‘Total systemic breakdown’: Missteps over years allowed Detroit serial killer to roam free

The serial killer lured women one by one into vacant homes to be murdered, posing their nude or partially clothed corpses amid cheap booze pints, crumbling sheetrock and hypodermic needles. The slayings set Detroit on edge, prompting authorities to dispatch crews on overtime to scour the city’s decrepit stock of abandoned properties for more bodies. Over 15 years, Detroit police failed to follow up on leads or take investigative steps that may have averted the eventual killing spree, despite having received repeated warnings that Martin was a violent predator, an Associated Press investigation has found.