Stockton police are using this photo to search for the serial killer

DLNews Crime:

A serial killer is up to mischief in Stockton (California). Five men were shot dead in the former gold digger settlement between July and September.

After all, there is now a suspect. Several hours of video material, which the police laboriously evaluated, resulted in a hit. The picture with which the officials have now gone public shows a shadowy, dressed in dark, taken from behind.

$85,000 reward offered

Stockton police asked for help from the public on Facebook. "If you have any information, call us immediately. We need YOUR help," said Chief Stanley McFadden. "Remember that all victims have grieving family members looking for answers."

The city has offered a $75,000 bounty for the killer. The private organization Crime Stoppers added another $10,000.

Crime scenes in the immediate vicinity

The five crime scenes are within a radius of a few miles

Apparently, there are patterns in the five bloody crimes so far: The police emphasize that all murders were committed at night or in the early morning. Also, all of the victims were alone and were ambushed when they were shot. Finally, the killings occurred nearby (less than a few miles away).

According to police, four of those killed were "Hispanics," i.e., people of Latin American descent. According to the authorities, the first victim was "white." The men were between 21 and 54 years old. The first murder was on July 8th, the last one, the time being on September 27th - only about three months!

"Wrong place at the wrong time"

The brother of one murdered man, Jerry Lopez, told local broadcaster KXTV: "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's hard to process what happened. My brother and I were like twins; we were very close."

As a motive, the police rule out gang rivalries in Stockton (population 320,000). There is "physical evidence" linking the crime scenes together.