Two more victims of Conn. serial killer identified
The last time Nilsa Arizmendi was seen alive, she was in a parking lot off Connecticut’s Berlin Turnpike. She got in William Devin Howell’s van to buy drugs, her boyfriend would later tell police. He watched them drive away. It was July 2003.
Howell, now 45, was arrested 10 years ago today for Arizmendi’s murder. Police never recovered her body, but they did find her blood in Howell’s van. He was charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2007, and has been in prison ever since. He is scheduled to be released in 2019.
About a week after Howell was sentenced, a hunter found a human skull in the woods behind a strip mall in New Britain. Police would find three bodies there, all women who disappeared in 2003. Police believed they were victims of a serial killer, but didn’t know who. Two weeks ago, police returned to the site and found four more bodies. Now, police said, they were looking at serial killer with seven victims.
The first of newly-discovered bodies was identified on Monday at a press conference where police said they had a suspect but declined to name him, other than to say he was not a threat to the public.
The second and third of the four bodies were identified today.
One was Arizmendi.
Multiple media outlets, citing law enforcement sources, have named Howell as the suspect in all seven murders. Police declined to comment at a Wednesday press conference.
The other victim named today is Danny Lee Whistnant. Unlike the other identified victims, Whistnant was born biologically male. He was believed to be living as a woman at the time that he was reported missing in June 2003.
“These victims were always so much more than Jane Does or John Does,’’ said New Britain Chief of Police James Wardell.
Arezmendi’s wasn’t the only person’s blood found in Howell’s van. “A substantial amount of blood,’’ according to Connecticut’s Cold Case Unit website, from a second person was also found there. Its owner has not been identified — yet.
Along with the blood found in Howell’s van was a videotape with two women on it. Police have so far not been able to identify them, and posted the images on the state’s cold case website:
State of Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice
Anyone who recognizes one or both of these women is asked to call (860) 258-5800 or (860) 548-0606, or email [email protected].
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