The trial of a man accused of being a serial killer has been set for Oct. 1, 2007, Jackson County court officials said Tuesday.

Terry Blair is charged in the deaths of eight women whose bodies were found in 2004 in Kansas City neighborhoods frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes.

If convicted, Blair will face the death penalty.

He is charged with the strangling deaths of Sheliah McKinzie, 38; Patricia Wilson Butler, 45; Darci I. Williams, 25; Anna Ewing, 42; Carmen Hunt, 40; Claudette Juniel, 31; Nellia Harris, 33; and Sandra Reed, 47.

At the time of his arrest, Blair was on parole after serving 21 years for the 1982 murder of Angela Monroe, his pregnant ex-girlfriend and the mother of two of his children.