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Recent Developments: DNA Analysis
Compiled by the Office of Carolyn B. Maloney
Recent Developments: DNA Analysis
9/22/03: Reynaldo Elias Rapalo has been charged with multiple
counts of sexual battery in connection with the serial assaults of women
in the Miami area earlier this year. DNA evidence has linked him to seven
attacks. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/22/03).
9/17/03: Frank Baylor has been convicted of raping two teenage girls
in Queens in 1991 and 1992. DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. (New
York Post, 9/17/03).
9/12/03: Brett Reed has been charged with the 1985 murder of a
mother and son in Philadelphia. (Philadelphia Daily News, 9/12/03).
9/9/03: Adolph Theodore Laudenberg has been arrested in the rape
and murder of a Los Angeles woman in 1972. (San Francisco Chronicle,
9/9/03).
9/6/03: Demetrius Smalls has been arrested for the 1998 rape of a
13-year-old girl. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (Daily News
(New York), 9/6/03).
8/30/03: Bryan Lee Gelenaw has been charged with the strangulation
of a woman in 1981. Gelenaw is known as "the Bus Stop Rapist." (The
Associated Press, 8/30/03).
8/16/03: Michael L. Gorman has been charged with the rapes and
murders of two women in the late 1980s in Missouri. (The Associated
Press, 8/16/03).
8/13/03: John Davis has been charged with the 1985 rape and murder
of a San Francisco woman. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (San
Francisco Chronicle, 8/13/03).
7/19/03: James Kenneth Elmen, Jr., has been charged with the 1985
rape and murder of a woman in Florida. DNA evidence linked him to the
crime. (The Miami Herald, 7/19/03).
7/15/03: Javier Barriga was sentenced to sixteen years in prison
for raping and beating a woman in 1997. DNA evidence linked him to the
crime. (Daily News (New York), 7/15/03).
7/11/03: William Mims has been charged with at least six rapes in
Chicago. Mims was arrested for a rape in January, and DNA evidence has
linked him to the other rapes. (Chicago Sun-Times, 7/11/03).
7/11/03: Rico L. Glynn has been charged with the rape of a woman in
January 2003. Glynn was in jail on charges of attempted murder when DNA
evidence linked him to the rape. (The Wichita Eagle, 7/11/03).
7/9/03: Raymond Sheehan has been charged with the 1987 rape and
murder of 10-year-old girl. New advances in DNA technology linked him to
the crime. (Philadelphia Daily News, 7/9/03).
6/27/03: Paul Eugene Robinson has been sentenced to 65 years in
prison for five counts of sexual assault. Robinson is the first person in
the nation to be sentenced based on a "John Doe" warrant, which identifies
the DNA code of a suspect. (Sacramento Bee, 6/27/03).
6/26/03: Jorge Garcia, who voluntarily gave police a DNA sample for
their investigation of several unsolved rapes in Miami, has been linked to
a 1996 rape. (The Miami Herald, 6/26/03).
6/19/03: Jeremiah Frank Dubois III has been charged with the
1998 rape of a woman in North Carolina. DNA evidence linked him to the
crime. (News Observer (Raleigh, NC), 6/19/03).
6/18/03: Brian L. Flowers, already serving time for a 1996 rape,
has been linked to a 1993 rape after his DNA was entered into an Ohio
database. (The Dayton Daily News, 6/18/03).
06/14/03: Leroy People has been arrested for two rapes in 2003 and
1998. DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. (Daily News (New York),
6/14/03).
6/12/03:
DNA evidence has linked a single suspect to four rapes in Miami, FL,
including two rapes of two children and two rapes of two women. (The
Associated Press, 6/12/03).
6/11/03: Paul Landis Burke has been charged with multiple counts of
sexual assault for a series of attacks in Trenton, NJ. DNA evidence linked
him to the crimes. (The Associated Press, 6/11/03).
6/11/03: Gerald Edwin Wright has been charged with three rapes that
occurred in Greensboro, NC, in 2002. DNA evidence linked him to the
crimes. (The Associated Press, 6/11/03).
6/6/03: Arbie Dean Williams has been charged with the murder of a
teenager in 1982. Williams, who had already served time for a previous
rape, was linked to the crime by his DNA evidence. (The Associated Press,
6/6/03).
6/5/03: Jaime L. Cruz has been sentenced to 35 years for committing
several sexual assaults. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 6/5/03).
6/5/03: Lawrence Edward Hawes was sentenced to at least 96 years in
prison for five charges including first-degree rape. DNA evidence linked
him to the rape of a woman in March 2002. (The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC),
6/5/03).
6/4/03: New York State recently recorded its 1000th DNA cold hit.
The State's DNA databank was established in 1996. (The Associated Press,
6/4/03).
5/22/03: Jimmy Cecil Arrowsmith has been convicted of raping an
11-year-old developmentally disabled girl. The girl who is now twelve,
delivered a baby in March. The child is Arrowsmith's. (The Associated
Press, 5/22/03).
5/22/03: Eric Virgil Hall has been charged with the rape and murder
of a Boise woman. He already has been indicted for the rape, kidnapping,
and murder of a woman in 2000. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 5/22/03).
5/22/03: Christopher Waldner has been sentenced to nine years in
prison for rape. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The Associated
Press, 5/22/03).
5/21/03: John Nicholas Athan has been charged with the rape and
murder of a 13-year-old girl in 1982. Athan was fourteen at the time of
the killing. Police obtained his DNA evidence by sending him a form which
he would have to lick before returning. (The Seattle Times,
5/21/03).
5/15/03:
Donald "Dondie" Craig has been charged with the rape,
murder, and kidnaping of a 12-year-old girl in 1996. DNA evidence linked
him to the crime. (Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio), 5/15/03).
