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Indiana Police To Check DNA Samples To Identify Serial Killing Victims

CHICAGO (CBS) -- DNA samples have been sent to Indiana State Police to see if they can identify two of the three unidentified women whose remains were found inside abandoned homes in Gary last month.

The Lake County (Ind.) Coroner's Office has been getting calls every day from people trying to find out if one of the three unidentified bodies might be a loved one.

Two families have provided DNA to see if there's a match.

The bodies were among six found in vacant buildings in Gary last month, after police arrested 43-year-old Darren Vann for the murder of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy.

Police have said Vann confessed to killing Hardy and at least six other women, but so far he is charged only with killing Hardy and 35-year-old Anith Jones. Authorities have identified two other victims – 36-year-old Kristine Williams and 28-year-old Teaira Batey.

Vann has pleaded not guilty.

Police have said Vann suggested he killed other women, but so far searches of hundreds of vacant buildings in northwest Indiana and Chicago's southern suburbs have turned up no other victims.

The FBI has been assisting with the investigation, and has said it is looking into Vann's claims he killed women in other states. Police have said he claimed his crimes date back as long as 20 years.

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