With a wave of new tips reported in the continuing homicide investigations of Joel Marino and Brittany Zimmermann, detectives for each case are working together to find the killers, police said Friday. 

Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department, said about 200 tips have come into Crime Stoppers regarding the Zimmermann case, a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin junior found dead in her 517 W. Doty St. apartment April 2. 

In addition to the 70 tips received prior to the Zimmermann investigation, about 25 new tips have come in regarding Marino’s homicide. Marino, 31, was stabbed in his 714 W. Shore Drive home — one mile from Zimmermann’s home — on Jan. 28 and found dead in a nearby alley. 

“People working the Zimmermann case are coming across information that may be important to the Marino case,” DeSpain said. 

DeSpain said the two investigations are separate as they fall into different police districts — Zimmermann in the central district and Marino in the south district — but as they lived so close to each other, police are covering the same parts of the city. 

“[Detectives] are basically working in the same area of the city and talking to people who were in and around the area,” he added.

According to a police report, some similarities exist between the Zimmermann and Marino case, though police have not determined if the cases are connected.

Both residents were killed during the day inside their homes, and investigators have no information from either victim’s background that would make them targets of violence. 

DeSpain said posters seeking information from the Zimmermann case will be posted around the city soon. 

“[Posting posters] is an avenue we frequently go to in the early stages of investigations to make sure we’ve tapped enough people in the area,” DeSpain said.