5/14/03:
Eric Brings Plenty has been sentenced to more than ten years in prison for
the sexual assault of a woman in 2000. He is already serving sixty years
in Colorado for rape and murder. His DNA was entered into a national
database and linked to the 2000 rape in South Dakota. (The Associated
Press, 5/14/03).
5/14/03: Edgar Earl Lenear has been convicted of a 1993 rape in
Minneapolis. Lenear already was serving time for murder. A new Minnesota
law allowing the collection of DNA from violent felons led to the
additional charge. (The Associated Press, 5/14/03).
5/14/03: Jerron Johnson, a 16-year-old deaf teenager, has been
charged with raping and murdering a mentally ill woman in 2001. He also
has been charged with other crimes including two counts of rape and an
attempted rape and abduction. DNA evidence found at the scene of the
crimes led to his arrest. (Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio), 5/14/03).
5/12/03: Joseph Felder has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for
the rape of a sales clerk inside Macy's in New York City in 1998. He also
has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for burglarizing that same store.
DNA found at the scene matched Felder. (The Associated Press,
5/12/03).
5/10/03: Tyrone Williams has been charged with rape, sodomy, and
sexual abuse in several sexual assaults against women in elevators in New
York City. DNA evidence linked him to at least one of the rapes. (The
Associated Press, 5/10/03).
5/9/03: Law enforcement in Miami-Dade County have linked a serial
rapist to three recent attacks in West Kendall and to four sexual assaults
near Tampa in 2001. DNA evidence has confirmed that the same individual
was involved in the attacks, although he has not yet been identified. (The
Miami Herald, 5/9/03).
5/9/03: Carlos Ramos, the "Greenpoint Rapist," has pleaded guilty
to two counts of first-degree rape, and will receive 35 years in prison.
DNA evidence linked him to one of the rapes. (The New York Post,
5/9/03).
5/8/03: Carlos Jimenez has been arrested for the sexual assault and
robbery of a woman in 2001. A DNA sample submitted by Jimenez in 2001 when
he was serving time for an unrelated crime resulted in the match. (The
Daily News of Los Angeles, 5/8/03).
5/7/03: Brett D. Merrick has been charged with sexually assaulting
a developmentally disabled woman in 1997. Semen taken from the victim
matched Merrick's DNA. (Wisconsin State Journal, 5/7/03).
5/4/03: Carlos Romero Rhynes has been arrested for the rape of a
woman in 2001. He is a suspect in at least twelve rapes in Central
Florida. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The Miami Herald,
5/4/03).
5/2/03: Bernard Middleton has been charged with the 1995 rape and
murder of a woman in Chicago. His DNA also has linked him to four other
rapes. (Chicago Tribune, 5/2/03).
4/29/03: James Madison Thomas, Sr., has been sentenced to 45
years in prison for the attempted rape of a woman in 2002. DNA evidence
found on the victim was linked to Thomas. (The Daily News Leader,
4/29/03).
4/26/03: Shariff Jackson has been sentenced to prison for raping
two women in 1996 and 1997. (The Associated Press, 4/26/03).
4/25/03: Will James Robinson has been found guilty of the rape
of a woman in 1998. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 4/25/03).
4/25/03: Felipe Acevedo has been sentenced to fifteen years in
prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Florida. DNA evidence
collected from the girl matched Acevedo. (The News-Press (Fort Myers,
FL), 4/25/03).
4/24/03: Timothy Ferguson has been charged with multiple rapes
of elderly women since 1993. DNA evidence was obtained from a cigarette
butt, and was linked to the crimes. (The Cincinnati Enquirer,
4/24/03).
4/24/03: Eric Hall has been charged with the murder, rape, and
kidnapping of a woman in 2000. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Idaho Statesman, 4/24/03).
4/23/03: DNA evidence has linked more than six of the 18
suspects in an alleged gang rape of a mentally disabled girl to that
crime. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/23/03).
4/23/03: Douglas Belt has been charged with seven rapes from
1989 to 1994 in Kansas. DNA evidence has linked him tot he murder of a
43-year-old woman. (The Wichita Eagle, 4/23/03).
4/18/03:
Dale Wayne Eaton has been arrested for the rape and murder
of an 18-year-old woman in 1988. (Rocky Mountain News, 4/18/03).
4/17/03: Donald Sigsbee, who has been charged with the 1975 murder
of a SUNY Morrisville student, is a suspect in several unsolved rapes and
homicides in New York. Sigsbee was a suspect at the time, but authorities
were only able to link him to the crime in March with DNA evidence. (The
Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 4/17/03).
4/15/03: Joseph Felder is on trial for the 1998 rape of a woman
inside the Macy's store in Herald Square in New York City. DNA evidence
linked him to the crime. (The Associated Press, 4/15/03).
4/7/03: Bobby Kersting has been sentenced to 115-175 years in
prison for a series of sexual assaults during 2001 and 2002. (The
Associated Press, 4/7/03).
4/2/03: Kevin E. Worlds has been found guilty of the 1998 murder of
a McKeesport woman. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/2/03).
3/30/03: David J. Kaiser, already in prison for the 1992 rape of a
woman, has been charged with two counts of capital sexual battery in the
rape and kidnapping of a toddler in 1986. DNA evidence linked him to the
crime. (Florida Times-Union, 3/30/03).
3/29/03: John Joseph Watson is a suspect in the 1958 murder and
rape of a woman. The 81-year-old convict had served time for previous
crimes. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 3/29/03).
3/29/03: David J. Kaiser has been charged with the rape and
kidnapping of a child in 1986. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 3/29/03).
3/18/03: Clyde Carl Wilkerson will serve
seven years in prison for the murder of a man and the rape of the man's
wife in 1965. DNA may also link him to other crimes. (The Associated
Press, 3/18/03).
