Nigga's Caught By White Man's Voodoo! DNA/Cold Case

[voiceofreason]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article230687989.html

After 12 years, DNA helps NC deputies solve notorious cold case of a grandmother’s rape
May 22, 2019 12:24 PM,

WARRENTON

In July 2007, an 80-year-old grandmother was tending flowers in her front yard when a passing car slowed down and backed up, making her uneasy.

She moved inside, then answered a knock at her locked screen door. A man outside offered to clean her carpets, which she politely declined. When he offered her a card with her number, she opened the door to accept it — a moment’s mistake.

Before he left that day, the attacker raped his elderly victim, barricaded her in the bedroom and told her he was going to take a shower, promising to kill anyone who arrived. When the grandmother managed to slip free of the cords that bound her and push her way out, her attacker was gone, but he had taken the $5 bills she was tucking into family birthday cards.

Last month, a jury in Warrenton convicted Michael Steven Elder, 54, of rape, kidnapping and a string of other felonies, sending him to prison for 27 to 33 years.

The victim, whom the N&O is not identifying, died in 2015, never knowing that anyone had been apprehended for the crime. But at the end of Elder’s trial, her daughter stood and told the court the family did not celebrate the sentence.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://ktla.com/2019/05/30/former-...oman-found-strangled-near-air-base-in-irvine/

Former Marine Arrested in 1976 Killing of 30-Year-Old Woman Found Strangled Near Air Base in Irvine
Posted 7:11 PM, May 30, 2019

A former Marine has been arrested in the death of a woman found strangled near an Irvine military base 43 years ago, officials said Thursday.

Eddie Lee Anderson, 66, is suspected of killing 30-year-old Leslie Penrod Harris in May 1976 and dumping her body near the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which has since been decommissioned, Orange County sheriff’s officials said in a news release.

Harris was dining with her husband at a restaurant in Costa Mesa the evening of May 17, but went out alone around 8:30 p.m. She still hadn’t returned by the time the establishment closed, and her husband reported her missing, authorities said.

Around 4:30 a.m. the next morning, military police from the air base found Harris’ body lying on a roadway just outside its perimeter. It was later determined she had been strangled, deputies said.

Detectives approached nearby businesses and taxi companies that served the area, but no leads were developed. Although officials suspected the killer was connected to the military, due to Harris’ body being found in an area the general public was unfamiliar with, the case went cold.

There were multiple attempts — in 1997 and 2016 — to revive the case after advancements were made in DNA analysis, but no matches to the evidence collected during Harris’ were found, detectives said.

But O.C. investigators began using genealogy to identify suspects in the case last year, and earlier this year a joint effort with the FBI helped them identify Anderson as a person of interest.

Further investigation led authorities to determine Anderson had been enlisted in the Marines and lived at the El Toro base in the early ’70s.

When Harris was killed, he lived less than a mile from the restaurant she visited the night of her death, officials said.

This year on May 23, O.C. sheriff’s officials traveled to Louisiana, where Anderson was living, to interview him.

After Anderson volunteered to provide a DNA sample, he was arrested on suspicion of murder last Friday, May 24, at his home in River Ridge, Louisiana.

He’s now in the custody of the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office, but O.C. authorities are working to extradite him back to California.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://fox8.com/2019/05/31/akron-police-say-dna-leads-to-arrest-of-accused-serial-rapist/

Akron police say DNA leads to arrest of accused serial rapist
Posted 3:37 pm, May 31, 2019

AKRON, Ohio -- Akron police arrested a man who they say is a serial rapist.

According to a press release, Prentice L. Smith, 43, of Akron, was charged in four rape cases.

Detectives working the cold case Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) received DNA profile matches on Smith in the four cases which date back to 2011.

Police say in of the cases, the suspect was armed with gun and is accused of threatening the female before ordering her into his car.

Akron police say Smith would drive to a secluded area and sexually assault the victims.

The most recent case was on Christmas Day of 2018.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2019/06/01/admit...le-charged-with-murder-of-more-women-in-ohio/

Admitted serial killer Samuel Little charged with murder of more women in Ohio
By Eileen AJ Connelly
June 1, 2019 | 9:00am | Updated June 1, 2019 | 9:01am

The man who may be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history is facing new charges for two of his victims in Ohio.

