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Missing Woman Found Fatally Stabbed In Detroit Alley After 'Backpage' Date

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A young woman found fatally stabbed in Detroit has been identified as Cynthia Worthy — who disappeared after arranging a date with a man she'd met online.

The Detroit News reports the Wayne County medical examiner's office identified the body, found Monday on the city's west side, as that of the 23-year-old missing woman.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Cassandra Lewis said officers responded Monday night after the body was discovered in an alley off the Davison near Dexter.

cynthia missing
(credit: Detroit police)

Investigators on Monday had sought help finding Worthy who was last seen at her home in the 3200 block of Cortland in Detroit Friday afternoon.

Detroit police said Worthy had told her sister that she was supposed to meet up with a man whom she'd met on a "social media escorting website" for a date at 5 p.m. that day. She wasn't seen or heard from after that.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig later confirmed that that website was Backpage.com, which carries personal ads for people looking for sex — often for pay.

Craig said they'll be looking at the site as part of their homicide investigation.

"I will say that that is an investigative strategy that we use, in terms of using that as a source of information," he said, as a news conference. "Certainly, if people are advertising and committing the crime of prostitution we will investigate; and we have methodologies that we use, strategies if you will, to investigate and identify perpetrators."

There have been no arrests and police are looking for tips in the case.

Craig won't say whether police have a name for the man Worthy met or whether they have interviewed him.

"We are looking at a number of contacts — not just that one, but others as well," the chief said. "Can't go into...we're still very early, but we are working through part of the investigation."

Worthy's father told TV reporters his daughter wanted to give up escort work, and had recently enrolled in college.

This isn't the first time Backpage.com has been linked to a murder case. In April, 2014, a Sterling Heights man was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted in the deaths of four young women whom he met on the website. Their bodies were all found in car trunks in Detroit.

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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