3/15/03: Leotis Herbert Wooten has been charged with the rape
and murder of a 28-year-old woman in 1983. DNA evidence linked him to the
crime. (Tulsa World (Oklahoma), 3/15/03).
3/11/03: Vincent J. Williams has been convicted of raping two women
and will serve a 61-year sentence. DNA evidence led to the conviction. (The
Columbus Dispatch, 3/11/03).
3/8/03: Norman Whitehorn has been charged with the rape and
murder of a woman in 1978. Already serving a 50-year-sentence for a
felony, his DNA was entered into a state databank, resulting in the match.
(Sacramento Bee, 3/8/03).
3/7/03: Robert A. Griffin has been convicted of sexually
assaulting two girls and a 67-year-old woman in 1997 and 1999. Already
serving time for burglary, his DNA matched samples found at the crime
scenes. (The Associated Press, 3/7/03).
3/7/03: Michael Arthur Stephan has been sentenced to prison for
the rape of a 19-year-old woman. His DNA was entered into a database,
leading to the match. (The Associated Press, 3/7/03).
3/6/03: Timothy Snead has been found guilty of the rape of a
16-year-old girl in 1995. His DNA was entered into the state database and
produced the match. (Kansas City Star, 3/7/03).
2/26/03: Felix Albert Kauffman has been charged with sexual assault
in East Texas. He has admitted to committing nine rapes, although his DNA
evidence links him to three of those attacks. (The Associated Press,
2/26/03).
2/26/03: John Westbrook has been arrested for the 1996 rape of a
Charlottesville woman. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/26/03).
2/20/03: Robert Louis Cromwell has been found guilty of murdering a
10-year-old Phoenix girl. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 2/20/03).
2/20/03: Herman Lamb has been sentenced to life in prison for
the 1977 kidnaping, rape, and murder of Denise Stahlhut. DNA linked him to
the crime. (The Associated Press, 2/20/03).
2/20/03: Kevin Smith has been convicted with the 1996 rape of a
teenager in New York City. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. DNA from
the rape kit was analyzed this year as part of the NYPD's "Project
Backlog," which "analyzes the DNA in rape kits collected in about 17,000
unsolved sexual assault cases and compares it to a state database of DNA
taken from convicted felons." (Daily News (New York), 2/20/03).
2/14/03: Robert A. Griffin has been found guilty of nine counts
of rape, sodomy, burglary, assault, and robbery involving a 10-year-old
girl. His DNA was matched to the unsolved cases after it was entered into
the state's database. (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 2/14/03).
2/13/03: Ilyas Abdul-Mumim has been indicted on multiple counts
of rape after DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. (The Columbus
Dispatch, 2/13/03).
2/12/03: George Williams, Jr., is a suspect in the 1986 murder of a
14-year-old California girl. He was linked to the crime after his DNA was
entered into the state database. (The Associated Press, 2/12/03).
2/12/03: Edmond Jay Marr has been linked, with DNA evidence, to
the 1983 murder of a Sherman Oaks, CA, nurse. (Los Angeles Times,
2/12/03).
2/7/03: DNA evidence has linked three men to the disappearance of
a 13-year-old girl in Houston in 2002. (The Houston Chronicle,
2/7/03).
2/6/03: The New Orleans Police Department admitted that it
destroyed evidence in at least three ongoing cases including a 1992 rape. (The
Times-Picayune, 2/6/03).
01/22/03: Ardis Hunter has been sentenced to life in prison for the
rape of a Mercer University woman in 2001. DNA evidence from the crime
matched Hunter's sample which was entered into the Florida corrections
system. (The Macon Telegraph, 01/22/03).
01/21/03: Lee Van Glahn has been charged with attempting to rape a
woman in Brooklyn, and is a suspect in two other murders. DNA evidence has
linked him to the crimes. (The New York Post, 01/21/03).
1/17/03: Ernest Turner has been charged with the rape and murder
of an Erie woman. DNA linked him to the crime. (The Associated Press,
1/17/03).
1/16/03: Kennedy Wheeler has been arrested in Columbus, OH, as a
suspect in a string of sexual assaults. His DNA will be compared to the
evidence collected in those crimes. (The Columbus Dispatch, 1/1603).
1/13/03: Jesus C. Mezquia has been charged with the 1993 rape and
murder of Mia Zapata, a popular local punk-rock singer in Seattle. (The
Associated Press, 1/13/03).
1/12/03: Douglas Belt has been linked to several unsolved rapes and
sexual assaults that occurred during the past fourteen years. (The
Wichita Eagle, 1/12/03).
1/11/03: Charles A. Rawlings has been charged with entering retail
stores, tying up the clerks, and raping them at gunpoint. The crime spree
includes three rapes. After serving a 15-year sentence for robbery,
Rawlings, by law, submitted his DNA sample upon release. (The Record
(Bergen County, NJ), 1/11/03).
1/11/03: A new DNA test has confirmed that Kenneth Charron, who is
serving time for a 1985 rape, committed the crime. (St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, 1/11/03).
1/8/03: Ruben Fortune has been linked to the sexual assault of two
female Georgia State University students in December 2002. DNA evidence from
the attacks matched a 1999 sexual assault case involving Fortune. (The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/8/03).
1/5/03: Allegheny County's
crime lab (Pennsylvania) had their first cold hit when a 1998 stabbing was
solved through DNA evidence. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/5/03).
1/1/03: Virginia has begun obtaining DNA samples from all individuals
charged with a violent felony, the most aggressive such effort in the
nation. (The Washington Post, 1/1/03).
12/31/02: Douglas S. Belt, who was being held in connection with
murder in Wichita, has been linked to a series of unsolved rapes during the
past decade. (The Associated Press, 12/31/02).
12/30/02: An Louisiana inmate has been linked through DNA evidence to
a 1987 rape-murder in Texas. (The Associated Press, 12/30/02).
