Serial Rapist Hoped DNA Would Clear His Name -- Instead, it Linked Him to Another Rape
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| Timothy Boles thought DNA would clear his name -- but it didn't; it just linked him to another rape. |
Oops.
Boles was convicted in 1993 of multiple charges stemming from the sexual assaults of four young girls. He would attack girls as young as 10 as they slept in their beds.
With the help of the Arizona Justice Project, Boles thought having his DNA tested would clear him of one of the rapes -- but it didn't; it just re-affirmed his guilt as his DNA matched DNA found on the victim of the 1988 attack.
Simultaneously, the Phoenix Police Department's Cold Case Unit was using
federal grant money to check DNA of convicted criminals against DNA
recovered from unsolved crime scenes. Guess what they found out -- not
only was Boles guilty of the rape of which he claimed he was innocent,
but his DNA linked him to yet another rape, this one the 1991 sexual
assault of a 12-year-old girl.
Lindsay Herf, spokeswoman for the Arizona Justice Project, tells New Times
Boles applied to have the AJP look at his case as he was serving a life
sentence for the sexual assaults. She says they agreed to have a look
at the case because there were some lingering questions that could be answered by
applying modern DNA technology to evidence found at the scene.
The big concern for the AJP, she says, was the fact that the victim in
the case never got a good look at her attacker. More than 20 years
later, under a microscope, lab technicians did get a good look at
the man who attacked the girl (his DNA, anyway) -- and it was Boles.
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