2006 Atlantic City slayings back in spotlight

Philadelphia isn’t the only place dealing with a possible serial killer.

On Saturday, fears migrated north when the decomposed body of a reported 24-year-old Craigslist prostitute missing since May was discovered in a remote area of Suffolk County, New York. After three other bodies were found nearby Tuesday, police commissioner Richard Dormer said, “We could have a serial killer. … The bodies would indicate they were dumped there by the same person or persons.”

Philadelphia police did not say whether they were seeking connections to the Kensington Strangler yesterday, but the case resembles November 2006, when the bodies of four prostitutes were ritually placed behind a motel near Atlantic City. Atlantic County investigators have contacted Suffolk County, but prosecutor Ted Housel said, “It would not be fair for us to comment on their investigation.”

James Leonard, the attorney for the South Jersey man who was initially suspected but never charged with those deaths, said, “The similarities appear to be striking. We have maintained all along that Terry Oleson had nothing to do with the deaths of the four women that were murdered in West Atlantic City and he has zero connection to the [Long Island] case.”

Yesterday, Oleson said the news brought back all the frustrations of being the public’s suspect. When the Google Alert hits for his name started rolling in, he thought, “Uh oh, all over again.”

His fiancee “was so sick she was throwing up all night. My nerves are shot. I’m just sitting here waiting for cops to knock on the door,” Oleson said. Investigators making an arrest, “would help, as long as they leave me alone about it.”