An Indiana man who authorities say is a serial killer has been charged with five new counts of murder and 10 other crimes — including rape, attempted murder and criminal confinement, the Gary Police department said on Monday.
Darren Vann, 44, was initially arrested in 2014 and charged with killing 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy and 35-year-old Anith Jones.
Authorities said Vann confessed to killing seven women and led police to their bodies — all of which were found within five miles of each other.
He faces the death penalty if convicted, according to CNN affiliate WLS.
Though Vann was born in Indiana, he had previously lived in North Carolina, where he was arrested on unspecified charges in 1993, and Texas, where he was convicted of aggravated rape and served a five-year prison sentence that ended in 2013.
He was categorized as a “low-risk” sex offender in prison and moved back to Indiana once he got out.
Edward Matlock, whose mother married Vann in the 1990s, described the suspect as “a nutcase who I’d never allow near my kids or in my house.”
Matlock said Vann and his mother divorced after 16 years.
“He was just a strange guy,” Matlock said.