DNA Backlog Reduction: Preventable Crimes

Example from Missouri

DNA technology is evolving rapidly and many states are considering whether to expand DNA databases or invest in DNA casework investigations. In order to inform the discussion of these issues, NIJ commissioned an independent study to ascertain the size of and reasons for the nation's backlog of DNA evidence. The resulting report included the list of cases presented here. This list of cases is not exhaustive, does not identify the perpetrator or victim, and is not a reflection on the criminal justice agencies involved. These cases would remain unsolved if not for extraordinary detective work by dedicated criminal justice professionals in these agencies.

Case studies presented on this site are from an NIJ-funded independent study. Points of view or opinions in the resulting report are those of the authors and do not represent the official position or policies of the United States Department of Justice.

TEN PREVENTABLE RAPES

Between 1988 and 1997, an unidentified masked man was beating up and raping women in areas of Missouri and across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Because many of the 29 or more attacks happened in south St. Louis, the media dubbed the attacker the "South Side Rapist." DNA linked at least 13 of the cases together, but the police were unable to identify a perpetrator.

In October of 1998 St. Louis City Police were called when a man was seen breaking into a house. A van registered to a person known to the police was reported leaving the scene of the break-in. This person's appearance matched a physical description of the South Side Rapist and police asked for a DNA sample. The suspect voluntarily agreed to have his mouth swabbed. Several weeks later the DNA results were returned and positively identified the suspect as the South Side Rapist, who by this time had disappeared. He was arrested several months later in Albuquerque, New Mexico after a worried mother found his hotel number in her daughter's belongings. The suspect ultimately confessed to raping at least 100 women since his late teens.

Preventable Crime: Sometime in 1991 the suspect was convicted of felony burglary for which he served a sentence in the state prison. Prosecutors indicate that there were a minimum of ten rapes occurring after this conviction that are attributable to the suspect. If the state had required a DNA sample from this perpetrator after the burglary conviction, the suspect could have been linked to serial rapes occurring prior to his conviction, thereby preventing at least 10 additional rapes.

ELEVEN PREVENTABLE RAPES AND MURDERS

From April of 2001 through May of 2002, police began finding the bodies of women who had been raped and murdered in the St. Louis/western Illinois area. Investigators recovered semen from the victim's bodies that was sent for crime laboratory analysis. The DNA profiles from the semen recovered from the victims all matched.

A person known to the police became a suspect in the crimes after he wrote an anonymous letter to a local newspaper. An internet-generated map enclosed with the letter led to some computer forensics that eventually identified the specific computer that downloaded the map. The suspect was ultimately arrested in June of 2002 when police found videotapes of himself killing and torturing his victims. On the videotape, the suspect states that he had just committed "murder number seventeen". Police have conclusively linked 12 victims to this offender thus far, and believe the number could be as high as 20. This individual committed suicide shortly after his arrest.

Preventable Crime: In March of 1988, this offender committed a series of five robberies and was sentenced to fifteen years for robbery and armed criminal action. In June 1994, he was paroled after serving five years and three months of his sentence. Unfortunately, Missouri does not require DNA from convicted robbers, and this offender was released without submitting a DNA sample for the state database. With a DNA sample in the database, this offender could have been identified as the killer of the first victim long before a minimum of eleven additional women lost their lives.

NIJ Funded Study

The cases are from National Forensic DNA Study Report and were developed using basic assumptions. For a full discussion on the review methodology that led to the conclusions presented here, see Section VI. "Forensic DNA and Crime Prevention." The report and case studies were prepared by Smith Alling Lane in partnership with Washington State University through the support of a grant awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (Grant 2002-LT-BX-K 003). Points of view or opinions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent the official position or policies of the United States Department of Justice.