Philadelphia Inquirer
Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Airman arrested in Colorado may be Center City rapist

From Inquirer Staff and Wire Reports

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — An Air Force airman was arrested today in connection with six sexual assaults here last summer that were linked to DNA evidence in a series of assaults in Philadelphia, including the murder of a University of Pennsylvania student.

Airman 1st Class Troy Graves, 29, was being held on $1 million bond on suspicion of six counts of first-degree burglary, four counts of sex assault and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct, Larimer County sheriff’s deputy Julie Barney said.

Police were waiting for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to analyze DNA evidence to say whether Graves could also be charged in Philadelphia.

Officials here say they are taking a "wait and see" approach until DNA tests are complete later this week.

"He's not a suspect. He's a prime suspect," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said. "At this point, until we get the DNA evidence we're going to take a wait-and-see approach."

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said today that Graves had voluntarily come from Wyoming to Fort Collins to speak with investigators after they narrowed down a list of people who had connections to both Philadelphia and Fort Collins.

She said one of Graves' fingerprints matched a print found at the scene of one of the Colorado rapes. However, she cautioned that she DNA evidence in Philadelphia.

By court order, Graves submitted hair, blood and saliva samples for DNA testing, she said.

Graves had a known address in Levittown, Bucks County. He also had previously lived in West Philadelphia and Northern Liberties.

Graves arrived at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., on April 11, 2000, said Staff Sgt. Kurt Arkenberg. He was a missile maintainer and worked on intercontinental ballistic missiles, he said.

Military leaders were cooperating with Fort Collins police, he said.

Then he seemed to vanish, until last year, when Fort Collins police said DNA evidence linked the same man to six sexual assaults that took place from May to August 2001 near the Colorado State University campus.

The DNA tests have not linked him to any crimes since the Colorado assaults but officials believe he continued his attacks all along.

Officials in Philadelphia say they are waiting for DNA tests that are expected to be completed later this week.

To stay ahead of Pennsylvania's five-year statute of limitations on rape, District Attorney Lynne Abraham filed charges in December against the DNA profile of the unknown man. Homicide charges also were filed in Philadelphia against the attacker - called "John Doe" in the warrants - because Schieber, 23, was killed while trying to fight off her assailant during the May 6, 1998, attack.

DNA tests showed that the Wharton School student was killed by a man who had sexually assaulted four other young women before her death and one after her killing.

In each case, the intruder climbed through a window or balcony doors during the early morning hours of spring or summer months. The assailant blindfolded the women and forced them to perform a sexual act.

In the Fort Collins attacks, an intruder entered apartments through unlocked doors or windows in the early morning hours and sexually assaulted women.