HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned three people arrested after two bodies were found behind a store in Henry County Tuesday are now charged with the murder of a missing DeKalb County woman.
Mirsha Victor, 23, was killed in Stockbridge earlier this month. She had previously been reported missing out of DeKalb County.
Henry County police have confirmed that Victor was killed in Henry County, but up until now, her body had yet to be recovered. They believe she was killed July 8, the same day she was reported missing from the Panthersville area.
Channel 2 Action News has learned that police are now investigating if she was one of two women whose bodies were found in a wooded area Tuesday morning off Hudson Bridge Road. That wooded area is behind a busy shopping center with restaurants and grocery stores.
According to a police report, a DeKalb County detective was working on Victor’s missing person case had pinged her cellphone to an apartment along Hudson Bridge Terrace in Henry County, a short distance away from where the bodies were found.
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The DeKalb detective called investigators in Henry County to help talk to the person who lived inside the apartment, identified as Dennis Lane, 41.
According to the police report, Lane had called Victor’s mother and asked to speak with her “in person at his home.” Two detectives escorted Victor’s mother to the complex, where they were met by Lane.
When detectives showed up at the apartment, “Mr. Lane explain(ed) he was not a bad guy, and everyone was blaming him for Miss Victor being missing.”
Lane was eventually detained as police searched his apartment.
“When Henry County detectives arrived on scene and completed the search warrant, they noticed blood on the floor, in the bathroom, and a mattress missing,” the report said. “A white mattress with what appeared to be blood stains on it (was) laying on top of the dumpster across from Mr. Lane’s residence.”
Police said they were able to make the three arrests after putting out a lookout for Victor’s car. Those people are Lane, Ronisha Preckwinkle and Cleounsee Fisher. All three are charged with murder.
Neighbors in Lane’s apartment complex told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes that they remember seeing the car in the complex.
“We saw the mustang one day. We saw the mustang, it was facing the apartments. The next day it was facing away from the apartments and then Friday, it was gone,” the neighbor said.
Victor’s car was found last week in Bibb County.
Henry County police said they are still investigating the incident. No further information about Fisher’s and Preckwinkle’s involvement was released.
The two bodies were found about a half-mile from Lane’s apartment.
Police did not say in what state the remains were found. The GBI is assisting and was expected to make a positive identification of the victims.
Police told Channel 2′s Mark Winne they aren’t ruling out a possible serial killer.
“So far you’ve got human remains of at least two victims, right?” Winne asked. “That’s correct,” said Henry County police Captain Randy Lee. “We are investigating leads that we have of additional potential victims that may be out there.”
“Are you talking then, about a potential serial killer?” Winne asked.
“We’re not ruling anything out. We’re taking this investigation where it leads us,” Lee said.
Neighbors who live in Lane’s apartment building told Fernandes they were shocked to find out he was involved in the situation.
“They all looked like they were doing good. So you know, for them all to be accused of something like this is like shocking,” one neighbor said, not identifying herself.
Another neighbor said she wasn’t shocked.
“Whenever I walk or take my trash out, it always felt like someone was watching me. And he would always be that person that was watching me and staring at me, like he definitely wanted to do something to me,” the neighbor said.
Fernandes learned Wednesday that Lane was also a registered sex offender.
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