12/24/02: The Allegheny County forensic lab has developed a backlog
in DNA testing because of insufficient funds. "County Coroner Dr. Cyril
H. Wecht asked the county to boost his office's
2003 budget by $745,000 so workers can eliminate the backlog. The city
council agreed to give the coroner's
office $600,000. But county Chief Executive Jim Roddey reduced the increase
to $400,000." (The Associated Press, 12/24/02).
12/12/02: DNA evidence may have linked Clyde Carl Wilkerson with the
1975 rape and murder of a Tulsa college student. He is currently charged
with two 1965 murders. (The Associated Press, 12/12/02).
12/06/02: The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has solved the rape
and murder of a child in 1979 in California using DNA evidence. A sample
taken from a Colorado convict resulted in a cold hit with evidence collected
from the California crime. (Rocky Mountain News, 12/6/02).
12/05/02: The backlog of DNA samples waiting to be analyzed by the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation is so large that "agencies can expect a
127-day wait from the time the sample is submitted until they get a
response." (Rocky Mountain News, 12/5/02).
12/01/02: Alexander Lamont Drain has been charged with raping four
women in the Philadelphia area. DNA evidence obtained from the crime scenes
linked him to the crimes. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/1/02).
11/12/02: Mark Wayne Rathburn has been linked through DNA evidence
to 13 of 31 sexual attacks of women in Seattle and Southern California
since 1996. (Los Angeles Times, 11/12/02).
11/8/02: Dale W. Lash has been found guilty of the rape and
murder of Lori Hayes in Illinois. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (The
State Journal-Register, 11/8/02).
11/5/02: An unidentified man who sexually assaulted six women in
Montana in 1993 and 1994 raped a woman in New Mexico in 2001. (The
Associated Press, 11/5/02).
10/31/02: DNA evidence has linked Clyde Carl Wilkerson, a
63-year-old ex-convict, to two 1965 rape-murders near San Diego. (The
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/31/02).
10/25/02: John Morris, serving time for attempted auto burglary,
has been linked through DNA evidence to a 1982 murder. (Albuquerque
Journal, 10/25/02).
10/25/02: DNA evidence has linked a 16-year-old boy to an
alleged rape of a female classmate in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin State
Journal, 10/25/02).
10/22/02: The Forth Worth Police Department's crime lab recently
received an $836,000 grant to help process its backlog of DNA evidence. (Fort
Worth Star Telegram, 10/22/02).
10/21/02: Dale W. Lash of Illinois has gone on trial for the
carjacking and murder of Lori Hayes in a parking lot in 1999. Lash has
already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1998 rape of a real
estate agent. DNA evidence links Lash to the crimes. (The State
Journal-Register, 10/21/02).
10/19/02: Isiah Fields has been charged with two rapes of homeless
women in San Francisco. He may be implicated in as many as six rapes of
homeless women over since 1999. DNA evidence has linked him to the crimes.
(San Francisco Chronicle, 10/19/02).
10/18/02: Richard Fresquez has been arraigned in New Mexico for,
among other charges, sexual assault. DNA evidence linked him to the crime
scene. (Albuquerque Journal, 10/18/02).
10/8/02: The forensic lab in Allegheny County, PA, cannot process
any more DNA evidence this year, because the lab does not have the
funding, equipment, or staff members. The district attorney's office
indicated that it may utilize outside labs for the testing, which costs
approximately $6,500 for each case. (The Associated Press,
10/8/02).
10/8/02: Robert Lane has pleaded guilty to two rapes that
occurred in 1995. (The Virginian-Pilot, 10/8/02).
9/30/02: Robert Lane has been convicted of the 1992 rape of a
13-year-old girl he abducted in a park. His DNA sampled resulted in a
"cold hit" two years ago. Lane has been indicted in two other rapes of
people in 1995 in the Virginia Beach area. (The Virginian-Pilot,
9/30/02).
9/29/02: Roger Gary Speer has been sentenced to at least twenty
years in prison after being convicted of the 1980 rape and murder of his
aunt. At the time of the murder, insufficient evidence existed to file
charges against Speer. With new DNA testing procedures, authorities were
able to test a sperm sample from Speer and link him to the crime. (The
Associated Press, 9/29/02).
9/28/02: Richard Fresquez has been indicted for attempted murder
and rape in New Mexico. DNA evidence linked the suspect to the crimes. (Albuquerque
Journal, 9/28/02).
9/27/02: John P. Garcia has been linked to several crimes,
including sexual assault, murder, and attempted murder, because of DNA
evidence. (The Baltimore Sun, 9/27/02).
9/27/02: David Jewel Newton, a convicted molester, will serve
458 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old Tulsa girl in 2001. His DNA
was entered into a national database and a "cold hit" may link him to a
1998 Texas rape. (Tulsa World, 9/27/02).
9/25/02: James Allen Selby has been arrested after DNA evidence
linked him to nine sexual attacks against women and children since 1999.
The assaults occurred in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oklahoma. (The
Associated Press, 9/25/02).
9/13/02: Geiggars has pled guilty to two additional rapes. (The
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 9/13/02).
9/11/02: Harlan Geiggars, serving time in an Arkansas prison for
attempted rape, has been linked to three unsolved rape cases because of
DNA. (The Associated Press, 9/11/02).
9/9/02: Lonnie C. Davis, who was originally charged with rape as a
John Doe, has been identified after a DNA match was made. Davis is
currently serving a 105-year prison term for a previous rape and
carjacking. (The Associated Press, 9/9/02).
9/7/02: DNA evidence has linked Donald Coppedge to thirteen
rapes in south St. Louis County. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/7/02).
