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Did This Man Murder Women With Matching Initials?

Photographer Joseph Naso suspected in string of cold-case deaths

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 13, 2011 3:43 AM CDT

(Newser) – Investigators probing a Nevada man suspected of having murdered four women in California between 1977 and 1994 have found a disturbing similarity to the unsolved rape and murder of three young girls in upstate New York in the early '70s. Bizarrely, all seven victims had matching initials for their first and last names. Two victims, one in New York and one in California, even had the same name: Carmen Colon, AP reports. The other California murder victims? Roxene Roggasch, Pamela Parsons, and Tracy Tafoya.

Authorities are investigating whether Joseph Naso, 77, may be connected to other cold cases across the country. Naso's job as a photographer took him all over America, and he traveled to upstate New York around the time of the "Double Initial" murders. Officers arrested Naso earlier this week after a search of his home while he was imprisoned for an unrelated parole violation uncovered large amounts of evidence linking him to the California murders.

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This undated booking photo released by the Washoe County Sheriff's office shows Joseph Naso. (AP Photo/Washoe County Sheriff's office)

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We think there are others out there we haven't discovered yet. Typically when you are talking about a person who has killed more than once, this doesn't stop. - Chris Perry, acting director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety

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Did This Man Murder Women With Matching Initials?

Photographer Joseph Naso suspected in string of cold-case deaths

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