Serial Killer in Michigan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082605949.html

The most popular serial killer recently appears to be a man by the name of Elias Abuelazam, who is suspected of attacking 18 men, 5 of which were fatal. Abuelazam attacked in the areas of Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio and is currently looking at life in prison without parole.

This article focuses more on the case rather than the serial killer. It talks about the facts of the case, goes into detail where and when the crimes were committed, and how the prosecution will be handled. Not much background is given about Abuelazam, but I am curious to find out what kind of person he really is. They do say that he is an Israeli citizen who has ties to Virginia in Leesburg, where he committed three of his attacks. He also worked in the same area, helping troubled children in two different locations. Although many facts about the case were mentioned, nothing about serial killers in general were said. The article is strictly about the case at hand.

The only law enforcement agency listed in the article was the Leesburg police, which I found surprising considering that this is not only a big case, but it took place in three different states. A prosecutor in Michigan seems to be the one taking care of putting Abuelazam in jail, but no authorities from the other two states or even the FBI are mentioned. When looking at the victims in this case, no names were given, just locations of the attacks and some details about their age and what they were doing during the time of their attack.

The communities where the serial killer operated were places that he lived and worked, but that is the only sort of detail given. He worked at a liquor store in Michigan and as I mentioned before, he worked with troubled children in Leesburg. Some facts I found a little interesting with the case is how he got his victims. He did not have any sort of strategy. For example, he came up and stabbed a person jogging, stabbed an older man on his porch, and also lured someone by saying he needed help with his car. One thing the victims all have in common are they were darker in race and authorities believe it was  a racial crime.