Using DNA to identify a rapist can be a race against time, especially if the suspect turns out to be a serial offender. And Cuyahoga Countys Medical Examiner office plays a part in catching them. Sexual assault kits are a big part of Cleveland city, so we take a big chunk of those rape kits and do it here, said Dr.NasirButt, Director and Technical Manager for the DNA Lab. Such was recently the case in Cuyahoga County, with the so-called Early Morning Rapist in Cleveland and Lakewood. It fell upon the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners office to process the DNA evidence, as does much DNA evidence in the county. We had that outrageous rape of that walker/jogger at104thand Lake Avenue that was viciously attacked, and we all wanted that solved, said Prosecutor TimMcGinty. We went to the Medical Examiner's office and we asked for help. Investigators gathered evidence from the victim to assemble a sexual assault kit. We reexamined the evidence at a rush and found on nontraditional spots some of the clothing within the pockets the robber/rapist had reached into the pockets of the lady in Lakewood as he attacked her,McGintysaid. And they found skin cells there. Enough skin … Continue reading →

By Nathan Hardin Investigators have matched the DNA of one of the men charged with robbing a Reeds Jewelers last month in Fayetteville to a piece of skin found after a similar jewelry heist in Mississippi earlier this year, court records show. The Mississippi State Crime Lab told Fayetteville police on Nov. 4 that DNA from 24-year-old Brandon Phillip Wilkerson matched a piece of skin found after three men smashed Rolex display cases at a jewelry store inside a mall in Tupelo on June 23, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Monday. Wilkerson and two others - Darion Savon Thompson, 21, and Dajuan Cortez Marcellus, 25 - were taken into custody Oct. 22 after Fayetteville police detectives said the trio used sledge hammers to smash a display case filled with Rolex watches at Reeds Jewelers at Cross Creek Mall. The three men were traveling in a Chevrolet Tahoe when lawmen stopped them in Dillon, South Carolina, and charged each with robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy stemming from the Reeds Jewelers heist. They are in the Cumberland County jail, each with $100,000 bail. According to affidavits, Fayetteville authorities used a GPS tracking device attached to one of the … Continue reading →