In a new partnership with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students, Illinois State Police have identified three victims of an infamous St. Louis-area serial killer and also brought charges for a murder that had gone unsolved for 14 years.
State police Director Brendan Kelly said that the internship program helped law enforcement identify Kelly Johson, Crystal Lay and Carol Jean Hemphill and that all were victims of Maury Travis. Kelly said Travis killed 17 women in the early 2000s.
This spring, the St. Clair County state’s attorney’s office also charged a 34-year-old East St. Louis man in the death of Truman Lee Smith, who was killed in 2011…