Philadelphia Inquirer
Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Not Center City rapist, DNA says

A man sought for questioning has been cleared as a suspect, police say. Now, back to the Colorado leads.

By Barbara Boyer and Larry Fish,
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

A man whom Philadelphia police wanted to interview about the Center City rapes voluntarily submitted to DNA tests and has been cleared as a suspect, Commissioner John F. Timoney announced yesterday.

Timoney said the man, whose name was not released, was picked up on a bench warrant Friday night for drug offenses. He was interviewed by investigators and agreed to give DNA samples that were compared with DNA evidence found at crime scenes linked to the Center City rapist.

"He's innocent," said Timoney, who emphasized that investigators have tracked hundreds of leads and have had numerous suspects at any given time.

The rapist last struck in Philadelphia in August 1999 when a woman was sexually assaulted near 19th and Lombard Streets. She was the sixth victim assaulted over a period of two years that included the 1998 strangulation of University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber, 23.

As it appeared that the investigation was making little progress and years passed without additional attacks, authorities announced a significant lead last month after DNA tests linked the man from the Philadelphia attacks same man to seven sexual assaults since May in the Colorado college town of Fort Collins.

Public reports of the connection jogged the memory of a Philadelphia police officer. The officer, whose name has not been released, had given information to investigators in October 1998 about a man he questioned near Rittenhouse Square regarding a trespassing complaint.

Timoney said yesterday that, at the time, the man had been house-sitting for a doctor and was not found to be doing anything wrong. However, the officer relayed to investigators that the man had physical characteristics similar to the description given of the Center City rapist. The man was interviewed three years ago and ruled out as a suspect.

Last month, the police officer contacted investigators after hearing about the Colorado connection and recalling that the man questioned in October 1999 said he was from the West.

Homicide investigators said last week that they wanted again to question that man, who is in Philadelphia and has a criminal record. He was picked up Friday on a bench warrant relating to a previous arrest. His background does not include any arrests for sexual offenses.

At the news conference, Timoney criticized TV reports that showed the man's picture and released his name. He also is trying to determine whether any of his officers breached confidentiality by leaking the information.