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Kauai may have
a serial killer

'The victims all fit the same
profile, even the same physical
resemblance to each other,' says
Police Chief George Freitas

Crimes were similar

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By Anthony Sommer
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE -- Kauai detectives planned to go house to house in West Side communities today, and officers on horseback and all-terrain vehicles continued to scour beaches in search of information on the latest victim of what may be a serial rapist and murderer.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before," said a Waimea woman who asked not to be identified. "I'm locking my doors now, something I never did in my whole life."

"I've stopped jogging in the cane fields and have gone back to running on the main roads," said another. "I gave up running on the main roads because I was afraid of the traffic, but this is even more scary. How come they can't find this guy?"

The 43-year-old woman found murdered Wednesday at Pakala Beach was identified today as Daren R. Singer. Officials said she died from stab wounds.

An expired 1995 drivers license listed a Maui post office box instead of a residence.

Friends on Maui described Singer as a "sweet girl."

"She was giving," said Teje Cuellar. "She was a Krishna devotee."

Cuellar, who knew Singer for 10 years, said she made jewelry and did stained-glass work.

Cuellar said Singer loved Kauai and would frequently visit the island.

Mary Valley, a saleswoman at the Old Plantation Store in Paia, Maui, said she met Singer a couple of years ago when she was looking for housing.

Valley said the death of Singer was horrible.

"It gives me chicken skin," Valley said.

Cuellar said friends will be gathering for a memorial service to honor Singer at noon next Saturday at Baldwin Beach on Maui.

Singer's partially clad body was found at about noon Wednesday near Pakala Beach, a popular but remote surfing area on Kauai.

She had been dead at least 12 hours when she was found, and her body had begun to decompose in the sun.

It appeared she had been sexually assaulted. A small amount of cash was found at her campsite, indicating the motive for the killing was not robbery.

The murder took place only a few miles from where another woman was raped and murdered and a third was seriously injured during an attempted sexual assault last spring.

Kauai Police Chief George Freitas said the crimes could be linked.

"The victims all fit the same profile, even the same physical resemblance to each other," Freitas said. "My speculation is, there may be one person who committed all three of these crimes."

In each case, the victim was sexually assaulted and a knife was used. All of the victims were Caucasian, from 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighed about 100 pounds. All were alone before they were attacked, and each case appears to have been the work of a single assailant, the chief said.

The partially clad body of Lisa Bissell, 38, was found near Polihale on April 7. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death, apparently at another location.

Police questioned six suspects in the case but have made no arrests. They also found a car they believe was used to move the body and recovered blood samples but still have not received the results of DNA tests being conducted at a private laboratory on the mainland.

On May 22 a 52-year old woman was stabbed in the abdomen and suffered a broken arm when a man attempted to rape her while she was tending a yard in Kekaha. The woman was shown pictures of the suspects in the Bissell murder but was unable to identify any of them. Police artists put together a composite drawing of the man based on her description.

Freitas said he has little to offer in the way of comfort to hundreds of frightened West Side women except the fact that the area will be saturated with officers "trolling the area" for at least the next few weeks. He cautioned women all over the island against going to remote areas alone.

"In my career, this is the first time we've had a string of homicides like this," said Inspector Mel Morris, who heads the department's investigations division.

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Maui correspondent Gary Kubota also
contributed to this report.

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Crimes were similar All victims sexually assaulted. All were Caucasian, middle-aged and of similar height and weight. Knife was used in each attack. Attacks occured on west side of Kauai, apparently near the beach. Victims were alone when they were attacked and apparently attacked by a single person.