Samuel Little was indicted Friday in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for killing two women in Cleveland. The 78-year-old is already serving four life sentences, one for murder in Texas, where he is locked up, and three for slayings in California.

Both victims — Mary Jo Peyton in 1984 and Rose Evans in 1991 — were strangled and dumped in poor neighborhoods in the city that Little described to investigators as “raggedy.” He is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and six counts of kidnapping.

Little confessed to killing another Cleveland woman in 1977 or 1978. Authorities are still working on that case.

The FBI in April released a series of sketches Little did of his victim. He has confessed to killing 93 women across the country.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-...t-in-24-year-old-rape-case-in-west-palm-beach


Police: DNA test leads to arrest in 24-year-old rape case in West Palm Beach
Bond set at $100,000

Updated: 3:00 PM, Jun 20, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A decades-old sexual assault case has been solved through a DNA test, West Palm Beach police say.

According to investigators, in 1995, a 14-year-old girl was at her school bus stop when a man offered to give her a ride to school.

She got in the man's car, but instead of taking her to school, he sexually assaulted her.

West Palm Beach police said on Wednesday that a DNA test recently completed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect as Jeffries Jackson. He was taken into custody with the help of the U.S. Marshals Task Force.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.news4jax.com/news/bapti...rrested-charged-with-multiple-sexual-assaults

Police: Serial rapist caught through DNA match to brother
Man suspected in sexual attacks of as many as 8 women, sheriff says
Updated: 6:30 PM, August 14, 2019

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Middleburg man suspected of raping multiple women over the course of four years has been arrested, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams announced Wednesday.

Williams said Brandon Deangelo Young, 34, was connected to the sexual assaults after DNA taken from several victims' rape kits came back as a familial match to someone in the offender DNA database.

That familial match was to Young's brother. Williams said the DNA hit to the brother led them to identify Young as a person of interest in the case. Other investigative efforts helped police obtain a court order for Young's DNA, which matched to the DNA from the rape kits, Williams said.

Young was found at his Middleburg home and taken into custody without incident by Clay County authorities in late July.

“A previously unknown sexual predator was taken off the street and can now be held accountable for his actions,” Williams said.

Young has since been tied to multiple attacks and could have as many as eight victims, Williams said.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.kptv.com/news/da-man-in...cle_b95f995c-c69e-11e9-a1b7-cb14e92eb0b0.html

DA: Man indicted for allegedly raping, sexually abusing woman in Multnomah Co.
8/24/19

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OR (KPTV) - A man was indicted for allegedly raping a woman in 2007 on Friday.

The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said Donnie Michael Willis Jr., 52, was indicted as part of the Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Elimination Project for allegedly raping and sexually abusing a 31-year-old woman in 2007.

On Friday, a jury returned the four-count indictment against Willis Jr. and an arrest warrant was issued

The indictment charges Willis Jr. with one count of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

It alleged that Willis Jr., while in Multnomah County on or about May 27, 2007, unlawfully and knowingly, by forcible compulsion, engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim and that he unlawfully and knowingly by means of forcible compulsion subjected her to sexual contact by touching multiple sexual intimate parts of her body. The indictment also alleges that Willis Jr. used or threatened to use a weapon.

https://ktvl.com/news/local/multnom...th-tied-to-backlog-of-tested-sex-assault-kits

On Feb. 25, 2019, Willis Jr. was identified as the perpetrator based on DNA samples, according to the indictment.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://mynbc15.com/news/local/cold-case-murder-suspect-in-custody-after-standoff-at-mobile-home

Cold case murder suspect in custody after standoff at Mobile home
Tuesday, September 10th 2019

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — A standoff between authorities and a suspect in a cold case took place on Tuesday on Cheshire Dr. W in Mobile.

After years of investigation, police say 61-year-old Alvin Ray Allen was developed as the suspect involved in the murder of Sandra Williams. This murder occurred on September 11, 1980.

According to police, Allen barricaded himself into his house when police attempted to serve an arrest warrant and the S.W.A.T. team was dispatched to the scene.

The suspect's wife surrendered herself to authorities. Police then used a robot to gain entry to the house and the suspect then surrendered to police.

Less than 12 hours after being arrested, Allen was given bond and released from Mobile Metro Jail. We went back to his house Tuesday afternoon and knocked on the door to ask if he had anything to say, but no one answered.

