Coroner IDs 2 women found dead in abandoned building

GARY, Ind. (AP) – The Lake County coroner has identified two women whose bodies were found in an abandoned Gary building that has been linked to a man charged in the strangulation deaths of two other women.

The coroner on Friday morning said DNA had identified the bodies found Oct. 19 as 53-year-old Sonya Billingsley and 27-year-old Tanya Gatlin. Both were from Gary.

Darren Vann is charged with murder in the deaths of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy and 35-year-old Anith Jones. The 43-year-old Vann has pleaded not guilty.

Police say Hardy was killed at a Hammond motel and that Vann led investigators to the bodies of Jones and five other women inside abandoned houses in Gary. No other charges have yet been filed.