In the autumn and winter of 2017, a series of brutal slayings haunted the streets of southwest Detroit, leaving a community in fear and investigators searching for a predator. The life of a 33-year-old Caucasian woman, Jennifer Paul, would be remembered in connection with these tragic events, though the public record of her death remains shrouded in some ambiguity when compared to the established timeline of a convicted killer. While one online source lists her as being killed on September 8, 2017, the details surrounding the man charged in connection with her case align directly with a man responsible for other similar, horrific crimes in the city around the same time.
The man in question was Lawrence Paul Mills III, a 32-year-old from Garden City, Michigan. His method was chillingly consistent: he targeted vulnerable women, solicited them for sex, and then, in a final act of violence, would use his vehicle as a weapon to run them over, often to retrieve the money he had paid them. This brutal pattern of violence escalated in the closing months of 2017, creating a palpable sense of dread in the neighborhoods he frequented.
One of his confirmed victims was Melinda Salazar, a 34-year-old pregnant woman whose body was discovered on a sidewalk in southwest Detroit on October 16, 2017. Less than two months later, on December 13, the body of 59-year-old Carrole Ann White was found in the snow on a street in the same area. Both women had been run down by a vehicle, their lives extinguished in a shockingly violent manner. The investigation into these homicides would eventually lead police to Lawrence Paul Mills III.
It took several years of dedicated police work, but investigators were finally able to connect Mills to the string of brutal attacks. A major breakthrough in the case came when a 29-year-old pregnant woman survived a similar assault. After being beaten and struck multiple times by his car, she managed to escape and contact the authorities, providing crucial information that aided in his capture. Mills was arrested on April 24, 2020.
Following his arrest, Mills faced justice for his heinous crimes. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Melinda Salazar and Carrole Ann White, as well as assault causing a miscarriage, stillbirth, or death for the attack on the woman who survived. In a move that brought some measure of closure to the victims' families, he was found guilty. On November 17, 2021, Lawrence Paul Mills III was sentenced to 28 to 48 years in prison, ensuring that the man who had terrorized the streets of Detroit would no longer be a threat to the community. While the name Jennifer Paul is linked to this case through a crime-solving website, the confirmed victims of this convicted killer are Melinda Salazar and Carrole Ann White, whose tragic deaths brought to light the predatory actions of a serial assailant.