(image: WPMI) SANDRA CASSADY WILLIAMS


https://www.fox10tv.com/news/mobile...cle_2c886a2a-d406-11e9-8d74-97dafba7a6bf.html

Cold case murder suspect back in jail after being released in error.
Update: 9/11/19

Mobile District Attorney Ashley, Rich 61-year-old Alvin Ray Allen has been booked back into Mobile Metro after being released due to a clerical error.

Below is a Press Release from Mobile County SO

On September 10, 2019, The Mobile Metro Jail released ALVIN RAY ALLEN on a $100,000.00 bond from four bonding companies. Mobile County Corrections Officer who was processing ALLEN did not see the $10,000.00 cash component at the bottom of the Writ of Arrest.



https://www.al.com/news/2019/09/man-arrested-in-1980-alabama-rape-and-murder-of-teen.html


Man arrested in 1980 Alabama rape and murder of teen
Posted Sep 10, 2019

A 61-year-old man was arrested Tuesday morning in connection to the rape and murder of a teen in Mobile almost 40 years ago.

Alvin Ray Allen was arrested in his home in the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Sandra Williams on Sept. 11, 1980, according to Mobile police Sgt. Rusty Hardeman.

The case went cold for over 35 years until the family of Williams brought it back to light and more information was uncovered by DNA evidence and new witness confessions, WKRG has reported.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-...a-serial-killer-arrested-in-palm-beach-county

DNA from discarded cigarette lands suspected Florida serial killer behind bars, PBSO says
Updated: 8:53 AM, Sep 16, 2019

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says DNA from a discarded cigarette helped detectives arrest a suspected serial killer from the Central Florida area.

Robert Tyrone Hayes, 37, appeared in court Monday morning on first-degree murder charges and was denied bond.

"If we wouldn't have put this individual in jail, he would've done this again and we would've had another innocent victim," said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw at a news conference Monday morning.


Palm Beach County detectives said Hayes murdered 32-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Bey, whose body was found by workers along the Beeline Highway on March 7, 2016.

"This is all about Rachel Bey," said Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg. "That's why we are here, and we will do justice for her."

According to an arrest report, a DNA swab was taken during Bey's autopsy using a Sexual Battery Examination Kit.

Detectives said the test produced a full DNA profile of the attacker, and that same profile matched an unidentified attacker from a homicide in Daytona Beach from the late 2005, early 2006 time period.

Investigators eventually identified Hayes as a possible suspect, saying he lived in Palm Beach County and Daytona Beach during the time of the murders.

According to Hayes' arrest report, on Sept. 13, 2019, agents with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Fugitive Task force observed Hayes smoking a cigarette, then discarding the cigarette as he waited for a bus near his home.

Agents collected the discarded cigarette and had it tested for DNA.

PBSO said Hayes' DNA from the cigarette matched the DNA found on Bey, as well as DNA from the Daytona Beach homicide case.

All told, Daytona Beach police said on Monday that Hayes is connected to at least three murders in that city, one from 2005 and two from 2006.

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/article/20160311/NEWS/812036588

Brother recalls ‘loving and caring’ woman found dead on Beeline

For 10 years, Aliahu Bey and his family have tried to get their baby sister, Rachel, out of Florida. The “loving and caring girl” was caught up in drugs and run-ins with the law, but he said she was always trying to get better. Each time they offered her a way out, though, the Riviera Beach woman decided to stay.


https://www.wesh.com/article/dayton...a-from-palm-beach-county-murder-case/29061196

 

[voiceofreason]

https://myfox8.com/2019/09/18/71-ye...in-winston-salem-after-new-evidence-surfaces/

71-year-old man charged 25 years after rape in Winston-Salem after new evidence surfaces
Posted 2:23 pm, September 18, 2019

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A 71-year-old man is facing charges more than 25 years after he allegedly raped a woman, according to Winston-Salem police.

The case began on Nov. 3, 1993, when police responded to a reported rape.

A woman said an unknown man approached her with a knife on Cayuga Street and forced her into another area where he assaulted her.

With no new leads, the case became inactive on Jan. 11, 1994.

