Selling sex gets deadly

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- The streets of this gambling capital have become more dangerous for prostitutes -- with a serial killer on the loose and several streetwalkers having been strangled, smothered, slashed and set ablaze.

So far this year, six prostitutes are thought to have been killed in or near Atlantic City, a seventh survived after her throat was slashed. Countless others may have been assaulted but chose not to report the crimes to police.

A serial killer is feared as likely in the deaths of four women, ranging from 20 to 42, whose bodies were found facedown in a ditch last month behind a string of seedy motels just outside the city.

"It's dangerous, but all you're focused on is that next dollar," said a prostitute known on the streets as Spazz, who is looking for a gun or a knife to protect herself. "It kind of clouds your judgment. You're not focused on the situation you're getting into. That's the scariest part about it."

Authorities do not think the four bodies found Nov. 20 just