Police - Man may have killed up to 18 women

ST. LOUIS -- A suspected serial killer who hanged himself in his jail cell two weeks ago has been linked to the deaths of 12 women -- and there could be as many as six more who have yet to be found, investigators said Monday.

When Maury Troy Travis was found hanged in his cell with a suicide note on June 10, he had been charged with killing two women. At the time, police said evidence had linked him to the deaths of at least eight other women.

At a news conference Monday, St. Louis police chief Joe Mokwa said that evidence found at Travis' home in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson linked him to the deaths of 12 women.

Also, FBI and police investigators found videotapes at Travis' home that show him torturing and having violent sexual relations with eight bound and gagged women. Two of the women were among the victims who already were identified, Mokwa said.

But investigators have not identified the other six, although they said there could be some overlap with known victims. The women in the videotapes often have their faces covered in duct tape, and are difficult to identify, Mokwa said.

Mokwa said area families who believe their missing loved ones may be among the victims should contact police to see photographs, which won't be released to the public.

"They're not necessarily the kind of photographs that the general public would like to witness," Mokwa said.

Travis was arrested June 7 at his home. Investigators had found him by tracing an Internet map that he had included with a letter he sent anonymously to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was found hanged in his cell three days later.