9/2/02: Flynn Clarence Bell, Jr., was linked to 23 unsolved rape
cases through DNA technology. The rapes occurred in Dallas, some of which
may have occurred as early as 1985. He received four "stacked" life
sentences, "meaning he would have to serve a minimum of four, 15-year
prison terms before being eligible for parole." (The Dallas Morning
News, 9/2/02).
8/31/02: Robert Atkins has been charged with the rape and murder
of Jessica Lynn Carpenter in August 2000. Authorities made a "cold hit"
after entering DNA evidence found at the scene into Georgia's database.
Atkins is currently serving time in prison for violating probation. (The
State (Columbia, SC), 8/31/02).
8/29/02: Larry Drake Tolbert has been arrested for raping a
92-year-old woman in a nursing home in Albuquerque. A DNA sample taken
from the woman's bedding matched a profile of Tolbert from Washington
state. (The Associated Press, 8/29/02).
8/22/02: Narcisso Solis has been linked to at least three sexual
assaults in California. He was arrested for driving under the influence
after being placed under surveillance for the sexual assaults. (Los
Angeles Times, 8/22/02).
8/21/02: Scott Thomas Erskine, who is serving time for the rape
of a San Diego woman, and who is awaiting trial for the torture,
molestation, and killing of two boys, has been linked to a 1989 murder in
Florida. (Copley News Service, 8/21/02).
8/21/02: James Allen Silby has been linked to the kidnapping and
rape of a 9-year-old girl in Oklahoma. DNA tests have linked him to other
sexual assaults around the nation. (The Associated Press, 8/21/02).
8/20/02: Larry Craig Padgett, who has been charged with raping a
Minnesota woman, has also been charged with committing three other
assaults. DNA evidence from the recent attack matched samples from the
other incidents. (St. Paul Pioneer Press, 8/20/02).
8/13/02: DNA evidence has linked a Nebraska inmate to an Ohio
rape. This is the first national match for the Nebraska crime lab since it
began analyzing DNA in 2000. (The Associated Press, 8/13/02).
8/13/02: DNA evidence has allowed prosecutors in Pierce County,
Washington, to file charges against a "John Doe" in connection with the
kidnapping and rape of a girl in 2000. (The Associate Press,
8/13/02).
8/11/02: With a federal grant from the U.S. Department of
Justice, the Maine State Police hopes to reduce its backlog of pending
cases by 150. This funding will enable the police department to hire
additional staff and new equipment. (The Associated Press,
8/11/02).
8/8/02: DNA evidence has led authorities in Maine to issue a "John
Doe" warrant for a rapist believed to have committed at least two rapes. (Bangor
Daily News, 8/8/02).
8/3/02: DNA testing in Kansas has led to cold hits in three
unsolved rapes. The names of the alleged rapists have not yet been
released. The rapes are unrelated. (Topeka Capital Journal,
8/3/02).
8/2/02: DNA evidence has linked Mario Antonio Hernandez with the
rape of a 9-year-old girl in April 2000, in Santa Ana, CA. He has been
linked to five similar rapes in Northern California. (Los Angeles Times,
8/2/02).
7/31/02: Luis Benhur Acuna is on trial for sexually assaulting a
college student. He is also suspected of being a serial rapist. DNA
evidence has linked him to the sexual assault and to two rapes. (Austin
American Statesman, 7/31/02).
7/30/02: Andrew Dominic Sanchez has been linked to a rape and an
attempted rape through DNA testing, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (The
Associated Press, 7/30/02).
7/30/02: "The Los Angeles Police Department accidentally
destroyed biological evidence in at least 1,100 sexual assault cases since
1995." Detectives destroyed the evidence because they were "unaware" that
the statute of limitations for rape had been lengthened from 6 years to 10
years. (Los Angeles Times, 7/30/02).
7/19/02: Jorge Hernandez, 18, has been arrested for the rape of a
94-year-old woman. DNA evidence linked him to the crime. (San Jose
Mercury News, 7/19/02).
7/19/02: Authorities have determined that the "East End" serial
rapist has been active in Allegheny County since 1988. DNA evidence from
the 1988 rape matches the evidence from five rapes since June 2000. Police
are still searching for the rapist. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
7/19/02).
7/19/02: Anthony Mitchell, who is serving 25 years for attempted
rape, admitted to killing a 20-year-old woman in 1989. He is part of the
first group of Baltimore felons who have been convicted because of DNA
testing of "cold cases." As part of an ABC News 20/20
investigation, Mitchell's DNA was tested along with 49 other dormant
cases. Ten of those samples have solved previously unsolved cases. (The
Baltimore Sun, 7/19/02).
7/19/02: Laron Fitzgerald Floyd has been charged with rape in
Lexington, KY. His DNA was entered into a database and matched to an
unsolved 2001 rape. He has been charged with burglary, attempted rape,
armed robbery, and sexual abuse. (The Lexington Herald-Leader,
7/19/02).
7/18/02: Thurman McGowan, already serving a 25-year sentence for
rape, has been linked to the 1993 killing of a Romanian immigrant. A match
was found using the DNA database. (Chicago Tribune, 7/18/02).
7/15/02: Foster Bates, on trial in Massachusetts for killing a
22-year-old-woman, was linked to the crime because of DNA evidence. (The
Associated Press, 7/15/02).
7/14/02: Police captured escaped suspect Luis Acosta in Brooklyn,
NY. Acosta's DNA has linked him to fifteen rapes over five years in
the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. (Newsday, 7/14/02).
7/9/02: Police have linked at least eight assaults in San Diego and
Tucson to a single predator. DNA evidence was linked to a single assailant
after the samples were entered into a national database. (The Associated
Press, 7/9/02).
7/6/02: Authorities have linked the same man to six sexual assaults
in Colorado and Texas. Although the man has not been identified, he is
suspected in rapes from 1993 through 1998. (The Associated Press,
7/6/02).
