he has a distinct duck walk or limp – in which he walks with both feet turned out to the side. The suspect has been referred to as the Duck Walk Killer.
In 2018, those who call Rogers Park home were on edge after the murders.
"We got somebody that doing this in broad daylight," neighbor Alvin Silva said at the time. "We got a basically a killer out in the streets roaming around. Heaven knows who next, you know?"
On Thursday night, CBS 2 reported police in Stockton, California were working with Chicago Police.
Police said a Stockton serial killer has taken the lives of six people and injured a seventh in Stockton and Oakland, California. All the victims were shot, and police say ballistics evidence linked the same man to the shootings.
Last week, Stockton police released video surveillance footage of the man they believe is the killer and asked residents to pay attention to his gait. His stride is uneven and walks with his hands in his pockets.
He is also dressed in clothes similar to those worn by the Rogers Park shooter.
After the surveillance video was released, CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards called CBS 13 in Sacramento and told them about the Rogers Park murders.
But on Friday, the police departments in Chicago and in Stockton told us there is no link.
But why would they have told us Thursday night they were investigating whether the Stockton and Rogers Park killers are the same person, and then on Friday say there is no connection?
Police will not tell us anything, other than they can't release details regarding their investigations.