A Chicago security guard, Andrew admitted to killing three women from Illinois and Indiana, and five others in Southern California. Urdiales, 32, was charged with the murder of two prostitutes whose nude bodies were found floating in Chicago's Wolf Lake. Also, the Livingston County Sheriff's Department said it was preparing charges against Urdiales in the death of a Hammond, Indiana prostitute whose body was found in the Vermilion River near Pontiac, about 90 miles southwest of Chicago.
Urdiales, who worked as a security guard -- one of the more coveted job in the serial killing community -- at a downtown Chicago Eddie Baurer store, allegedly frequented the Chicago suburb of Hammond, Indiana, a known gathering spot for local prostitutes. Once his victims got into his car, he would bound their hands and feet with duct tape and take them to an isolate spot where he would rape and kill them. Both victims discovered in Wolf Lake were stabbed repeatedly and shot in the mouth. "He is the killer," said Chicago Police Commander Nathan Gibson. "He would kill them after having sex with them."
In 1996 Urdiales came to the attention of Chicago authorities when he was arrested on a weapons violation involving a .38-caliber gun. He was subsequently released, but when he was arrested again on April 23, 1997, police linked him to two of the killings through his .38-caliber gun. He was arrested after coaxing a prostitute into his car in Hammond, Indiana, and trying to handcuff her. The panicked woman scuffled with him and screamed for help and a nearby police officer came to her help.
A former Marine, Urdiales was stationed in California at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms from 1984 to 1991. While serving the country authorities believe he killed at least five women and probably more. Palm Springs police found a gun and knife in a storage locker registered to Urdiales' name which they are checking for links to other killings.
Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates said the California cases include the 1986 assault of Robbin Brandley, a 23-year-old student who was stabbed to death in dimly lit parking lot at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo. Law enforcement in Palm Springs that confirmed the former radio operator admitted to killing three women in and around their desert community. He is considered the prime suspect in the 1989 killing of Tammy Lynn Erwin, a 18-year-old transient whose bullet-riddled body was found in a vacant lot, and the March, 1995 killing of 32 year-old Denise Maney. His fifth Californian murder is another woman in San Diego.
Many of his acquaintances said Urdiales used to be a normal man but when he came back from the Marines, "he was different." Gary Zabala, an old friend said, "I think the Marines changed his life." During the police interviews in Chicago, veteran investigators were shocked by how calmly and unemotionally Urdiales described his decade-long rampage. "This is the worst interview I've ever had," said Palm Springs Police Detective John Booth. "He just sat there and said things like, 'Then I blew her head off' like it was no big deal."