7/2/02: Joe Felder, who is serving time at Riker's Island for an
unrelated crime, has been indicted on charges that he raped and robbed a
Macy's employee in January 1998. The employee stabbed Felder during the
attack, and the DNA linked him to the crime. (The New York Times,
7/2/02).
6/29/02: Ray Arviso, Jr., already serving time in prison, has been
charged with two rapes occurring in 1990 and 1991 (New Mexico). DNA
evidence linked him to the crimes after being run through the FBI's DNA
Index. (The Associated Press, 6/29/02).
6/29/02: Richard Evonitz may be linked to a kidnapping and rape
of a South Carolina girl and to the murders of three Virginia girls in the
late 1990s because of DNA evidence. Evonitz killed himself on Thursday,
June 27, 2002. Authorities are comparing DNA from the crimes in Virginia
and South Carolina. (The State, Columbia, SC, 6/29/02).
6/28/02: Jay Taylor has
been charged with the 1999 rape and strangling death of a Fort Lauderdale
woman after DNA from a rape attempt in Miami Beach matched evidence from
the 1999 rape. The evidence also has implicated him in a 2001 rape of an
elderly woman in her apartment building. (The Miami Herald, 6/28/02).
6/28/02: Los Angeles County is planning to build a new crime lab to
be completed by 2005. 34 new employees will be hired to work in the DNA
section of the lab. The cost is projected to be $96 million. (Los Angeles
Times, 6/28/02).
6/27/02: The Michigan state police crime lab has been flooded with
almost 40,000 DNA samples. A small percentage of these samples have been
processed. Critics allege that the lab does not have enough forensic
scientists to conduct the tests, and more funding is needed. Samples are
taken from all felons and individuals convicted of murder, rape,
kidnapping, and sex-related misdemeanors. (The Associated Press,
6/27/02).
6/26/02: Sylvester Deon Collins of Athens, Georgia, was found
guilty of three counts of rape and other crimes. DNA evidence implicated
Collins. (The Associated Press, 6/26/02).
6/25/02: Keith Aaron Schwinaman, a convicted child molester, has
been linked to three unsolved rapes in Boulder and Lafayette, Colorado, in
the 1990s. Schwinaman is currently serving time in a state prison for
violating parole. Authorities are waiting for the results from additional
blood and saliva samples. "Detectives have been resubmitting evidence from
sexual assault cases dating back to 1990 for more technologically advanced
DNA testing." (The Associated Press, 6/25/02).
6/20/02: The Rhode Island state forensics laboratory plans to stop
analyzing DNA samples, because of budget cuts imposed by the General
Assembly. The lab also will not submit any DNA found from convicts to a
national database. Instead, "a forensic scientist will visually inspect
evidence for signs of bodily fluids." Any fluids found will be sent to a
private laboratory to be analyzed. (The Associated Press, 6/20/02).
6/17/02:
Sylvester Deon Collins is facing fourteen felony charges in Athens, GA,
including rape and kidnapping. DNA evidence linked Collins to the rapes of
three women. (The Associated Press, 6/17/02).
6/14/02: Charles Courtney of Hamilton, Ohio, was sentenced to 25
years in prison for kidnapping and raping a woman in 1998. Authorities
were able to make a cold hit, because his DNA was on file because of
serving time in Indiana for an unrelated sex crime. "It just goes to point
out how important the use of DNA evidence is in our criminal justice
system," said Jeff Giuliano, an assistant Butler County prosecutor. (The
Associated Press, 6/14/02).
6/14/02: Matthew Gregory Moore was sentenced to 20 years to life in
prison for strangling an elderly woman in 1981. He was under investigation
because of a 1976 rape conviction. Detectives matched DNA in semen taken
from the victim's body to Moore, who was serving time for molesting a boy
in 1993. (The Associated Press, 6/14/02).
6/14/02: James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud were found guilty of
the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Vanessa Lei Samson in 1997. The couple
has been sentenced to death. The pair used a van "rigged for torture." DNA
evidence was found on a rubber ball, curling irons, and a bloody napkin in
the van. Daveggio and Michaud had engaged in a series of sexual assaults
including a conviction for a 1999 rape in Nevada. (The San Francisco
Chronicle, 6/14/02).
6/11/02:
Marino Antonio Hernandez has been arrested for sexual attacks on girls in
Redwood City, East Palo Alto, and Orange County (California), because of
DNA evidence. "All of the girls were 7 or 8 years old." (The San
Francisco Chronicle, 6/11/02).
6/7/02:
The Kansas City Crime Lab is expanding its department with two new
analysts. "The lab has a backlog of 100 current cases, involving up to 500
DNA samples." Lab Director Gary Howell stated that his lab finds DNA on
cigarette butts "100 percent of the time." (The Kansas City Star, 6/7/02).
6/6/02: In Oklahoma, DNA evidence which freed a wrongly convicted
man has implicated a new suspect. Officials would not identify the
39-year-old man. (The Daily Oklahoman, 6/6/02).
6/6/02: Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma signed into law a bill
that eliminates the seven-year statute of limitations on sex crimes (under
certain conditions), including DNA evidence. (The Associated Press,
6/6/02).
6/6/02: In the St. Louis area, more hospitals are instituting SANE
programs. According to Pennie Ward, who headed the first SANE program in
St. Louis, more than 2,000 SANE programs exist nationwide. She also stated
that only 20% of rape victims go to the hospital. (St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, 6/6/02).
6/5/02: Houston has approximately 7,200 rape kits that have gone
untested. The statute of limitations on sexual assault cases in Texas is
ten years. The Houston Police Department has applied for a $1 million
National Institute of Justice grant to reduce the cost of processing the
backlog. By using a $365,000 grant, the Department secured "two DNA
analysis machines that reduced testing time from 14 days to 2-3 days."
