Funeral Homes Step Up to Cover Homicide Victims' Funeral Costs

Darren Vann has been charged in the deaths of two women and is suspected with killing five more

The owners of funeral homes in Northwest Indiana and Chicago have stepped up to cover the funeral costs for two women who may have been killed by suspected serial killer Darren Vann.

Smith-Bizzell Funeral Home in Gary will take care of the funeral for Anith Jones, The Gary Post-Tribune reported late Thursday. Additionally, Planet Green Cremations in Glenwood, south of Chicago, are covering the cremation costs for Afrikka Hardy.

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Hardy, 19, was found slain inside a room of a Motel 6 in Hammond on Oct. 17. Vann, 43, was arrested a day later and, according to police, provided information which led to the discovery of six more bodies, including Jones' on Saturday. All of the deaths were ruled homicides.

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Vann was subsequently charged with murder in both cases.

A third potential victim of Vann's, Kristine Williams, will have a funeral on Nov. 1 in Knox, Tennessee, her father said in a Friday post on Facebook. Funeral arrangements for 28-year-old Teairra Batey and the three women who have yet to be positively identified were not known Friday.

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Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey on Tuesday asked for the public's help in identifying two of the women who were recovered over the weekend. Anyone with information is asked to call the Lake County Coroner’s Office at 219-755-3265.

Officials in Northwest Indiana and suburban Chicago, including Cook County, have checked abandoned homes in recent days searching for additional victims. Vann has indicated to police that his crimes could date back 20 years, police said.

A judge ordered Vann held in contempt of court Wednesday when the former Marine refused to even acknowledge his name during an initial court hearing in Hardy's slaying.

Vann was convicted in 2009 of raping a woman in Austin, Texas. He was released from prison last year and moved back to Indiana. Before that conviction, he served a year in prison in Indiana after he grabbed a Gary woman in a chokehold in 2004, doused her with gasoline and threatened to set her on fire.

In both cases, the charges against Vann were reduced in plea bargains, and Texas officials deemed him a low risk for violence. Vann registered as a sex offender in Indiana and police checked in September that he lived at the address he provided.

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