Mississippi holding couple suspected in multiple truck stop murders

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- Authorities in Mississippi say they've arrested two suspects in a string of killings of truck stop prostitutes, including several in Oklahoma.<br/><br/>Authorities say John Williams[pictured]

Friday, July 8th 2005, 1:36 pm

By: News On 6

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- Authorities in Mississippi say they've arrested two suspects in a string of killings of truck stop prostitutes, including several in Oklahoma.

Authorities say John Williams[pictured] and Rachel Cumberland[pictured] of Carthage, Mississippi, have pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and death of a Mississippi woman and are suspects in the truck stop killings. The two are being held without bond.

Williams and Cumberland are due in court next week on kidnapping and murder charges in the death of Jennifer Hyman of Oklahoma City. Hyman's body was found August 20th, 2003, in Lafayette County, Tennessee. She had been strangled.

Authorities in Yukon are considering charges against the two in the September 2002 kidnapping and murder of Samantha Patrick of Oklahoma City. Her body was found in a trash bin behind a Yukon grocery.

Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner George Phillips says he can't say they were responsible for all the killings of the truck stop prostitutes, but he says lawmen believe there is a link.

Law enforcement officials in Oklahoma and four other states have been investigating the killing of prostitutes at truck stops in a series of incidents dating back to 2003.