A City Gripped By Fear
Beverly Blair has never been so scared.
"If I have to resort to buying a gun, I will and that's what I'm doing," she told CBS News correspondent Bob McNamara.
She's not alone in her fear. Self-defense classes are filling with frightened women. It's even alarmed the governor.
"Get mace, carry a baseball bat, lock your doors, don't let anybody in you don't know," said Louisiana Governor Mike Foster.
The assault and murders of three Baton Rouge women, all linked by DNA to the same man, has brought a dragnet for a serial killer.
Police say that while they don't want the public to panic, they also want people to be aware that there is someone out there who is killing women.
Gina Wilson Green, a 41-year-old nurse, was found strangled in her home last September. Recent Louisiana State University graduate Charlotte Murray Pace, 21, was stabbed to death in May at home. And last month Pam Kinamore, 44, a decorator and antique store-owner, was abducted from home and had her throat slashed. Police won't say if they were sexually assaulted.
"If Pam had a fault it was probably that she was too naive about people and too friendly with people," said her husband Bryon Kinamore.
A white Chevy pickup is one of only a few leads police will talk about. They're not releasing much information because it would be briefing the killer.
Desperate for any clues, investigators are exploring connections that might link the three dead women.
So far they found that:
But it all seems more coincidence than a connection.
"I think if Pam had any suspicions about anyone she would have said something, said Lynne Marino, Kinamore's mother.
Pam Kinamore's family has made her death a high profile crusade in a city where 30 other unsolved murder cases over the last decade are being re-opened.
"Where will he strike next?" asks Marino. "You know he hasn't established a definite pattern so everybody needs to be aware."
On the Louisiana State University campus near the scene of two of the murders, joggers pair up for their own safety. Worried parents are even taking students home.
"If any parents are concerned about their child they should call the school or keep their children home until this is solved," Marino told CBS News.
A prayer vigil the other night brought out scores of people. Not just those who knew Pam Kinamore -- but many who now live in a city gripped by fear.