Horace Van Vaultz was charged last November with the rapes and murders of 22-year-old Mary Duggan in 1986 and 20-year-old Selena Kough in 1981.
The Burbank Police Department provided InsideEdition.com with photos of unidentified women they said were found at the home of accused killer Horace Van Vaultz Jr. For more information on the case and to learn what you can do, read below. Scroll to the bottom of the article to see each photo.
Following last week's release of nearly two dozen photographs of unknown women found in the home of alleged killer Horace Van Vaultz, two of those pictured were identified over the weekend as "alive and well," police in Burbank, Calif., said. Detectives continue seeking the public's help in identifying the rest of them.
One of the women told police she recognized herself and another woman among 21 photos published online by several media outlets, including by InsideEdition.com, Detective Aaron Kay said. The images of the two women, who appear to be in their 20s or 30s, have since been removed from the original article.
Kay said he could not release the women's names due to the pending criminal trial. It is not known how their photos ended up in Van Vaultz's possession.
Van Vaultz was charged last November with raping and murdering 22-year-old Mary Duggan in 1986 and 20-year-old Selena Kough in 1981. Police said they found a cache of photographs in his home while executing a search warrant.
Kay said he hopes releasing the photos to the public will help police discover new leads and identify any new witnesses in the case. He added that Van Vaultz knew a lot of people around the time and was hesitant to label the women in the photographs as victims.
The murder cases had gone cold for decades until they were cracked using the burgeoning technique of uploading unknown crime scene DNA to a commercial geneaology service, according to police. They were then able to identify "distant relatives" of the alleged killer and ultimately narrowed down their search to Van Vaultz. Detectives said they obtained his DNA from a trash sample and it was found to be an exact match to the crime scene profile.
Van Vaultz has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His defense attorney Damon Hobdy told InsideEdition.com that his client maintains his innocence and is prepared to fight the charges in court. He did not comment on the photos being found.
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