DETROIT – Police said a hairbrush could be the piece of evidence that links a Detroit serial killer investigation with the disappearance of a woman.
Deborah Reynolds has been missing for months since she was last seen with Deangelo Martin, a suspect in the serial killer case, police said.
The two were caught on video in August. Police said Reynolds and Martin were drunk, so officers drove them across Eight Mile Road and dropped them off at a gas station at State Fair and Woodward avenues in Detroit.
Residents in the area told police Martin was living at a nearby abandoned home near the intersection of Annin Street and Woodward Avenue.
On Dec. 22, 2018, police found human remains wrapped in a sheet under a couch inside the abandoned home. The remains haven't been identified.
Reynolds' family said Detroit police officials went to their home and got a hairbrush belonging to Reynolds that had her hair on it. The brush is now being tested for DNA, family members said.
They want to know if Reynolds was the person found dead at the abandoned home.
Just blocks away, closer to Seven Mile Road, the body of Yvonne Cobern was found wrapped up in a carpet.
Cobern's sister, Angela Colon, wants to know if the murder is related to the serial killer case.
"This is killing us," Colon said. "I think he did it. Yes, I do."
Click here to visit the GoFundMe page for Cobern's family.
Martin has been charged with sexually assaulting and stabbing a woman in a separate case.
Martin was arrested around 7:30 p.m. Friday in the area of Seven Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue as a person of interest in the serial killer case. Detroit police Chief James Craig said Martin is a homeless man known to frequent the area where the bodies of three women -- Nancy Harrison, Travesene Ellis and Tamara M. Jones -- were found.
Jones' body was found last week in the same house where the alleged sexual assault and stabbing occurred on Mack Avenue near Mt. Elliott Street. A woman was also attacked in the house days before, police said.
Harrison was found March 19 on Coventry Street, police said. Ellis was found May 24 on Linnhurst Street, police said.