--- description: Authorities say a 43-year-old convicted sex offender in custody has confessed to killing 7 women after their bodies were found in Indiana title: Indiana Authorities ID Suspected Serial Killer in Custody image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd679b941e3a4650e/698761c5428a9ee7f9cc4a27/darren-deon-vann.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Indiana Authorities ID Suspected Serial Killer in Custody by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 20, 2014 6:27 PM CUT  Darren Vann is a suspect in the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found in northwestern Indiana over the weekend. Darren Vann is a suspect in the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found in northwestern Indiana over the weekend.Texas Department of Criminal Justice/AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 20, 2014 6:27 PM CUT Authorities on Monday [identified](http://fox2now.com/2014/10/20/possible-serial-killer-suspect-identified/ "undefined") the suspect held in connection with seven bodies that were found across northwest Indiana over the weekend. Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said in a press conference on Monday that Darren Vann, 43, of Gary, was detained after officers discovered the strangled body of a 19-year-old woman in a motel on Friday evening. Vann, who Doughty said was a convicted sex offender in Texas, had solicited Afrika Hardy in a “pay-for-service prostitution scheme” through a website. “He admitted his involvement in the Hammond incident and had expressed an interest in notifying police of other criminal incidents he was involved with,” Doughty said, specifically about six more female victims in Gary. One of those victims was Anith Jones, 35, who had been missing since Oct. 8 and whose body was discovered Saturday night. Five more bodies were discovered on Sunday, [according to NBC Chicago](http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/3-Women-Found-Dead-in-Gary-Ind-279708142.html "undefined"), with two victims identified as Teairra Batey, 28, and Christine Williams, 36. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. posted on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1263741987&fref=ts&ref=br%5Ftf "undefined") before the press conference that the suspect was an “admitted serial killer” and “convicted sexual offender,” who “admitted to a couple of homicides in Hammond back in 94 or 95.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3524954/indiana-authorities-id-suspected-serial-killer-in-custody/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3524954/indiana-authorities-id-suspected-serial-killer-in-custody/"},"headline":"Indiana Authorities ID Suspected Serial Killer in Custody","datePublished":"2014-10-20T18:27:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:53:40.863Z","description":"Seven bodies found over the weekend","url":"https://time.com/3524954/indiana-authorities-id-suspected-serial-killer-in-custody/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd679b941e3a4650e/698761c5428a9ee7f9cc4a27/darren-deon-vann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd679b941e3a4650e/698761c5428a9ee7f9cc4a27/darren-deon-vann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Darren Vann is a suspect in the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found in northwestern Indiana over the weekend.","caption":"Darren Vann is a suspect in the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found in northwestern Indiana over the weekend.","creditText":"Texas Department of Criminal Justice/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3524954/indiana-authorities-id-suspected-serial-killer-in-custody/","name":"Indiana Authorities ID Suspected Serial Killer in Custody"}}]}] ```