Los Angeles serial killer charged with four additional murders

LOS ANGELES - Convicted serial killer Chester Dewayne Turner, who was sentenced to death in 2007 for the murders of 10 women and an unborn child over a 10-year period, was charged today with four additional murders in the 1980's and '90's.

Turner, who is on death row, will be returned from state prison to face the new capital murder case, said Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace, who prosecuted Turner four years ago. His arraignment date will be announced later.

Turner, 44 (dob 11-5-66), is charged with the June 5, 1987 murder of Elandra Bunn; the Feb. 22, 1997 murder of Cynthia Annette Johnson; the Dec. 16, 1992 murder of Mary Edwards; and the Nov. 16, 1992 murder of Debra Williams. The complaint alleges the special circumstances of murder during commission of attempted rape. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty for a second time against the convicted serial killer.

After Turner was convicted and sentenced to death in May 2007, Los Angeles police detectives from the Robbery Homicide Division continued to investigate the four unsolved murders in which Turner was identified as a suspect.

The four victims in the new case were found strangled to death, similar to the 10 earlier victims. All the victims were killed in South Los Angeles in the area know as the Figueroa Corridor.

In two of the murders, two other men were originally charged. David Allen Jones was convicted of the 1992 murder of Mary Edwards. After further DNA testing excluded Jones, the District Attorney's office asked the court to set aside that conviction. Jones was freed from prison in 2004.

Another man was charged with the 1997 murder of Cynthia Johnson. That case was later dismissed after DNA evidence excluded that suspect and identified Turner.