Coverage of "downgrading" crimes
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Misfiled cases from rape unit are resolved
A plea bargain resolves the last of charges brought after a sweeping review of Phila. police sex-crimes practices.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, March 28, 2004
Kelly was 13 when she told police that Keith Duda forced himself on her, covering her mouth with his hand while he had sex.
City not liable in Schieber slaying
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004
A federal jury found yesterday that a Philadelphia police practice of downgrading the complaints of many rape victims did not contribute to the 1998 sexual assault and murder of graduate student Shannon Schieber.
Jury rules against Schiebers in lawsuit
Philadelphia Daily News Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004
A multi-million dollar jury verdict wasn't going to bring Shannon Schieber back.
City not liable in rape/murder case, jury decides
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004
A federal jury this morning cleared the City of Philadelphia of any liability in the 1998 murder of University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber at the hands of confessed serial rapist Troy Graves.
Jury still deliberating Schiebers' Phila. suit
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004
The federal jury considering the lawsuit filed against the City of Philadelphia by the parents of murdered University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber yesterday completed a second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
Schieber lawsuit goes to the jury
The murder victim's parents argue that Phila. is liable. Yesterday saw closing arguments in the suit.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004
A federal jury is to resume deliberations today in the lawsuit that contends the City of Philadelphia should be held responsible for the 1998 murder of University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber by confessed serial rapist Troy Graves.
Schieber civil case going to jury
$4M sought for rape, killing of Penn student
Philadelphia Daily News Tuesday, Feb. 24,
Shannon Schieber's life was filled with so much promise and cut short in so much pain.
Schieber decision in jury’s hands
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, February 23, 2003
A federal jury this afternoon began deliberating the question of whether the City of Philadelphia bears any liability for the 1998 murder of University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber at the hands of confessed serial rapist Troy Graves.
Blunt words about police come back in suit against Phila.
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, Feb. 21, 2004
In the years after Shannon Schieber's murder, then-Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney told the public that police had treated some rape victims in a "god-awful" way.
Timoney testifies in Schieber case
Says it's unlikely cops could have linked her killer to earlier attacks
Philadelphia Daily News Saturday, Feb. 21, 2004
When John Timoney took over as police commissioner in Philadelphia in March 1998, one of the first things he noticed was that the Police Department had a problem with how it classified crimes.
Timoney to testify today in Schiebers' police lawsuit
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, February 20, 2004
Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney is set to testify today in a federal lawsuit accusing the city of police mistakes in the investigation of a serial rapist who killed Shannon Schieber, 23, a doctoral candidate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Detective says he told superiors of serial rapes
He testified that he warned of possible links among attacks months before Shannon Schieber was killed.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, February 19, 2004
In August 1997 - more than eight months before Penn graduate student Shannon Schieber was sexually assaulted and murdered - a detective in the Philadelphia police Sex Crimes Unit warned three ranking police officials that there appeared to be a serial rapist preying on women along Pine Street in Center City.
Cop brass didn't share info on rapes
Schieber trial told of 1997 memo
Philadelphia Daily News Thursday, February 19, 2004
By the end of August of 1997, Ken Coluzzi was onto something.
Officers in Schieber case testify
Taking the stand in the victim's parents' suit against Phila., they explained why they didn't force a door.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Two Philadelphia police officers who responded to the 1998 emergency call at the apartment of slain Penn graduate student Shannon Schieber told a jury yesterday they had no legal justification to force her door and enter.
2 cops: We followed regs in Schieber case
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Car 919 and car 912 rolled up to 251 S. 23rd St. at about the same time - 2:12 a.m. on May 7, 1998 - in response to a report of a woman screaming in an apartment.
Expert testifies Schieber was still alive
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, February 14, 2004
A noted medical examiner told a federal jury yesterday that he believed that Shannon Schieber was unconscious - but still alive - when Philadelphia police officers banged on her door in the early morning of Sept. 7, 1998, after a neighbor reported sounds of a struggle and screams for help.
Worried about Schieber, he called 911
Former neighbor of murder victim testifie
Philadelphia Daily News Saturday, Feb. 14, 2003
Aside from her killer, Parm Greeley may have been the last person to hear Shannon Schieber's final words.
Officer testifies that he wasn't informed of series of rapes
Had he known, Tyrone Winckler said, he would have detained Shannon Schieber's killer.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, Feb. 13, 2004
Under different circumstances, Philadelphia Police Officer Tyrone Winckler might have been hailed as a hero: the cop who caught Center City rapist Troy Graves.
