Lucky Ward: HPD Says He Was a Serial Killer

Houston police are saying a man they have charged with one murder is linked to four others, all strangulations.

Lucky Ward, 46, had been charged with murdering a homeless woman near the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in September; today he was charged with the murder of Carlos Rodriguez in September.

Two of the five victims tied to Ward are what HPD labels “transgendered individual[s].”

DNA evidence has linked Ward to all five crimes, HPD says.

One of the deaths occurred in January 2010; another in June of that year. The last three came quickly: two in September and the last in October.

Ward was arrested in November.

Here’s HPD’s list of the victims:

— [Ruben] Ical, 51, a transgendered individual, was found partially clothed in a field at 4300 Garrott about 2 p.m. on January 10, 2010.

— [Raquel] Mundy, 24, was found in a field at 300 St. Charles about 4 p.m. on June 18, 2010. She was last seen getting into a vehicle with a male outside the downtown Greyhound bus station.

— [Carlos] Rodriguez, a transgendered individual, was found inside his residence at 207 Frawley about 8 a.m. on September 13, 2010.

— [Reita] Long was found near a stairwell of a building at 1700 San Jacinto about 6:20 a.m. on September 30, 2010. DNA evidence developed Ward as a suspect in the case and he (Ward) confessed to his role and was charged in Long’s murder.

— [Carol] Flood, 62, was also found lying near a stairwell of a building, at 1600 Louisiana about 5:10 p.m. on October 10, 2010.