Suspect in mother-daughter slayings

Prince George's County homicide detectives have identified a suspect in the high-profile slayings of sets of mothers and daughters last year, according to sources familiar with the cases.

The suspect has not been charged or indicted but has been incarcerated for some time on an unrelated charge, the sources said. A motive in the slayings remains unclear, but one source said the suspect seems to the type most feared by the type: a stranger to his victims.

Police had been saying publicly they had no suspects in the slayings of Karen Lofton and her 16-year-old daughter, Karissa, who were found shot inside their locked home in the Largo area Jan. 26.

hey had also been saying publicly they did not have any suspects in the killings of Delores Dewitt and her 20-year-old daughter, Ebony, whose bodies were found March 16 in a burning car that had been stolen that day. But for some months now, sources said, detectives had been quietly eyeing the man in custody.

FBI profilers had said the killing were not related. But now it appears they might be.

-- Matt Zapotosky