HOUMA, La.-Houma police, worried that the deaths of five men in the last 2 1/2 years may be the work of a serial killer, have asked the FBI for help in their investigation, a spokesman said Tuesday.”The FBI’s been called in to assist us with this and with using computer databases and profiling capabilities,” Lt. Todd Duplantis of the police department said in a telephone interview.

The victims were all from Houma and were found in or around the Houma area.

The first of the five was found in October 2002, the last a little over two weeks ago.

Duplantis said all five had records of involvement with illegal drugs or prostitutes or both. And they may have been vulnerable because of the places they frequented and their method of travel.

“They frequented high crime areas-often on foot or bikes-at night,” Duplantis said.

Police chief Pat Boudreaux announced last Friday that they believe the deaths may be linked to a serial killer.

The victims include Anoka Jones, whose body was found in October 2002 under a highway overpass in the St. Charles Parish town of Boutte.

Datrell Woods, 18, was found in May 2003 in an east-Houma sugar cane field next to the bicycle he relied on for transportation.

Michael Barnett was found 17 months later, inside a mini-storage unit that was less than a mile away from the spot where Woods’ body was found.

Two bodies have been found so far this year: The remains of Leon Lirette were found on the Houma air base in February; August Watkins III’s body was discovered in a Lafourche Parish ditch two weeks ago.

Duplantis said four of the victims died of asphyxiation and were most likely strangled.

The cause of death of the most recent victim had not been released Tuesday.

Other deaths in other jurisdictions may also be linked to the five, Duplantis said, but he would give no details.

If the Houma men’s deaths are linked to the same suspect, it would be the fourth serial killings case involving south Louisiana in recent years.

The best known case was that of Derrick Todd Lee. DNA evidence linked Lee to the murders of seven south Louisiana women between April 1998 and March 2003.

Lee has been convicted in two of the killings and sentenced to death for one of them.

Sean Vincent Gillis of Baton Rouge, arrested last April and awaiting an October trial for one murder, has been charged or named as a suspect in the deaths of six women dating back to 1994.

Jeremy Bryan Jones, 32, of Miami, Okla., is being held on a capital murder charge that occurred in Alabama. He has been named as a suspect in at least three other murder cases, including the slaying of a 47-year-old New Orleans prostitute, Katherine Collins, and two killings in Georgia.