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Cops awaiting tests to see if woman was Kensington Strangler victim

Police are awaiting autopsy results before deciding whether a young woman whose body was found Friday in a Kensington rowhouse was the fourth victim of the serial killer known as the Kensington Strangler.

Police are awaiting autopsy results before deciding whether a young woman whose body was found Friday in a Kensington rowhouse was the fourth victim of the serial killer known as the Kensington Strangler.

The body was discovered on C Street above Somerset, near Kensington Avenue, only a few blocks from where the Strangler's first known victim was found.

Asked by the Daily News yesterday whether the serial killer who has been terrorizing Kensington for weeks is a suspect, Officer Tanya Little, police spokeswoman, said detectives are awaiting completion of toxicology and other tests by the Medical Examiner's Office before ruling this case a homicide.

The victim was a 25-year-old white woman. Linked by DNA evidence, the Kensington Strangler's three known victims - Elaine Goldberg, Nicole Piacentini and Casey Mahoney - were all white women with drug problems, their sexually assaulted bodies found partially nude in Kensington lots.

Despite a $37,000 reward and a massive police investigation - 120 johns and prostitutes have been arrested since Nov. 19, and 154 swabs have been taken from Kensington-corridor denizens - the Strangler is still on the loose.

The victim, who was a "Jane Doe" when she was pronounced dead at 2:38 p.m. Christmas Eve after being found in a rowhouse bedroom, has been identified. Police are withholding identification pending family notification and an official determination of the cause of death.