Police: Possible serial killer loose in North Carolina

By Gabriel Falcon

CNN

(CNN) - Police are investigating whether a North Carolina country road may have become the dumping ground for a serial killer - a man one woman believes could have given her a terrifying ride she will never forget.

Since May 2005, the remains of five women have been found near the Seven Bridges Road outside of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The road snakes northeast out of town into rural Edgecombe County.

Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley Jr. believes the women's deaths are related. "They seem to have some connection," he said.

Lanessa Williams of Rocky Mount believes she narrowly missed joining the ranks of the slain women, saying she is not sure whether a man who offered her a ride to a friend's house last year is responsible for their deaths.

The longer the two drove, the more she felt a sense of danger, said Williams, 38. The man - who she described as thin and African-American, with a mustache and glasses - rarely spoke and "looked crazy."

"He kept on going and he rode through lights and he wouldn't let me get out," she told CNN. Eventually, her fears were confirmed when he demanded sex. "He told me that if I didn't do what he wanted me to do he was going to kill me and throw me in the river."

The man eventually stopped his truck in a dark wilderness area, she said. When he got out, she bolted and ran away.

"I laid in a ditch and stayed there for a while," she said. "He was riding around looking for me."

Police are talking to Williams about her experience. She told authorities she noticed something strange - that the large block letters saying "Chevrolet" on the back of the man's truck appeared to be painted on.

All five of the slain women were African-American, authorities said. Four lived in Rocky Mount, which is about 55 miles northeast of the state capital, Raleigh.