News
Displaying News and Event Items: 61 - 70 of 806.
Authorities identify killer in 1987 cold case on Arizona hiking trail
— AZ Family Digital News Staff, Aug 26, 2023
"The murder of 23-year-old Cathy Sposito was unsolved, but remained open and active for 36 years. Cathy rode her bike to a trailhead and began a hike. However, hikers in the area later reported hearing screams for help. By the time they found Sposito, she was dead. Investigators found she was shot in the eye, stabbed and hit in the head with a rock and ratchet.
Sheriff David Rhodes named Bryan Scott Bennett as Sposito’s killer. Bennett also allegedly had more victims in northern Arizona who were attacked and sexually assaulted. SAKI funds were used to support the genealogy work as well as travel for the investigation and exhumation of Bennet's remains."
After nearly 30 years, North Texas police charge man with sexually assaulting woman, child
— James Hartley, Star-telegram, Aug 23, 2023
"Denton police arrested a 53-year-old man in two sexual assault and child sexual assault cold cases nearly 30 years after the rapes occurred in 1993 and 1997, according to a news release from police. Marcus Deshaun Johnson was connected to the two cases through DNA evidence collected at the time, according to the news release. Police announced his arrest Tuesday.
A National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant also provided funding to support Denton police efforts to solve sexual assault cold cases."
DNA analysis helps lead to an arrest in a 1991 Durham rape case
— The News and Observer, AARON SÁNCHEZ-GUERRA, Aug 22, 2023
"A Durham man is accused of breaking into a woman’s home and raping her 32 years ago. Kenneth Lunsford, 60, was arrested by the Durham Police Department’s Cold Case Unit on Aug. 17 through the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which matched his DNA to evidence collected from a sexual assault kit."
DNA project that led to arrest in McCleary rape case reaches milestone
— Harbor News, KXRO, Aug 11, 2023
"Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that his lawfully owed DNA project has reached a milestone, with more than 2,000 new profiles added to the national DNA database since the effort began.
“Collecting the DNA of thousands of serious offenders will help us solve more cold cases,” Ferguson said. “This work makes communities safer and sends the message that we will use every tool at our disposal to bring justice to survivors and victims of these devastating crimes.”
Police arrest serial rape suspect in Baltimore County
— Tommie Clark, WBALTV, Aug 3, 2023
"James Shipe was arrested for the rape of at least five women between 1978 and 1986. Evidence that tied Shipe to the crimes came from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center Slide Project. Shipe previously faced a charge in 1970 for assault with intent to rape and was arrested in 1998 for a trespassing "peeping Tom" incident in the same area as the five rape cases."
Fugitive who faked his death can be extradited to Utah to face a rape charge
— Brian Melley Associated Press, KSLTV, Aug 2, 2023
"The documents allege that Rossi raped a former girlfriend he had met on myspace.com and briefly dated in Orem, Utah. The woman reported the sexual assault to a local hospital and her rape kit was tested as part of the “sexual assault kit initiative” in 2017. The DNA found connected investigators to Rossi."
Arrest Made in Cold Case Rapes: School Bus Driver Linked to Decades-Old Crimes
— ABQ RAW Staff, Jul 27, 2023
"In a significant development, agents from the Bernalillo County District Attorney's office have arrested a 61-year-old school bus driver named Ralph Anthony Martinez in connection with four cold case rapes that occurred in Northeast Albuquerque during the 1980s and 1990s.
The arrest came after a meticulous forensic genetic genealogy DNA investigation conducted by the District Attorney's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Team (SAKI)."
BCA finishes testing on previously unsubmitted rape kits from 2015 backlog
— CBS Minnesota, Jul 27, 2023
"The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it has caught up on a years-long backlog of rape kits.
In 2015, law enforcement agencies were asked to account for all untested kits and send them to the BCA for testing. Of the backlogged kits tested, approximately 130 new suspects were identified according to the BCA."
Alaska's Sexual Assault Kit Tracking Software goes live statewide
— KINY Radio, Jul 26, 2023
"The Alaska Department of Public Safety’s Sex Assault Kit Tracking System recently went live statewide enabling survivors of sexual assault to track the status of their kit securely online.
Victims now have access to a portal for the tracking system which allows them to track the progress of their kit in the least invasive and traumatic way."