Schieber's killer suspected of prowling 8 months before
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, Feb. 13, 2004
The call came over the police radio at 12:37 a.m. as a report of a prowler near 12th and Cypress in Center City. Police Officer Tyrone Winckler radioed in that he'd check it out.
Police got rape warning in 1997
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004
A year before Penn graduate student Shannon Schieber was murdered by a serial rapist in 1998, the head of Philadelphia's police sex-crime unit was told to stop "writing off" rape complaints, a retired police chief inspector testified yesterday.
Schieber case opens with finger-pointing
City: Graves killed her. Parents: Police at fault.
Philadelphia Daily News Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004
Murderer and serial rapist Troy Graves always attacked alone. But attorneys for the parents of slain 23-year-old Wharton student Shannon Schieber argued yesterday that he had an accomplice: The City of Philadelphia.
Civil trial opens in Schieber case: Parents suing city for $3.8M
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004
Promising Wharton School student Shannon Schieber was raped and murdered nearly six years ago by a sexual predator who had attacked four other women in Center City in the previous year.
Schiebers seek millions, new training
They say police failures meant death for their daughter, Shannon.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, February 8, 2004
Nearly six years after the murder and rape of University of Pennsylvania student Shannon Schieber, her parents are asking that the City of Philadelphia pay for what they contend is its role in her killing.
The Handling of Center City Rapes
Editorial | Fairmount Park Rape Case
A sorry way to protect
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, October 31, 2003
Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson has so far issued three apologies for mistakes in the Fairmount Park rapist-murderer cases.
Praise for new Philadelphia police facility
The Special Victims Unit opened its $2.2 million headquarters yesterday in North Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, September 25, 2003
No more will handcuffed rapists and their sobbing victims pass each other in the police hallways.
Phila. rape unit again faces scrutiny
The squad's failure to alert the public of a rape recalls mistakes of the Center City rapist case, Shannon Schieber's father says.
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, August 4, 2003
A rapist strikes, but the Philadelphia police fail to respond aggressively. He attacks again.
Editorial | 'Sorry' isn't enough
Phila. police must publicize rape cases.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Would Rebecca Park be alive today had she known that a rapist had attacked a lone female runner before in Fairmount Park?
Schiebers console slain jogger's family
In both cases, cops withheld info on attacks
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, July 30, 2003
REBECCA PARK'S parents, still reeling from the brutal rape and strangulation of their 30-year-old daughter in Fairmount Park, received a call on Monday from a mother who understands the depths of their grief.
Johnson calls for rape-case disclosure
The commissioner said he met with the unit that did not report a Fairmount Park rape now linked to a fatal attack.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Philadelphia police, stung by criticism for not publicizing an April 30 rape of a jogger in Fairmount Park - linked now by DNA to the rape and strangulation of Rebecca Park - said yesterday that all sexual assaults would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine if they should be reported publicly.
Two Rapes in Park Linked
April attack had not been publicized
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, July 26, 2003
Police acknowledged yesterday that the rapist who attacked and killed jogger Rebecca Park in West Fairmount Park two weeks ago is the same rapist whose April 30 attack on another Fairmount Park runner went unreported to the public.
Suit against Phila. in '98 death advances
Shannon Schieber was a victim of the Center City rapist. Her parents fault the city in her slaying
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, July 17, 2003
Five years after a Wharton School student was strangled by the man dubbed the Center City rapist, a lawsuit filed by her parents against the City of Philadelphia is now set to go to trial.
Slain student's parents fighting to sue city
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, July 1, 2003
Fighting to keep alive a lawsuit against the city, the attorney for the parents of a murdered Wharton School student argued in court yesterday that Philadelphia police discriminated against women in general by deep-sixing complaints of sexual assault.
From old report, 4 new charges
In 1995, an investigator set aside a rape complaint. The subject is now accused of that case and more.
Second of two parts
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, June 23, 2003
Roscoe Cofield says some women lie about being raped. He had a joke name for the Philadelphia police sex crimes unit, where he worked for nine years: "The Lying Bitches Unit," Cofield says he called it.
Rape unit reborn out of disgrace
First of two parts
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, June 22, 2003
The police with the Philadelphia Sex Crimes Unit told Katie she'd imagined the whole thing.
Many cases still not labeled crimes
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, June 22, 2003
Despite skyrocketing arrests and praise for a new sensitivity to victims, Philadelphia police are still classifying a large number of rape and child-abuse complaints as something other than crimes.