Then, in 2017, the Winston-Salem Police Department took part in a North Carolina sexual assault kit testing initiative, in which the city submitted sexual assault kits for analysis at a private laboratory.

Since then, WSPD’s special victims unit continued investigating leads based on the results of that initiative.

On Dec. 17, analysis of a sexual assault kit sparked a lead.

With new evidence, on Sept. 17, 2019, Winston-Salem police obtained warrants for the arrest of John Henry Alford, 71, for first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping. Alford was already being held in the North Carolina Department of Correction for unrelated reasons.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.kptv.com/news/man-wante...cle_993f3d5a-e145-11e9-8b02-c3331ba72a48.html

Man wanted in connection with 2011 Portland rape case arrested by U.S. Marshals in Reno

9/27/19

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - U.S. Marshals arrested a man who was wanted out of Portland in Reno, Nevada Friday.

The U.S. Marshals Service in the District of Nevada said Timothy Nathaniel Hogue, 49, was located in the area near Gould Street and 2nd Street.

Hogue was wanted on a felony warrant for first-degree rape.

The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said that the arrest is associated to the indictment that was filed against Leslie L. Thornton.

Thornton is facing two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in connection with a sexual assault that occurred in November 2011.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/n...e-captured-mexico-2007-child-rape/3853655002/

Most-wanted fugitive captured in Mexico for Detroit child rape
Updated 3:55 p.m. ET Oct. 3, 2019

Detroit — A man wanted for more than a decade in the rape of a young girl has been arrested in Mexico, authorities announced Thursday.

Corey Deshawn Gaston, 41, was arrested Tuesday near Guadalajara, Mexico, and is being held at the Cook County Jail in Chicago until he is extradited to Michigan, where he has a pending trial.

Gaston is wanted by the Detroit Police Department for numerous offenses including first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a child under 13, kidnapping, home invasion and child enticement.

The 2007 incident in Detroit landed Gaston on the U.S. Marshals Service Most Wanted Fugitives list as armed and dangerous with a $25,000 reward for his arrest.

"Corey Gaston is every parent’s worst nightmare," said Mark Jankowski, acting U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Michigan, in a statement.

"While he was on the run for more than 10 years, the Marshals considered it borrowed time because we never stopped looking for him. I hope his arrest brings some sense of closure to the victim and her family who had to endure years of him eluding justice."

Authorities said the attack occurred on June 27, 2007. Gaston is accused of breaking into the Detroit home of a 10-year-old girl and kidnapping her through a bedroom window.

He allegedly put the child over his shoulder and ran to a nearby alley where he threw her on the ground and brutally raped her.

After the rape, he told her to go home and threatened to hurt her if she screamed or ran away, authorities said.

Authorities found Gaston’s phone and DNA at the scene of the crime. Within days of the attack, a warrant was issued for Gaston’s arrest, but his whereabouts were unknown.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...harges-in-cold-case-homicides-from-1996-2010/

Atlantic County Prosecutors Announce Charges In Cold Case Homicides From 1996, 2010
By CBS3 Staff
October 22, 2019 at 6:51 pm

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) — The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office has announced charges in two cold case homicides, including one from 23 years ago. Twenty-year-old Antojuan Huffin was shot to death during a gunpoint robbery in 1996.

During their investigation, authorities identified his killers as Lamarc Rex and another man, identified only as TC.

TC was arrested earlier this month. Rex remains on the loose.

Police have issued a warrant for Rex’s arrests.

Authorities also announced the arrest of Lorin Wright.

Wright’s charged with killing 26-year-old Saleem Tolbert in Atlantic City in 2010.

The mothers of both victims spoke about finding some kind of closure.

“Every day I think about my child. It’s very hard. It’s just been a long time. I’ll just be glad when justice is served,” said Vernesta Green, Huffin’s mom.

“It took months, days, years to get to this point. I don’t want to say we’re excited, but we’re relieved that it’s come to this point,” said Sheila Harvey, Tolbert’s mom.

Authorities say Rex should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is being urged to contact police.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loc...1988-murder-rape-of-Gary-woman-563770541.html

Merrillville Man Charged in 1988 Murder, Rape of Gary Woman
Published Oct 24, 2019 at 6:36 AM

The FBI is crediting new witness testimony and technological advances in solving a decades-old rape and murder in northwest Indiana.

