Police believe the man accused of killing two mothers and daughters in the Largo area in 2009 is a "serial killer" who may also be responsible for the 2008 slaying of a Bowie woman and additional killings in other states.

Poised next to 14 large, jam-packed binders Tuesday at Prince George's police headquarters, Chief Roberto Hylton said there is "overwhelming evidence" against the alleged killer, calling him a "devious individual" who lived in the same neighborhood as the Largo-area victims.

Hylton said charges are pending against the man, who he said has been incarcerated for "several months," and said he is hopeful an indictment will be handed down by a grand jury by the end of the month. Hylton declined to say where the suspect is being held and the specific charges the man faces.

"This is not your run-of-the-mill criminal. He studied the police system," Hylton said. "He is one of America's most infamous criminals."

Hylton said he was not prepared to say whether the suspect knew his victims or a possible motive or link behind the killings, but said the suspect studied his victims and was methodical.

"We do believe and know for a fact that we have our man," Hylton said. "This is a major victory. We took this case very personal. I'm very proud."

Hylton declined to speak about evidence in the case but described the suspect as a "smart criminal," "intellectual," "well studied" and "well read," and said a significant amount of planning and research went into the killings.

On Jan. 26, 2009, Karen Lofton, 45, and her 16-year-old daughter, Karissa, were shot dead in their two-story Southall Drive home in Largo. Seven weeks later, on March 16, 2009, Delores Dewitt, 42, and her 19-year-old daughter, Ebony, who lived less than two miles away, were also found dead. Their bodies were discovered in a stolen car set on fire in a Largo driveway near their home.

Police said the suspect in the killings of the Loftons and Dewitts is also suspected in the homicide of Bowie mother Vilma Patrice Artis Butler. Butler, 46, was found dead June 24, 2008, in her upstairs bedroom after a fire at her home in the 15300 block of Jenkins Ridge Road.

A medical examiner determined she died of a gunshot wound to the upper body, and police and fire officials investigated whether the home's sprinkler system had been turned off. Maj. Andy Ellis, a county police spokesman, could not confirm Tuesday the results of the investigation.

Karen Lofton's ex-husband, Kirkland Lofton Sr., said Tuesday he feels relieved but still lacks closure.

"Even though my ex and my daughter are gone, I would hate to see it happen to someone else or my sons," Kirkland Lofton said. "There will never be a punishment good enough."

He remains unconvinced that both the Lofton and Dewitt cases are related.

"Nothing makes me think they're linked. I have nothing to make me believe that," Lofton said.

The couple, who divorced in 2004, also have son Kion Lofton, 23, who lived with his mother but wasn't home the morning of the homicides, and son Kirkland Lofton Jr., 25, who lives in Washington, D.C.

Karen Lofton's niece, Tonya Douglass, said she learned Monday from media reports there was a suspect in custody.

"It just stirs up a lot of emotions. Hopefully they have the correct person," said Douglass, 40. "My heart goes out to the Dewitts, and I hope there is some resolution for them as well as there is for us and that justice can prevail."

A man who answered the phone Monday afternoon at the Hyattsville home of Delores Dewitt's mother, Rosa M. Smith, said the family would not be making a statement.

The police department's confirmation this week that a serial killer is behind the homicides echoes its initial statements within days of the Dewitts' deaths that such a killer may have been responsible for the two double-homicides. Months afterward, police said they hadn't ruled out that possibility, and neighbors said they lived in fear.

Both Karissa Lofton and Ebony Dewitt were teenagers, both homicides were discovered on a Monday morning and both mothers were single and nurses, as was the owner of the burned car. There were no signs of forced entry to the homes.

Butler also had children living at home, ages 21, 19 and 17, respectively, at the time of her death. She worked as a business development manager for an Upper Marlboro company, and was employed by The Gazette's classified advertising department from 2002 to 2004.

Karen Lofton, who also used her maiden name, Karen Sherrill, and Karissa Lofton went to church Jan. 25, 2009, the morning before their deaths, according to family members. The two were planning to go to brunch before Karissa Lofton had to work that evening.

A manager at the Golden Corral restaurant in Largo, where Karissa Lofton worked, said she was at work the afternoon before she was killed but he left before her that night.

Less than five hours after the restaurant closed, a 911 cell phone call from the Loftons' home around 2:45 a.m. Jan. 26, 2009, recorded Karissa Lofton telling a dispatcher she and her mother had been shot.

On Tuesday, Hylton declined to comment on the 911 call. Previously police have said her assailant likely was still in the house because Karissa Lofton spoke softly to the dispatcher.

When police arrived less than five minutes later, they found Karissa shot multiple times in the upper body. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene.

Delores Dewitt was last seen March 14, 2009, attending a Saturday night cabaret in Upper Marlboro, more than 24 hours before she was found dead. She returned to her Cedarhollow Lane home around 1:15 a.m. March 15.

Her eldest daughter, Ebony — who was away for the weekend with friends and not due home until March 16 — would arrive home 15 minutes later.

Ebony's boyfriend told family members he dropped her off in front of the home and waited for her to get in safely before pulling away. Police have not confirmed whether Delores Dewitt was already dead when Ebony returned home.

Delores Dewitt's then-17-year-old daughter, Courtney Hicks, came home after a weekend away with friends around 10 p.m. March 15, 2009, about 21 hours after Ebony Dewitt was last seen alive.

Hicks left the home and returned hours later, at 2 a.m. March 16. She found the lights were still on, as she had left them, and no one home. After finding her mother and sister were still not home, Hicks took her mother's car and went to stay with her grandmother and aunt for the night.

At 3:58 a.m. March 16, a neighbor called 911 to report a car on fire in the driveway of a vacant home for sale in the 11100 block of Webbwood Court, less than two miles from the Dewitts' home.

Meanwhile, at 8 a.m., Hicks and her grandmother, Rosa Smith, alarmed they still had not heard from Delores Dewitt, went to the Dewitt home. Hicks, who had locked herself out in haste earlier that morning, broke a window to get into the house, tripping the alarm and triggering police.

The bodies weren't discovered in the burned car until about 10 a.m., six hours after the car was found on fire and two hours after family members reported the Dewitts missing.

E-mail Liz Skalski eskalski@gazette.net.