US police link cab driver with serial killings

Police say forensic evidence has linked a Florida cab driver to the serial killings of six women, including five during a seven-week spree in Jacksonville.

Paul Durousseau, 32, was charged with the murders. Two of the victims were pregnant and some were his passengers.

Durousseau has been in custody since February 6 – a day after the last two victims were found – on charges of violating probation on a sexual assault conviction.

Authorities said DNA evidence, fibre analysis and mobile phone calls linked Durousseau to the killings.

Duval County Sheriff Nat Glover said authorities “were pretty certain we had our guy” when Durousseau was caught on the probation violation, but added that it took months to piece together all the evidence.

Glover said the killer used a “peculiar slipknot,” including a coaxial cable and an extension cord, to strangle some of the victims.

Authorities said in most of the cases there was evidence that the victims had been sexually assaulted.

Glover spoke at a news conference that included about 20 relatives of the victims, some of whom sobbed loudly as he read the details of their deaths.