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Man charged with fatally running down 2 women and driving over 3rd pregnant victim

Updated  May 15, 2020 12:15am EDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 2 Detroit

FOX 2 - Lawrence Paul Mills is charged with murdering two women and trying to kill a third, who was pregnant in SW Detroit.

Investigators say Mills has a distinct pattern. He targeted suspected female prostitutes, and possibly solicited them for sex - then allegedly ran them over with his vehicle. 

Man suspected of targeting and running down women in SW Detroit

Lawrence Paul Mills is charged for with murdering two women and trying to kill a third, who was pregnant.

Sources tell FOX 2 he's being looked at in connection to at least two other hit and runs - one of them deadly. 

In court during his arraignment last week, Mills pleaded not guilty but the judge says Mills confessed to two homicides he's charged for. 

"Stating further that she allegedly flew into the air and landed on the sidewalk and that you left the location," the judge said. 

The intentional hit and runs happened in southwest Detroit in a cluster - the first taking the life of Melinda Salazar.

The 34-year-old was found dead on the sidewalk around 3 a.m. in October 2017. Weeks later, 59-year-old Carrole Ann White, was left for dead near Anthon and Campbell. 

Her family spoke with FOX 2 after it happened.

"They just didn't hurt they hurt her, they hurt her whole family because we are so devastated by this," said Rose Graves, her daughter.

After Carrole Ann White was killed, days later Mills allegedly struck again a block away. He is accused of beating up a pregnant woman, then running her over multiple times. She was able to get away and call police.

Mills' Facebook page shows him as a doting father to a 9-year-old boy. He calls himself a "good guy." He posted a smiling photo a day after he allegedly hit and killed Melinda Salazar. 

Detroit police are eyeing him for two other intentional hit and runs. 

The first in March of 2017 off Michigan Avenue near Western, the female victim survived. The next, happened a mile away in June of 2018 - sadly, the 32-year-old woman was hit, killed, and left there. 

Mills is behind bars with no bond. He apparently worked at a pizza place in Allen Park. FOX 2 talked to a manager there. They said he came to work every day on time, was reliable - no one had any idea he had this kind of past.