PHILADELPHIA — A woman whose body was found in a vacant lot had been strangled and sexually assaulted and may be the third victim of a serial strangler, police said Thursday.

Police Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn announced the results of an autopsy on the 27-year-old woman at a news conference Thursday. It appears the killing may be connected to the person responsible for two earlier murders in the city’s Kensington section, Blackburn said. The woman, whose name wasn’t released, was found dead in a wooded area near a set of train tracks.

The body was found blocks from where the two earlier victims, Elaine Goldberg, 21, and Nicole Piacentini, 35, were discovered last month. DNA evidence has determined that those two killings are linked.