Cold cases come to the fore

A girl raped in an East Side park will be asked to look at a photo lineup.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Detectives are checking out allegations that Antonio D. Jackson bragged that he's a serial killer.
Detective Sgt. Jose Morales said he and his colleagues are taking a look at unsolved women's murders -- and rapes. He said they're going back several years.
Jackson is accused of killing 19-year-old Sierra Slaton on Aug. 7 and 29-year-old Tahnee Y. Jackson (no relation) on Nov. 20. Slaton was found in McKelvey Lake and Tahnee Jackson was found in a creek in the old Southside Park near Erie Street.
A witness to the November homicide quoted Antonio Jackson as saying, "That's eight under my belt" and that he had just got out of prison for murder.
Jackson, 25, who lived on the South Side, was arrested last week. He remains in jail on a $7 million bond.
Looking for patterns
The two most recent deaths are similar in that both victims were dumped into water. Morales said if Jackson is a serial killer it doesn't mean that other victims were left in water but crimes that involve water will be scrutinized.
The detective said serial killers can change their methods. He said that, where applicable, DNA evidence from unsolved murders and rapes will be compared with Jackson's.
"Hopefully, we'll get lucky," Morales said.
Anyone with information can call the detective division at (330) 742-8911 and ask for Morales, John Kelty or Ron Rodway. Rodway has said that Jackson's criminal background is extensive and includes not murder but felonious assault, public indecency, carrying a concealed weapon, receiving stolen property and much more.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did more than these" two murders, Morales said Monday. "He said he did eight."
Lt. Robin Lees said if police departments outside Youngstown have similar unsolved homicides the city will provide whatever information they ask for.
Among the rapes to be reviewed is that of a girl in Lincoln Park who was thrown into water after the attack, Morales said. He said the girl will be asked to look at a photo lineup that will contain Jackson's picture.
Vindicator files show a 16-year-old girl was raped in the East Side park in August 2003.
Assault victim's recollections
The teenager told officers that she took a shortcut through the park to get to her grandmother's residence on Park Heights and was grabbed by a thin black man with a mustache. The victim said she was punched and kicked more times than she could remember.
The girl told police that the man dragged her to the park's foot bridge, told her to sit down and take her clothes off and threatened to kill her. He made her lie on top of her jacket on the bridge and raped her, reports show.
After the attack, the suspect tried to smother the teenager and when that didn't succeed, he pushed her over the bridge into the rocky and rain-swollen creek, police said.
Among the unsolved homicides of women is one from October 2002, Morales said. Anne L. Griffin, 48, of East Philadelphia Avenue was found dismembered in trash bags at Carson Street and Cantwell Avenue.
meade@vindy.com