(The Houston Chronicle, 6/5/02).
6/2/02: Oregon detectives have found more than 1,000 rape kits
that were never submitted to the state crime lab for processing. At least
700 of those kits should have been tested. Current policy required that
police route the kits to the state lab unless one or more criteria applied
including the case being determined to be unfounded, the kit having no
evidentiary value, and the case exceeding the state's 12-year statute of
limitations for sex crimes. (The Associated Press, 6/2/02).
6/1/02: Manuel Salamanca, Jr., who is in jail on charges of
aggravated sexual assault, has been linked to nine rapes in Texas because
of DNA evidence. "The genetic match means that police have a person to go
with a John Doe indictment returned last summer in a 1996 rape." (The
Dallas Morning News, 6/1/02).
5/30/02: Senator Maria Cantwell announces that DNA evidence from
more than 4,000 rape cases in Washington state have never been analyzed.
The state legislature has authorized expanding the DNA database to include
all convicted felons. (The Seattle Times, 5/30/02).
5/26/02: Robert B. Cumberland of the Bronx was arrested and charged
with assaulting five women. DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. (The
New York Times, 5/26/02).
5/19/02: Vinson Horace Champ, a traveling comedian, was
convicted by a Scott County, Iowa, jury of raping a St. Ambrose University
graduate student in 1997. He was "convicted of two similar assaults in
Nebraska and will serve his sentences there before returning to prison in
Iowa. He is charged with an attempted assault in California and with an
assault in Iowa City. He also is a suspect in cases in Illinois and
Wisconsin." (The Associated Press, 5/21/02).
5/19/02: The Boston Police Department's Crime Lab is being praised
for its processing of DNA evidence kits. "The test for semen takes about
15 minutes," according to forensic technologist Kevin Kosiorek. The Lab
has a 5-day turnaround and no backlog. Since 1998, the department has
linked 18 rapes to suspects whose profiles were already in the FBI's
database. (The Boston Herald, 5/19/02).
5/19/02: Officials in Ohio estimate that more than 3,000 rape kits
are sitting on shelves waiting to be processed. The state is starting a
pilot program with the Cleveland Police Department that will provide
$200,000, from a $2.2 million federal grant, to give $100 for each rape
kit that the departments process. (The Plain Dealer, 5/19/02).
5/18/02: DNA evidence has linked Melvin Conley, who is serving
thirty years in prison for a 1987 sodomy conviction, with a 1986 rape. "It
is the oldest case generated by DNA evidence in Jackson County, Kansas."
Other cold hits in the prison database have linked two men to unrelated
sex crimes, and two men to murders. Prosecutors hope to use DNA samples to
solve crimes from the 1970s or earlier. (The Kansas City Star, 5/18/02).
5/17/02:
The Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, CA,
upheld a state law that requires Death Row inmates to submit blood and
saliva samples. "More than 200,000 profiles of criminals have been entered
into the databank at the DNA lab in Richmond, and more than 100 unsolved
crimes have been linked to those felons." (The San Francisco Chronicle,
5/17/02).
5/17/02: Nathaniel Harris, serving a six-year sentence for
attempted second-degree murder, has been charged with the 1996 rape and
murder of a Kansas City, KS, woman. Harris's DNA linked him to the rape.
(The Kansas City Star, 5/17/02).
5/16/02: Marshall Thomas of Cahokia, Missouri, was sentenced to
25 years in prison after DNA evidence linked him to a rape. "The victim
was abducted at knifepoint on the eve of her 17th birthday from in front
of her grandmother's home and taken to a vacant building, where she was
raped and stabbed in the right thigh and left forearm." Thomas had
demanded the test, because he believed it would exonerate him. However,
the results have linked him to a 1998 rape. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
5/16/02).
5/16/02: DNA evidence has confirmed that James Harvey, who is
serving a 40-year sentence for a 1989 rape in Virginia, was the
perpetrator in that crime. Harvey had claimed that he had been wrongly
convicted. (The Associated Press, 5/16/02).
5/12/02: Benjamin LaGuer, who is spending his life behind bars
for rape, had alleged that DNA evidence collected at the crime scene was
tampered with by police. The long-awaited testing of the samples have
linked LaGuer even more closely to the crime. LaGuer was convicted in
1984, and had been fighting to have the samples tested in hopes of proving
his innocence. (The Associated Press, 5/12/02).
5/11/02: Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has signed a new law that
will "lift the statue of limitations on those crimes when DNA evidence is
collected." In recent years, the state has created a DNA database of
Georgia prison inmates. (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, 5/11/02).
5/10/02: Michael Wayne Gallatin, a convicted serial rapist, will
plead guilty to the 1997 murder of Linda Karlovich. He is currently
serving sixty years for five other rapes since 1993. DNA evidence led to
Gallatin being charged with the five rapes and the murder of Karlovich. (The
Associated Press, 5/10/02).
5/10/02: Kevin E. Worlds, who had been serving time in prison,
was linked to a 1998 rape of Liane Evans in McKeesport, PA. She had been
stabbed twenty-one times. "It was the first time county police were able
to make an arrest by using a DNA database that cross-references genetic
samples from crime scenes with DNA from known felons on local, state, and
federal levels." Worlds has been charged with criminal homicide, rape, and
burglary. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/10/02).