2 officers cleared in Schieber lawsuit
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, February 21, 2003
A federal appeals court yesterday seriously undermined a lawsuit contending that two Philadelphia police officers missed the chance to save the life of a Wharton School student sexually assaulted and killed by serial rapist Troy Graves.
City police sex-crimes unit understaffed, activist says
The Special Victims Unit may get up to 20 new detectives shortly, the police commissioner said.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, October 3, 2002
The unit that investigates child abuse is understaffed and in need of additional training, according to a local advocate who is scheduled to discuss the matter with the police commissioner next week.
City sex-crimes unit to get new home at Episcopal Hospital
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, October 2, 2002
The City of Philadelphia has finally signed a lease for a renovated headquarters for the police sex-crimes unit - and advocates hope the move will trigger more sweeping changes in how sexual assaults are investigated.
Center City rapist hears victims at Colo. sentencing
Six of the women were among those who spoke. He was given seven more terms, among them life
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, August 1, 2002
Center City rapist Troy Graves heard the voices of his sexual-assault victims in court for the first time yesterday when he was sentenced for his crimes in Colorado.
City police sex-crimes unit understaffed, activist says
The Special Victims Unit may get up to 20 new detectives shortly, the police commissioner said.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, October 3, 2002
The unit that investigates child abuse is understaffed and in need of additional training, according to a local advocate who is scheduled to discuss the matter with the police commissioner next week.
City sex-crimes unit to get new home at Episcopal Hospital
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, October 2, 2002
The City of Philadelphia has finally signed a lease for a renovated headquarters for the police sex-crimes unit - and advocates hope the move will trigger more sweeping changes in how sexual assaults are investigated.
A baffling case: The hunt for the predator
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, July 21, 2002
Scanning the crime scene, it took just minutes before disgust and frustration swept veteran Philadelphia detectives Chuck Boyle and Jeffrey Piree. They inventoried it all: burglar bars, open window, pillowcase, gentle voice.
The women who loved Troy Graves
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, July 21, 2002
For the women he terrorized, Troy Graves was a living nightmare. But other women, amazingly, found him attractive and charismatic, with a sensitivity that brought out their nurturing. He was generous with his attention, yet reticent enough to be mysterious.
Graves' bust stalled 7 months
Phila. cops ID'd rapist in Sept. but Colo. didn't act
Philadelphia Daily News Saturday, July 6, 2002
Philadelphia cops identified Center City Rapist Troy Graves as a possible suspect last Sept. 18, according to court documents released late last week.
Year later, rape unit still awaits new home
The city has been hung up over a lease agreement with Episcopal Hospital. Women's groups are angry at the delay.
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, June 17, 2002
A year after City Council voted to give the police sex-crimes unit a state-of-the-art headquarters, rape victims still must face being interviewed inside the squad's run-down offices on a former military base ringed by razor wire.
Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look like ...
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, June 16, 2002
In an Old City bar, Christopher Duffy leaned in to share a little conversation with his date. "Now don't be alarmed," he told her over their drinks. "But some people think I look like the Center City rapist."
Guest Opinion: Graves' conviction not enough to erase the fear he's created
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, June 9, 2002
The image of Troy Graves, Center City rapist and murderer of Wharton student Shannon Schieber, is fixed indelibly in my mind.
Graves returns to Colorado to begin serving life term
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, June 7, 2002
Troy Graves, the serial rapist who terrorized women in Center City and Fort Collins, Colo., was flown to Colorado yesterday to begin serving a life sentence for the crimes he committed there.
Monica Yant Kinney | Pity poor Troy, so misunderstood
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, June 7, 2002
Poor Troy Graves. He's so misunderstood. Apparently, he's really not a monster who murdered one woman, sexually assaulted 12 others, and terrorized thousands more in two cities.
Graves arrives in Colorado to begin his new life, in jail
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, June 7, 2002
Troy Graves arrived in Colorado yesterday to begin serving his life sentence. The transfer from Philadelphia of the serial rapist who terrorized women in two states was in keeping with a plea bargain in which he admitted murdering University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber, 23, and attacking five other women in Philadelphia and seven in Fort Collins, Colo.
Graves leaves Philadelphia for Colorado prison
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, June 6, 2002
Troy Graves, who pleaded guilty last week to murder and rape charges stemming from a series of attacks on women in Center City, was returned this morning to Colorado to begin serving a life sentence.
