Using DNA analysis, a Nov. 11 sexual assault on a Charlottesville woman has been positively linked to four other unsolved cases spanning the last five years, the Charlottesville Police Department announced at a press conference Friday.
The Virginia Division of Forensic Science determined the common genetic thread in the cases by comparing the DNA profile of the Nov. 11 attack to a state database of unsolved crimes.
In the Nov. 11 incident, a woman was attacked between 8 and 9:30 a.m. after returning home from running errands. The intruder is believed to have entered the home through an unlocked door at the victim's home in the Willoughby subdivision.
Two of the four newly resurrected cases, both occurring in the spring of 2000, involved female University students. In April 2000, according to police, a man entered a student's bedroom through a window and forcibly raped her. In another case less than a month later, a man attempted to rape a University student in the Lambeth Field Apartments parking lot.The woman was able to resist and escaped her attacker.
The two other linked cases are the February 1997 rape of a woman in her Waynesboro hotel room and the June 1999 rape of a Charlottesville woman in her Jefferson Park Avenue residence.All four attacks occurred between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Based upon victim descriptions of the assailant, police list him as a black male between 5-foot-6 and 6-foot-3 inches tall, and estimate the attacker's age range between early 20s and early 40s.
The announcement comes on the heels of police possibly linking the Nov. 11 assault with two similar September attacks.Police now say they "feel strongly" the assailant in the sexual assault and the attempted assault that occurred Sept. 26 in Albemarle County is the same person as in the DNA-linked cases because of "a number of behavioral traits that match," according to the press release issued after the conference.
Police did not expound on the nature of these traits.
Richard Bonnie, director of the University's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, however, speculated that these traits may include characteristics of the victim, time of the assault and any interaction the assailants had with the victims.
In linking the incidents, Bonnie said police might be able to consolidate case information, "looking for similarities," and so doing find new leads by shedding light on facts "not focused on before."
The Division of Forensic Science, who made the link, is an independent statewide laboratory system under the state Department of Criminal Justice that provides forensic-related assistance to Virginia's more than 400 law enforcement agencies. Division examiners analyze evidence, interpret results and provide expert testimony during court proceedings, according to the Division's Web site.
The fact that University students have been victims of this string of sexual assaults has not been taken lightly by University administrators.
University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said that through e-mail alerts and other communication efforts, the administration and University police are encouraging students to be more aware of their surroundings and to "look out for friends."
The police departments of Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Albemarle County and the University are now "engaged in a collaborative investigative effort," according to the press release, and are encouraging citizens to come forward with "any possible investigative information."
Citizens with information should call Crimestoppers at 977-4000.
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