EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) - Authorities on Tuesday identified a second of three female victims whose bodies were found last week wrapped in trash bags, saying the description of her tattoos helped them figure out who she is.
The body of Shetisha Sheeley, 28, of Cleveland, was found in a field on Saturday, said East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton.
The identification was made through fingerprints and information from the tattoos, which "permitted the comparison" that led to her identification, said Thomas Gilson, Cuyahoga County's medical examiner.
Gilson said his office is actively working to identify the third victim and he hoped to release information on how the women died within a few days.
The victim's mother, Kim Sheeley, asked for prayers and told WEWS-TV that her daughter's death "has been really, really" hard on her.
Shetisha Sheeley was arrested June 30, 2012, on a charge of firing a weapon from a vehicle but the case was dismissed three months later. Her court-appointed attorney, Michael Nelson, said there were no witnesses who saw her firing the weapon.
Nelson told The Associated Press that Sheeley came from a troubled family background and never got help posting her $1,000 bond, keeping her locked up while the case moved through the courts.
"She lived on the edge," said Nelson, who recalled her as unemployed, living in an apartment alone and vulnerable as she struggled to make a life.
"The streets are just mean," he said. "She was a vulnerable person, and with that it probably multiplied her risk."
Police on Monday identified the first known victim as Angela Deskins, 38, of Cleveland, whose body was also found on Saturday. Norton said in brief remarks that he realized on hearing her name that he knew her family and went to school with some of her relatives.
The Deskins' family supported Angela and provided a place for her to live, the mayor said.
"She always had a place to rest her head, they always assured that she had money to live with," Norton said. "And just when she trusted herself - she was a very trusting person - entrusted herself to someone who had the worst of intentions, then and only then did this fate befall her."
Michael Madison, 35, is in custody facing preliminary charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping in the slayings. He is a registered sex offender who served four years in prison beginning in 2002 for attempted rape and attempted possession of drugs.