Man slain by escort in US suspected of numerous killings

A man killed by an escort is being investigated for links to the unsolved disappearances or murders of women nationwide, authorities said.

Neal Falls, of Springfield, Oregon, was carrying axes, a shovel, and bleach when he was killed on July 18, and authorities said he had been stopped, interviewed or investigated by police in at least 20 states.

Police say Falls was shot dead as he attacked the escort in Charleston, West Virginia, and she grabbed his handgun off the ground and fired it.

Police found axes, knives, handcuffs, a shovel, bleach, and other items in Falls’ car, raising suspicions this was not the first time he had attacked a woman.

“The fact that he was 45 years old and carrying tools like he was and committing a crime that was so organised and so violent, it’s unlikely that this was his first violent crime,” said Charleston police Lt. Steve Cooper.

Cooper said Falls had a list of 10 other women in his pocket. Nine were in West Virginia and one was in San Diego.

Similar to the Charleston woman, whom police are calling Heather, all were escorts active online, he said. They are all alive, he said.

Heather suffered a separated shoulder, broken vertebrae, strangulation marks around her throat, and other injuries, Cooper said.

No history of major crimes in Falls’ record has surfaced. However, police said records show that authorities in states including Arizona, Kentucky, and Virginia had interactions with Falls such as stopping him, running his licence plate or checking his social security number.

Charleston police have notified southern Nevada authorities, who said they are investigating Falls’ possible involvement in a series of killings long believed to be connected.

Police have said Falls rented a room in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson when four prostitutes went missing in the area. In three cases, young women working as prostitutes went missing and were found dismembered on the side of a road.

Cooper said Falls had “many contacts with law enforcement” across the US.

“He has been stopped and investigated by the police in upwards of 20 states,” Cooper said.

He said Charleston police also have been communicating with authorities in the small southern Ohio city of Chillicothe, where four women died in suspicious circumstances and two others are missing.

He said there has been no evidence placing Falls there, but it is been considered because of the proximity to Charleston, less than a two-hour drive away

On Monday, a suspect in the shooting death of one of the women entered a not guilty plea in Ross County Court. Jason McCrary, 37, is charged with murder in the May death of 38-year-old Timberly Claytor.