A suspect identified as a serial rapist through DNA evidence has attacked women of widely different backgrounds during four attacks between 2000 and 2004 in Thornton, Federal Heights and Aurora.
“We would have never put these (cases) together because the victimology is so different for each victim,” said Det. Billie-jo Naysmith, spokeswoman for the Thornton police department. “It’s very unusual.”
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation recently tied the four cases together through DNA analysis, Naysmith said.
On Dec. 20, the Thornton police department obtained an arrest warrant for the smallish-built man who uses different weapons and violence to control his victims, she said.
Police in Thornton, where the rapist struck twice, released a composite sketch of the rapist that was drawn in 2002. The suspect is described as a thin Hispanic man in his early twenties, Naysmith said. He is about 5-foot, 4-inches tall and may have a Spanish accent, Naysmit said.
“We’re talking about a fairly small suspect who had to use a weapon or force to control them,” she said.
Naysmith said CBI’s backlog is partially to blame for not making the connection for more than a year after the last attack in 2004. It was difficult for detectives to see the connections in the cases because the rapist attacked women of different ages and races, she said.
The rapist attacked a women in her 20s and another in her 50s, Naysmith said. He has used different kinds of weapons to control the women. She declined to name what weapons he used.
In two of the rapes he knocked on the front door and when the woman opened the door he forced his way in and raped the woman, Naysmith said. In the other two cases, the women awoke with the attacker on top of them in bed, she said.
He beat some of the women with his hands, in part to control them and partly because he wanted to strike them, Naysmith said.
All of the women were either married or had live-in boyfriends, she said.
“He definitely seems to be watching for at least enough time to know it’s safe for him to go in,” Naysmith said. “He knew there would be no one there to protect them.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