5/4/02:
DNA evidence has linked Cedrik L. Jones of Hollywood with two rapes in a
West Palm Beach, FL, insurance office in 1999. Jones was serving a
seven-year sentence in a Miami-Dade Country prison for assaulting two
Broward Country police officers, and was forced to provide a DNA sample at
the beginning of his sentence. After entering his DNA into the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement's Combined DNA Indexing System, the sample
matched genetic samples taken from the victims. (Sun-Sentinel, Fort
Lauderdale, FL, 5/4/02)
4/25/02: DNA analysis has linked Air Force Senior Airman Troy
Graves to sexual assaults in Fort Collins, CO, and six rapes in
Philadelphia, PA. He was known as the "Center City Rapist." The Fort
Collins assaults occurred in 2001 and the rapes in Philadelphia occurred
from 1997 to 1999. (Rocky Mountain News, 4/25/02)
4/20/02: By using DNA evidence from a February 20, 2001, rape of
a woman in New York City, police were able to link Calvin Benjamin to an
October 22, 2002, rape in lower Manhattan. Benjamin is 16-years-old. He
also is suspected of robbing nine women between December 2000 and February 2001. (The New York Post, 4/20/02)
4/18/02: San Francisco made two arrests in a 1995 rape case using
DNA analysis and a genetic database. Ex-convict Juan Paredes had been
arrested in 1996 for a similar sexual assault. He and his co-defendant in
that case, Victor Aquino, have been arrested for the 1995 rape of a
prostitute. Authorities have identified about 400 cases in San Francisco
that DNA evidence may help solve. Prosecutors were able to file charges
because of a new state law that extends time limits in cases where
reliable DNA evidence exists (now have 10 years from date of crime or one
year from date of "cold hit"). (The San Francisco Chronicle,
4/18/02)
04/12/02: Arizona is considering legislation to collect DNA
evidence from all convicted felons. "One unresolved issue is paying for
the estimated $2 million annual cost of the expanded testing. Arizona's
current database is not large enough to produce "cold hit" DNA matches of
people not already suspects in cases. Ray Krone, a Phoenix man whose
10-year-old murder conviction is on the verge of being erased because
recent DNA testing indicates another man already in prison may have
committed the crime. Krone was released from prison on Monday." (Associated
Press, 4/12/02)
04/03/02: As many as 4,000 samples are missing from LAPD evidence
lockers. "The department until recently had routinely disposed of evidence
in rape cases that fell outside the seven-year statute of limitations for
prosecution." Barry Scheck called it "particularly egregious." (USA
Today, 4/3/02)
03/26/02: Michael Adams convicted of raping and beating Sylvia
Edgren in 1981. Adams may have been the first person convicted in
California because of a cold hit. The DNA evidence taken from the victim
had been stored in a secure locker. In 1987, Adams was arrested for "the
brutal attack on an 87-year-old Pacific Grove women in her home. He agreed
to a plea bargain that would allow him to avoid prison time in exchange
for probation. But Adams skipped town, violating his probation. He was
eventually imprisoned, released and returned to custody on a parole
violation. In May 1999, just a month before he would be released from San
Quentin Prison, prison officials took blood samples from Adams. If Adams
had not violated parole, he wouldn't have been in prison and investigators
may have never been able to collect his DNA sample." (Monterey County
Herald, 3/26/02)
03/18/02: Robert Lee Sales, serving a sentence since August 1972
for a rape and murder in Utah, was charged in March 2002 with the 1972
rape and murder of a 17-year-old woman. DNA tests tested him positive as a
suspect. Sales is a career rapist and will spend the rest of his life in
prison. (The Associated Press, 3/18/02)
03/16/02: Adrian Lewis Chaten, serving a 28-year term for a 1998
rape, has been charged with rape, robbery, and burglary, in a March 1996
attack in Washington. "His DNA profile had been added to a state database
because of the previous conviction." If found guilty, he could face life
in prison under Washington's "two strikes" law for repeat sexual
offenders. (The Seattle Times, 3/16/02)
03/15/02: James Earl Patterson, a Virginia prison inmate, was
executed after investigators got a "cold hit" with his genetic material
added to the database more than ten years ago. Patterson, who already had
been serving time for rape, would have been released by 2005 if his DNA
had not matched the evidence from a previous rape and murder he had
committed. Virginia is leading the way in the collection of DNA evidence
with one of the nation's largest databases. (The Washington Post,
3/15/02)
03/15/02: A bicycle-riding serial rapist has been attacking people
in Grand Prairie, Texas. "Police officials plan to enter DNA evidence from
the assailant into the Combined DNA Index System, the FBI's genetic
information database." (The Dallas Morning News, 3/15/02)
03/14/02: Clyde Charles was freed after serving nineteen years in
prison for a rape he did not commit in Louisiana. The same DNA evidence
convicted his brother Marlo Charles. (The Advocate, 3/14/02)
03/09/02: William E. Cosden, Jr., serving a lengthy sentence for
rape in Washington, has been identified in the 1973 rape and murder of a
14-year-old girl. A 1986 blood sample and a vaginal swab taken from the
victim were sent to a state crime lab, where Cosden's DNA was identified
from the swab. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/19/02)
03/02/02: Donnie Alexander Rogers has been connected to a 1998 rape
in North Carolina. Police used a DNA sample obtained after Rogers was
arrested in another rape case. In 2000, North Carolina officials solved
more than 150 crimes by matching DNA evidence to a statewide database of
more than 35,000 convicted felons. (The Charlotte Observer, 3/2/02)
03/02/02: Maryland is considering legislation that would require
anyone convicted of a felony to provide a DNA sample to a state
depository. Currently, all states require samples from individuals
convicted of sex offenses. Legislators want to address the current backlog
of evidence sitting on shelves and to expand their database. The state is
also considering legislation that would require authorities to keep DNA
evidence from a case as long as the person convicted of the crime is still
in prison. (The Washington Post, 3/2/02)
02/26/02: Alex Virella, a Queens parolee, was arraigned on rape
charges after his DNA linked him to a 1995 sex attack on a Brooklyn woman.
His blood was drawn in August 2000 and not analyzed until December 2001. (New
York Daily News, 2/26/02)
Compiled by the Office of Carolyn B. Maloney
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