Police force set up Web site to help catch a serial killer

Loretta Chaisson Lewis, 28, was the initial to die. She was reported missing on May 17, 2005. Three days later, fishermen found her body floating in a canal off Highway 26 in Jennings, Louisiana.

Her father, Thomas Lewis, recently posted a plea on a Web site recognized in September by the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff's Office to draw notice to the killing of his daughter and the deaths of seven other women in the area. Police say the slayings may be linked.

"We love and miss her," the father's message said. "She was a loving mother, wife and daughter. If you have any information about her death, please let someone know."

There have been eight killings in four years in a small town that averages one murder a year.

The victims' bodies were dumped on the outskirts of Jennings - population 10,546 - west of Lafayette, Louisiana. Townspeople are confused. They're asking themselves, "Is there a serial killer among us?

That seems likely, authorities say.

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