Police Find Similarities In Cases Of 3 Slain Women -- Bodies Found Near North Bend Raise Specter Of Serial Killer

For the first time, King County police are acknowledging that the cases of three women whose bodies have been found near North Bend over the past two years have certain similarities, raising the possibility a serial killer is at work.

Yesterday authorities also identified a body found Saturday as that of a 19-year-old California woman who had recently moved to Des Moines, where she had been arrested on a prostitution charge.

In addition, police are saying the remains of two of four women found near Enumclaw appear to be linked, although there's no evidence those remains are linked to the ones found near North Bend.

"We don't believe the two sets are cross-linked . . . but it's too early to rule anything out," said Rick Chubb, spokesman for the King County police.

The latest victim was Nicole Michelle French, 19, of Sacramento. Her half-clad body was found by a hunter Saturday off Middle Fork Road about 10 miles northeast of North Bend.

According to the King County medical examiner's office, she had been strangled and her death is classified as a homicide. French, who was of average height and weighed 190 pounds, had recently moved to the South King County area.

She was arrested for prostitution by King County police on Oct. 14 and contacted but not arrested on Oct. 28, police say.

She was last known to be alive at about 11:30 p.m. Friday, when she made a phone call from the corner of Southheast 216th Street and

Pacfic Highway South, near the Sea-Tac strip, said King County police Capt. Michael Nault.

Nault said French's pimp has been interviewed by police, but is not a suspect.

"He has been helpful in providing us information," Nault said.

Although one of the North Bend cases involves unidentified skeletal remains, French's case most resembles that of Sarah Habakangas, 17, of Virginia. Her partly clad body was discovered Nov. 7, 1991, by a Weyerhaeuser contractor walking along a logging road near North Bend.

The similarities:

-- French and Habakangas were found strangled in the same general area.

-- Both were in their teens.

-- Both were heavy-set.

-- Both were arrested for prosti-tution a short time before they were killed.

-- Both, new to the area, frequented the strip near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

-- Both had been dead only a few days when found.

Two months before Habakangas' body was found, on Sept. 6, 1991, unidentified skeletal remains, believed to be of a woman, were found along the Snoqualmie River near Fall City.

Nault said today that police are not linking that case with the other bodies found near North Bend.

Another set of unidentified remains was found July 6, 1991, off I-90 near North Bend. They were of a white woman, 14 to 22 years old, 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 8 inches tall, who weighed more than 170 pounds and was believed to have died that May or June.

CLUSTERING OF BODIES

Police say they have not overlooked what could be a "clustering of bodies" by a serial killer.

The clustering of bodies was a signature of the Green River killer, believed responsible for the deaths of 49 young women between the summer of 1982 and early 1984.

Although there are similarities, authorities believe there is no link between the recent deaths and the Green River killings.

There have been more than 40 unsolved murders of women in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties since 1984, when police say the Green River killer stopped his string of slayings in the area.

At least three of the Green River killer's victims were left in woods near North Bend.

Nault said there is also a link between two of four bodies found off Highway 410 near Enumclaw.

The two are:

-- Anna Lee Chebetnoy, 14, of Puyallup, found Sept. 17, 1991, off Highway 410 east of Enumclaw. She was last seen in Puyallup and her remains were found near where a Sumner teenager's remains were discovered in 1990.

-- Kimberly DeLange, 15, of Sumner, found Aug. 20, 1988, east of Enumclaw off Highway 410, This was where Chebetnoy was found this September. DeLange was last seen at a Puyallup shopping center.

The other two bodies found off Highway 410 are:

-- The remains of a woman found Sept. 11, 1991, 10 miles east of Enumclaw near Highway 410. The remains were of a woman with predominantly African-American characteristics. She stood 4 feet 11 inches to 5 feet 2, was 17 to 24 years old, and had been dead at least two years.

-- Marta Reeves, 37, of Bothell. She was found Sept. 20, 1990, eight miles east of Enumclaw off Highway 410. Reeves was believed to have disappeared from Seattle, where she had been arrested twice for prostitution.

Perhaps the most disturbing sign a serial killer is at work, particularly in King County, is that none of the 40-some slayings - including a handful dating to 1986, 1987 and 1988 - have been solved as the body count continues to go up. That was the case with the Green River murders.

SUSPECT HELD

Police also said today they have a suspect in the killing of several women whose bodies have been found along I-90 in the past few years, but do not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Police say the suspect, who has been in custody on several unrelated charges for some time, is not responsible for the bodies found near North Bend.

In a news briefing this morning, Nault said the victims linked to the suspect in custody are:

-- Rhonda Hanke, 22, of Portland, found shot in the head alongside I-90 five miles west of Snoqualmie Pass on Dec. 27, 1989.

-- Diana Hopkinson, abducted from Seattle. Her dismbembered body was found along I-90 on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass. March 14, 1990.

-- A third victim whom Nault would not identify.

Nault said all the victims had some link to prostitution, and suggested that their deaths may have been related to the prostitution business.

-- Times staff reporter Tomas Guillen contributed to this report.