By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Pictured are murder victims Jazmine Trotter, Christine Malone, and Ashley Leszyeski. Their assailants are still at large, Cleveland police said.

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Community activists and victims family members will hold The First Anniversary of the E. 93rd Street Cleveland Rape and Murders and Stop Violence Against Women Rally at 5 pm on Thursday, March 27, 2014 at the intersection of E. 93rd St and Bessemer Ave on Cleveland's east side. (From Cleveland at 55th St. take Kinsman Ave to E. 93rd St, make a right and go about a mile  and a half to Bessemer Ave). For more information contact the Imperial Women  Activists Group at 216-659-0473. (Editor's Note: Cleveland Councilpersons Mamie Mitchell and Zack Reed and State Representatives John Barnes Jr. (D-12) and Bill Patmon (D-10) are among rally speakers)

Jazmine Trotter, 20, and Christine Malone, 45, both Black and both victims of rape and murder, were found in separate vacant lots less than a mile from each other near East 93rd St. and Bessemer Ave on Cleveland's majority Black east side, and police found the murdered body of 21-year-old Ashley Leszyeski, who is White,  in an open field near East 93rd St and Anderson Ave. less than a mile from where Trotter and Malone were found.

This week marks the first anniversary of the onset of their murders. Malone's body was found on May 28, 2013.

The  assailants of the murdered women are still on the loose with no major leads, police said. And since their murders more greater Cleveland women have been raped and found dead in large numbers and there is an increase in rapes and murders in Cleveland this year, data show.

The Malone family is a key organizer of the rally and her daughter, Angelique Malone, is a key speaker along with community activists, other victims family members and Black elected officials,

Local area community activists, including the Imperial Women Activists Group, want a missing persons center and more resources from the city and county coffers to help deal with what they say is an epidemic of violence against women, including rape and murder, which disproportionately impacts poor Black women, data show.

Other grassroots groups associated with the rally also include Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, the Carl Stokes Brigade, Sister to Sister and People for the Imperial Act. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)