Rapist's 'friend' was reporter
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Philadelphia prison officials are reviewing the visitors policy because they believe a WCAU-TV reporter misrepresented himself to gain access to Center City Rapist Troy Graves.
Doubts cast on Graves' statements
He says he choked Shannon Schieber and fled before police arrived. That seems at odds with evidence.
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, June 3, 2002
In confessing that he was the Center City rapist and begging for a city's forgiveness, Troy Graves portrayed himself as ready to finally tell all. But was his confession the full truth?
Troy Graves: Portrait of a night stalker
Experts say he fits the profile of a serial rapist - with bizarre exceptions.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, June 2, 2002
When Center City rapist Troy Graves slipped into women's apartments late at night, he sometimes just watched them sleep, standing over them for 15 to 20 minutes, and then left without waking them. And when he did attack women, he often engaged in bizarre behavior - once leaving a hog-tied victim in bed while he casually rearranged her refrigerator poem magnets into 21 lines of sexually suggestive messages.
Graves pleads guilty, gets life term
Troy Graves admitted killing Shannon Schieber and attacking five other women. His plea closed the Center City rapist case.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 31, 2002
With tears dampening his cheeks, Center City rapist Troy Graves apologized yesterday to his Philadelphia victims and the family of slain student Shannon Schieber. Graves trembled as he was given his second consecutive life sentence.
Schieber's family presses for apology
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 31, 2002
Soon after Troy Graves delivered a tearful courtroom apology yesterday for the murder of Shannon Schieber, the Schieber family renewed its demands for another apology - this one from police.
Troy Graves: I did it... and 'I'm sorry'
He gets life in Schieber killing, five city rapes
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 31, 2002
PHILADELPHIA, the Center City Rapist has a message for you: He's sorry. Sorry for causing the city two years of fright. Sorry for raping five women. Sorry for raping and killing Wharton student Shannon Schieber.
Graves' Philadelphia attacks
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 31, 2002
Troy Graves pleaded guilty yesterday to six attacks in Philadelphia. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to eight assaults in Fort Collins, Colo. Following are summaries of the Philadelphia cases.
Jill Porter | Lawsuit prevents proper closure
Schiebers' litigation alienates them from those who solved case
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 31, 2002
AND SO THE haunting siege of the Center City Rapist came to an end yesterday.
Troy Graves' statement to police describing attack on Shannon Schieber
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 31, 2002
"She started telling me how she survived cancer. I was distracted with the story..."
"I heard a knock on the door. I applied more pressure with my right arm around her neck and tried to free my left finger from her mouth."
Remorseful Graves admits to Schieber murder and rapes
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, May 29, 2002
With tears running down his face, Center City rapist Troy Graves apologized to his victims and the family of strangled student Shannon Schieber today, vowing to do good as he spends the rest of his life behind bars and to assist FBI profilers seeking to understand why he attacked women in Philadelphia and Colorado.
Graves waives preliminary hearing
The Center City rape suspect is expected to plead guilty to a series of attacks, including the killing of Shannon Schieber.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, May 29, 2002
In a prelude to his expected guilty pleas tomorrow, serial rapist Troy Graves waived a preliminary hearing in the murder of a Wharton graduate student and five Center City sexual assaults dating back to June 1997.
Graves guilty plea expected
He's held for trial, formal arraignment tomorrow
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Accused Center City Rapist-murderer Troy Graves yesterday waived his preliminary hearing. He is expected to plead guilty tomorrow.
Shannon's parents: Why her killer should live
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, May 29, 2002
DEAR MR. Smerconish,
We are Shannon Schieber's parents. Your column in the form of an open letter made it clear that you want to see our daughter's murderer put to death for his crimes. We oppose that on at least three grounds.
Graves ordered held without bail
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 24, 2002
Troy Graves, the man accused of being the Center City rapist, was ordered held without bail today in Philadelphia on charges he murdered Wharton graduate student Shannon Schieber and raped five other women between 1997 and 1999.
Center City rape suspect returns to Phila.
He faces murder and assault charges. In Colo., he got a life term after pleading guilty to assaults there
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 24, 2002
Troy Graves was brought back to Philadelphia last night, the city he left two years ago after allegedly assaulting six women inside their Center City homes and strangling graduate student Shannon Schieber.
Graves now here to face charges
Schieber's dad irked by reported deal
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 24, 2002
Accused Center City Rapist Troy Graves returned to Philadelphia last night, reportedly to plead guilty to the murder of Wharton School student Shannon Schieber in exchange for not getting the death penalty.
