SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The shooting death of a prominent forensic psychiatrist who assisted in high-profile murder cases including serial killings in Phoenix is connected to the killing of two paralegals, said authorities, who were investigating Saturday whether a fourth homicide also was related.
Police in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale said the killings Friday of paralegals Veleria Sharp, 48, and Laura Anderson, 49, were related to the fatal shooting in Phoenix a day earlier of Steven Pitt.
Scottsdale police spokesman, Sgt. Ben Hoster said investigators are trying to determine what linked the three victims.
Witnesses heard a loud argument and gunfire Thursday outside Pitt's office on the border with Scottsdale. Phoenix police have been investigating the shooting and previously said they had no information on whether the killing was related to Pitt's work.
Sharp and Anderson were shot Friday inside a law office. Police say one of the women managed to walk to an intersection to seek help despite a gunshot wound in her head. She was taken to a hospital where she died.
Officers followed a blood trail back to the office and found the other woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police released a sketch of the gunman in the three killings.
Hoster said there was no indication that family members of the victims were in danger.
In the other case, Scottsdale police received a call Saturday about a man found fatally shot inside an office. Hoster did not identify the caller but said the person knew the victim.
The killing occurred in an office park that houses mostly therapists and counselors.
Hoster said it was not yet known if that killing was related to the others.
Pitt, 59, assisted in the investigation of the 1996 death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, who was found dead at her home in Boulder, Colo.
A decade later, he helped Phoenix police in the Baseline Killer investigation as they sought a man who was later convicted of killing nine people.
A Section on 06/03/2018