5th prostitute strangled

Baltimore police have learned the most recent victim in a rash of strangling deaths of women was working as a prostitute before she was killed, according to departmental reports.

Friends of Brenda Hatfield, 45, whose naked body was found behind the New Psalmist Church on July 8, told investigators she was working as a prostitute along Patapsco Avenue and Hollins Ferry Road in South Baltimore near the time of her death — a known areafor prostitution, the reports show.

The friends told detectives Hatfield had several “regular” customers, whom police are now seeking for questioning.

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In addition to the five women strangled since April, records show three more slayings of convicted prostitutes in the past five years remain unsolved.

The additional killings mean a total of eight cases of woman linked to prostitution who were stabbed, strangled or beaten to death since 2003 remain open.