Tyrone Andrew McKee, 56, of Merrillville, was charged Tuesday in Lake County Superior Court with a count of murder and a count of rape in the 1988 murder of 23-year-old Colleen Callahan, the FBI said in a statement.

The woman’s body was found Nov. 9, 1988 in an abandoned house in Gary, the FBI said. The FBI Gang Response Investigative Team began to reinvestigate the cold case last year.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2019/10/30/florida-inmate-indicted-memphis-rape-cases-s/

Florida inmate indicted in 2 Memphis rape cases from 1980s

Updated October 29 at 10:30 PM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - DNA evidence reveals a Florida man could be linked to two Memphis rapes more than 30 years old, according to the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office.

In 2017, Jimmy Love’s profile was entered into the national FBI database as part of the effort to end the Memphis and Shelby County rape kit backlog.

Love was serving a life sentence for various sex and violent crimes at a Florida prison where DNA swabs then confirmed he matched evidence in Memphis rape cases from 1986 and 1987.

The 54-year-old Memphis native was extradited to the city this week on two counts of aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://wreg.com/2019/11/08/michigan-man-charged-in-2004-rape-of-memphis-woman/

Michigan man charged in 2004 rape of Memphis woman
Posted 2:56 pm, November 8, 2019

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Prosecutors say a Michigan man has been charged in the rape of a Memphis woman 15 years ago.

Shelby County prosecutors said Friday that 62-year-old Ferlin Scott is being held in jail after he was taken into custody last week. Scott is a former resident of Memphis, Tennessee. His last known address was in Detroit.

Investigators say that a woman who was walking in a Memphis neighborhood was abducted and raped by a man with a pocket knife in August 2004.

DNA evidence from the attack was tested in 2014. Investigators say the profile matched Scott’s DNA.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/201...-rape-of-silver-lake-woman-stephanie-sommers/


Thanks To DNA, Man Convicted In 1980 Cold Case Murder, Rape Of Silver Lake Woman
November 8, 2019 at 5:27 pm

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A 60-year-old man already serving prison time for an unrelated murder was convicted earlier this week in the brutal cold case killing of a 36-year-old woman in her Silver Lake apartment nearly four decades ago.

Harold Anthony Parkinson was convicted Tuesday by a Los Angeles County jury of one count of first-degree murder in the 1980 slaying of Stephanie Sommers, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office. The jury also determined that Parkinson had raped her.

On Aug. 30, 1980, Sommers was raped and stabbed to death 16 times in her apartment in the 3500 block of Marathon Street. She was also bludgeoned in the head with an eight-pound weight.

The case went unsolved until cold case L.A. police detectives got a lead that Parkinson — who had lived a mile away from the victim — could be a suspect in the killing.

A DNA sample collected from Parkinson was consistent with the DNA profile from a sperm sample collected from Sommers.

Parkinson is already serving 15 years to life in prison for a 1981 murder which also occurred in L.A. He has been in prison since March of 1982.

Prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty. He now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on the new conviction on Dec. 2.


https://ktla.com/2019/11/05/man-ser...-of-raping-killing-silver-lake-woman-in-1980/

Harold Anthony Parkinson is shown in a photo released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Nov. 6, 2019.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://heavy.com/news/2019/11/giles-warrick/

Giles Warrick: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know


Updated Nov 14, 2019 at 3:44pm

Giles Warrick is the 60-year-old South Carolina man who is accused of being the “Potomac River rapist” who murdered a Washington D.C. intern and raped nine other women during a seven-year crime spree in the 1990s, authorities alleged.

Forensic genealogy allowed authorities to identify Warrick, who will be charged with first-degree murder and charges relating to the multiple sexual assault, authorities revealed in a press conference on November 14, 2019. Authorities called Warrick’s alleged acts “heinous” and said it took a “collective effort” over multiple years to identify the suspect. The same technique was previously used to apprehend the alleged Golden State Killer, as well as other cases throughout the country.

Between 1991 and the intern’s murder seven years later, the Potomac River Rapist “brazenly and brutally preyed upon women in the Washington area,” the FBI reports. Jail records reviewed by Heavy show that Giles Daniel Warrick was booked into the Horry County Jail in South Carolina on November 13, 2019 at 3:29 a.m. No bail has been set. Warrick is from Conway, South Carolina.

