14 DAY TRIAL // Police in East Cleveland, Ohio, have arrested a man for three murders in the area. The bodies were all found in abandoned homes and authorities have confirmed that they belong to homicide victims.
Police Chief Ralph Spotts said in a press conference that they first found the body of a woman on Friday, July 19. According to Fox 8, all the victims are female, African American and young.
35-year-old Michael Madison was arrested on the corner of E. 197 and Chickasaw after hiding out in his mother's home.
Initial assessments dub Madison a serial killer because he maintains an MO and wraps all the bodies in several layers of plastic, in fetal position.
“It’s how you define serial killer. But, we feel he’s responsible for at least three murders, so far,“ Chief Spotts says.
The suspect has hinted that there are more bodies to be found, prompting a major search near Hayden and Shaw Avenues.
“Just made us think there is a little more to it, and we want to be sure to do the best we can. So we’re going to search as many of the areas, surrounding areas as we can,” Spotts adds.
The community contributed to the search, scouring the area and focusing on empty houses.
“We can cover a larger area with community volunteers, so we want to get eyes and ears inside these vacant and abandoned houses and see what’s going on and see if there is any additional thing we need to pay attention to,” East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton says.
Neighbors described that the suspect was interested in teenage girls. Nathenia Crosby recalled him asking out her daughter.
“I said, ‘Ivan, nothing better not happen to her. She better make it home at a decent time. Nothing better not happen to my daughter, or the last one she was with was you,” Crosby noted at the time.