Woman May Be 17th Serial Killer Victim

Riverside County detectives on Friday were seeking to determine if the body of a woman found on a construction site near the community of Lake Elsinore was the 17th victim of a serial killer.

The body was found about 1 p.m. Friday by a contractor driving through a tract graded for home building on Summerhill Drive above Canyon Lake three miles east of Lake Elsinore.

She was described only as being between 35 and 45 years old and decomposition had not started.

For the past six years a serial killer has operated in the area, preying for the most part on female prostitutes or drug users. All of the victims have been nude or semi-nude and have been strangled or stabbed.

Authorities would not disclose whether the woman found Friday was clothed or if she was an apparent drug user. They also would not reveal the cause of death.