More than half of women in killer’s photos alive

updated 5:22 p.m. ET July 27, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Investigators who released decades-old pictures of about 50 women photographed by a murderer said Thursday they believe more than half the women are alive, but that one appears to be a homicide victim and another has been missing for years.

Several of those photographed by death row inmate William Richard Bradford have yet to be identified, but Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators said they have tentatively identified 28 women since publicizing the long-forgotten images Tuesday.

Twenty-six of those women were believed to be alive, sheriff's homicide Capt. Ray Peavy said. He said the other two are believed to be a homicide victim and a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for years, but no additional details were immediately available.

The photos of the women, many scantily clad and striking poses like amateur models, languished in an evidence room from 1984, when they were seized from Bradford's home, until detectives rediscovered them last month. Investigators were able to identify some of the women before releasing the photos, including several of Bradford's ex-wives and a victim of an unsolved 1978 slaying.

Bradford, now 60, was condemned for killing two aspiring models in the early 1980s. Authorities say he posed as a freelance photographer and took pictures of women he met at bars and elsewhere, and are concerned that some of the women may have been victims of rape or murder between 1975 and 1984.

Bradford's appellate attorney, Darlene Ricker, said Wednesday that the photographs were "old news" and that it was no surprise that they were found in a photographer's belongings.

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