“Victims were attacked in their homes and included an 18-year-old babysitter and a mother whose infant was in the house at the time of the attack. Seven of the nine attacks have been linked by DNA, and all are linked by the offender’s similar violent methods,” the FBI wrote about the Potomac River Rapist before Warrick was arrested.

Seven of the rapes occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland, and two of them occurred in D.C.


Christine Mirzayan, a National Academy of Sciences Intern, Was Bludgeoned to Death by the Rock-Wielding Serial Rapist

One young woman, Christie Mirzayan, 29, lost her life, the FBI says, at the hands of the serial rapist. At the time of her murder, Mirzayan was a National Academy of Sciences intern.


The FBI explained that Christine Mirzayan “was the last known victim of the Potomac River Rapist. On the evening of August 1, 1998, the 29-year-old had walked to a friend’s cookout in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. Recently married, Mirzayan had come to Washington from San Francisco for an internship at the National Academy of Sciences and was living in student housing at Georgetown University.”

When the cookout was over, “a group of her friends decided to go out dancing, but Mirzayan declined because she was recovering from the flu. She started to walk home by herself, but she never made it. On her way, she was raped and repeatedly bludgeoned with a 73-pound rock,” the FBI says.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://patch.com/california/studiocity/genealogy-data-used-crack-cold-case-rape-murders-lada

Genealogy Data Used To Crack Cold Case Rape-Murders: LADA
In LA County's first case solved by genealogy technology, a killer tied to a pair of 80s murders is in custody, prosecutors said.

Nov 15, 2019 4:58 pm PT | Updated Nov 15, 2019 5:17 pm PT

LOS ANGELES, CA —One of law enforcement's newest crime-solving tools was used to bring capital murder charges Friday against a Bakersfield man accused of killing two young women in the 1980s, including a Reseda resident whose body was found in the trunk of her car in a Burbank parking lot, police and prosecutors said.

The charges against Horace Van Vaultz Jr. mark the first criminal prosecution in Los Angeles County involving investigative genetic genealogy, in which detectives access commercial DNA databases, load DNA material from the crime and find a relative's match that can point toward a suspect and collect their DNA, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

Van Vaultz, 64, is charged with the June 9, 1986, asphyxiation killing of 22-year-old Mary Duggan in the San Fernando Valley and the July 16, 1981, strangulation of Selena Keough, a 20-year-old mother who was killed in San Bernardino County and dumped under bushes in Montclair.

Mary Duggan, Courtesy of the Burbank Police Department

Both women had been sexually assaulted and bound.

 

[voiceofreason]

https://www.commercialappeal.com/st...rapist-sentenced-371-years-prison/4302880002/

Southaven man described as the 'poster child for serial rapists' sentenced to 371 years in prison
Published 5:02 p.m. CT Nov. 25, 2019

A Southaven man convicted of five aggravated rapes and 24 other felony offenses that took place in Memphis was sentenced to 371 years in prison Monday, Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said.

William L. Gossett, 37, was described by a judge as “a poster child for serial rapists.” He pleaded guilty in September to 29 total felony counts, including aggravated rape, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony, identity theft, attempted aggravated rape and theft.

The cases involved 15 victims from more than a dozen incidents that occurred between July 2012 and April 2016. The majority of those events took place in apartment units in Memphis, according to Weirich.

Gossett typically gained access to the apartments where the crimes were committed through a sliding glass door or window and was often armed with a gun or knife.

In a statement read to the court at Gossett’s sentencing, a woman who was 16 at the time she was raped in 2012 said she had nightmares, had to miss a month of school and was “scarred for life” by the event. Gossett refused to attend the sentencing.

Gossett also has a juvenile criminal record. In 1998, Gossett was convicted of raping two children, ages 5 and 8, according to Weirich.

Weirich said a team of investigators with the district attorney’s special victim’s unit and the Memphis Police Department sex crimes unit linked Gossett to the crimes through DNA evidence, fingerprints and motor vehicle records, among other evidence.

After Gossett’s arrest in 2016, the investigators obtained a search warrant for his residence in Southaven and found items belonging to the victims, including jewelry, wallets, personal checks, mail, library cards and birth certificates. Other items belonging to the victims were located at pawn shops.