Authorities are not sure if a serial killer is at work in Chillicothe, Ohio, but the disappearance and deaths of five women in this small community within 13 months is highly unusual.

All of the women have backgrounds which include substance abuse and prostitution and the three bodies that have been found were in or near bodies of water. The similarities in the cases have law enforcement concerned.

"I don't want to come out and say 'yes, we have a serial killer,' but it's a small community that we live in ... and the number of females who have come up missing, and then the bodies that we've found, that's quite a bit for our community," Staff Lt. Mike Preston of the Ross County Sheriff's Department told reporters.

Chillicothe is a small community of about 22,000 about 50 miles south of Columbus. For five women to disappear from one small town within a 13-month period would be very unusual. Authorities may be uncertain, but the citizens of Chillicothe are very concerned that a serial killer is on the loose.

The five women who disappeared in the 13-month period doesn't count a 38-year-old mother of five who was found shot to death in May. A suspect has been taken into custody in that case and for now police believe it is unrelated.

Five Dead or Missing Women

The first person to be reported missing was 27-year-old Charlotte Trego, a mother of two, who was reported missing by her mother in May 2014.

Trego is a heroin addict, according to family members. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to her return.

Five days after Trego was reported missing, a kayaker discovered the body of Tameka Lynch on a sandbar in Paint Creek. Lynch is a 30-year-old mother of three. An autopsy determined that she died of an overdose of cocaine, amphetamines and alcohol.

Lynch's mother told media outlets that her daughter's death was labeled suspicious because she was already dead before her body was put in the water.

Sex Trafficking Victim?

Six months after Lynch was found, 37-year-old Wanda Lemons disappeared. The mother of five may have gone to Texas with a truck driver, according to a friend, but she has not yet been located and her disappearance is considered suspicious.

"I think her disappearance might be related to sex trafficking, but if it were drugs I don't think it would be related," her daughter, Megan Hodges, told reporters.

A month after Lemons vanished, 20-year-old Shasta Himelrick disappeared in the early morning hours the day after Christmas Day. A surveillance video shows her entering a Chillicothe gas station at that time.

However, a few hours after that video was recorded, police found her car abandoned with its gas tank empty, the battery dead and the doors open. Eight days later her body was found in the Scioto River.

Suicide or Homicide?

The medical examiner ruled her death was a suicide by drowning, but friends of Himelrick said she was excited about turning her life around after recently finding out that she was pregnant.

"She was doing so well," Sarah Parker told reporters. "I hadn't been close with her for the last four months, but she texted me Dec. 16 or 17 and said she wanted to let me know she was eating for two. She was thrilled. I could see she was changing because she wanted to bring life into this world."

Four months after Himelrick's body was found, a fifth woman disappeared. Tiffany Sayre, 26, was reported missing after she vanished while walking home May 11 from a friend's house.

Her body was found more than a month later on June 25 in a Highland County creek bed not far from where Lynch's body was located, police said.

An exact cause of death has not been determined for Sayre, but her death has been ruled a homicide. Her body was reportedly found wrapped in a sheet and duct taped.

Is Shooting Case Related?

On May 29, 2015, 38-year-old Timberly Claytor was found shot three times in the head outside an abandoned building. Claytor, a mother of five and a heroin addict, was found outside a building in nearby Massieville.

Police immediately identified a person of interest in Claytor's shooting. Jason McCrary, 36, a registered sex offender, was arrested and held for failure to update his address. He was later named the prime suspect in Claytor's death.

Police are not saying if they suspect McCrary in the deaths and disappearances of the other five women, but family members have told the media that McCrary knew two of the other victims, Trego and Sayre.

Media reports said McCrary, who recently served four months on attempted burglary charges, was out of jail when all of the women, but Lemons, vanished. However, the exact date Lemons went missing has not been established. She was reported missing three days after McCrary was released from jail.

Officially, authorities are saying they do not believe the Claytor shooting is related to the other five cases.