“We haven’t determined if Warren knew Loften while she lived in Cleveland, nor can we place Loften in Cleveland at the time of the most recent homicide there linked to The Collector, that of Maylene Marie Siler. Work is underway with all Cleveland and other Ohio law enforcement to determine if Loften was in the area,” Sawyer said. “We can confirm that the cord used for binding in the Warren homicide is consistent with the cord found in Loften’s Oceanwave motel unit and the cord used in The Collector homicides.”

Sawyer continued, stating that The Collector used a serrated knife in nearly all of his attacks, noting that Loften was in possession of a serrated knife during crimes in Palm Mirage Creek, specifically in his recent assault of Lisa Taylor. Loften also had condoms in his possession while committing crimes in Florida. The Collector used condoms when he sexually assaulted his victims. Loften was found to have stolen women’s underwear. The Collector took driver’s licenses from his victims. Not quite the same items, but the similar element of trophy collection was troubling.

“Loften’s looking good for The Collector,” one Miami detective said. “What about latents, DNA, trace? Where are we with all of that?”

“Not as far as we’d like to be,” Sawyer said, launching into a summary concerning The Collector case and the survivor in Louisville, Kentucky, who’d clawed at her attacker, tearing one of his latex gloves.

“From Louisville, we got a section of cord, identical to the cord used in previous attacks,” she said, adding that a partial shoe impression was also recovered and the size was consistent with impressions recovered in earlier cases. “As some of you know, we also got a partial thumbprint.”

Sawyer noted that the quality of the partial fingerprint had thus far proved challenging for examiners. To date they had not succeeded in finding anything similar on record.

“As for Loften,” Reddick said, “much of the material is still being processed. We’ve got evidence linking Loften to Warren but nothing conclusive.”

“What about Loften’s attack at the home of Warren’s former coworker, Taylor, in Palm Mirage Creek? Where does that fit with all of this?” another detective asked.

“We’re still working on that,” Morrow said. “There’s every indication there’s some sort of Cleveland connection. Our understanding is Warren asked Jeff Taylor to help her find a job in Miami, even though the company had terminated her earlier. She was trying to regain custody of her son, get her life together.”

“Do we know who this relative who came looking for her at the motel is?” a detective asked.

“We’ll be putting a lot of these questions to Loften. We’re preparing to interview him,” Morrow said.

At that moment, Bogan’s phone vibrated. He read the message, then leaned to one of the detectives operating the laptop and slide presentations and typed on his phone.