In the spring of 2000, the city of Detroit was gripped by a series of gruesome discoveries that would uncover the deadly path of a serial killer. On April 10, the body of 32-year-old Rose Marie Felt, a female, was found in a desolate railroad yard in the southwest part of the city. She was not alone. Alongside her lay the bodies of two other women, Robbin Brown and Kelly Jean Hood.
All three victims had been strangled and their bodies arranged in sexually provocative positions.
The investigation into these murders quickly led authorities to John Eric Armstrong, a former Navy sailor who had recently moved to the Detroit area. His name had already surfaced in connection with the death of another woman, Wendy Jordan, whose body he claimed to have found in the Rouge River in January of that year. As the investigation progressed, DNA evidence found at the railroad yard scene definitively linked Armstrong to the murders of Felt, Brown, and Hood. His arrest on April 12, 2000, brought an end to his killing spree.
Following his arrest, Armstrong confessed to the murders, admitting to killing the three women found in the railroad yard and others. His motive appeared to be a deep-seated hatred for prostitutes, the demographic he primarily targeted. In March 2001, John Eric Armstrong was convicted of the first-degree murder of Wendy Jordan and sentenced to life in prison. He later pleaded guilty to the murders of Rose Marie Felt, Robbin Brown, and Monica Johnson. Armstrong's confessions also included claims of numerous other killings across the globe during his time in the Navy, though the full extent of his crimes remains a subject of investigation.
