BALTIMORE — The deaths of two nonprofit counselors for young adults in Prince William County have been connected to a participant of the program.
The man, 19-year-old Ronald Dorsey Jr., lived in an apartment not far from both murder scenes and knew both victims.
Erica Hickson, 37, was a counselor who supervised young adults housed in a complex in Lake Ridge. She was reported missing Thursday and an overnight search did not find anything.
Hickson’s body was found on Friday in a wooded area off Golf Side Circle near the Lake Ridge Park Golf Course.
It comes just months after a colleague at the same program, 36-year-old Lizeth Lopez, went missing and was found dead.
Lopez was reported missing to Alexandria police in mid-April.
Her body was found 10 days later by Prince William County police in a drainage ditch near Cotton Mill Drive and Griffith Avenue, a few hundred feet away from where Hickson would later be found.
Hickson and Lopez both worked for YouthQuest Independent Living, a program for 17- to 21-year-olds to live in a less restrictive environment while receiving support.
After finding Hickson, detectives soon identified Dorsey as their suspect. He lives on the street where Hickson’s body was found.
Dorsey was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. He is being held without bond.
Hickson’s death is the 16th homicide in Prince William County so far this year. That matches the highest number of violent deaths seen in a whole year for the county since 2006.
There were nine homicides committed in Prince William County in 2015.