Michael Smerconish | Life, death - and Shannon Schieber's killer
Philadelphia Daily News Thursday, May 23, 2002
AN OPEN letter to Vicki Schieber: Dear Mrs. Schieber,
Please accept my belated condolences for the tragic passing of your daughter, Shannon.
Sources: City offers a deal to Troy Graves
Won't seek death penalty for info in Schieber case
Philadelphia Daily News Thursday, May 23, 2002
Philadelphia prosecutors have offered to spare accused Center City Rapist Troy Graves the death penalty if he reveals details about the rape-murder of Wharton School student Shannon Schieber that might help the city fight a civil suit filed by Schieber's parents, sources said yesterday.
Graves could be in Phila. today to wrap up plea deal
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, May 23, 2002
Troy Graves, the accused Center City rapist-murderer, is expected to be returned to the city from Fort Collins, Colo., possibly as soon as today, to wrap up a guilty-plea agreement with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
Center City Rapist hates his mother, cats and Philly
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Accused Center City Rapist Troy Graves hates cats. And his mother. In a page-long stream-of-consciousness rant that authorities believe Graves wrote to the police in Colorado, the ex-Air Force senior airman makes those feelings clear.
Letter details Graves' sexual assaults
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, May 21, 2002
In a brief, rambling letter that investigators say Troy Graves wrote to police before his arrest in Colorado, he disparages his parents, says he wanted to get caught, complains of loneliness, and says he did not kill Wharton student Shannon Schieber.
Inexorably, paths of evidence converged on Troy Graves
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, May 19, 2002
When police here finally closed in on Troy Graves, he tried to lie his way out. Over seven hours of interrogation on April 22, Graves denied that he had ever been accused of being a Peeping Tom.
Graves Gets Life Term in Colorado
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, May 18, 2002
Troy Graves, accused of being the Center City rapist, was sentenced to life in prison
yesterday after he abruptly pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five
women here.
Life in Colorado, death in Pa.?
Alleged 'Center City Rapist' pleads guilty out West, faces murder rap here
Philadelphia Daily News Saturday, May 18, 2002
NOW IT'S OUR TURN. Troy Graves, the accused "Center City Rapist," pleaded guilty in Colorado yesterday to a series of attacks on women there. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Now, he'll be coming back to Philadelphia to face rape and murder charges here.
Center City rape suspect pleads guilty in Colo.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 17, 2002
Accused Center City rapist Troy Graves pleaded guilty today to numerous charges in Colorado, including sexual assault, and plans are underway to bring him back to Philadelphia to face charges of rape and murder.
Hearing for Graves in Colo. today
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 17, 2002
A Colorado judge abruptly scheduled a court appearance for accused Center City rapist Troy Graves for this afternoon, and law-enforcement officials said Graves was expected to plead guilty to charges there.
Hearing today for airman accused in Fort Collins rapes
Suspect may have cut plea deal, analysts say
Note: From Our Real Cities partner Rocky Mountain News
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Rape suspect crossed paths with police
Troy Graves, accused of sex attacks in Phila. in 1997, was questioned that year and in '99. He was let go because he wasn't being sought for a crime.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 10, 2002
A month after a series of 1997 sexual assaults now tied to Troy Graves, Philadelphia police stopped, questioned and released Graves on a midnight prowling complaint in Center City.
Daily News Columnist Jill Porter: May brings relief for Vicki Schieber
Having suspect in Shannon's killing eases pain this Mother's Day
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 10, 2002
EVERY YEAR, when the calendar turns to May 1, Vicki Schieber is stricken.
May 1 begins the month that, four years ago, turned Mother's Day into "the closest to hell I can imagine."
Colorado judge eases gag order in rape case
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, May 3, 2002
Details surrounding the arrest of the Center City rape suspect will remain under tight wraps, although a Colorado judge agreed yesterday to let him be photographed in the courtroom.
Graves makes court appearance
Media outlets ask judge to lift gag order
Philadelphia Daily News Friday, May 3, 2002
The accused "Center City Rapist" made his first personal appearance in court yesterday in Fort Collins, Colo., where he's been charged with sex assaults.
Troy Graves, 29, an airman stationed in Wyoming, was arrested in Colorado last week on charges that he committed seven sexual assaults near Colorado State University.
Case involving Center City rapes sent to higher court
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday May 2, 2002
The man accused of being the Center City rapist appeared before a county court judge here yesterday to face the charges lodged against him in Philadelphia, where he is accused of sexually assaulting six women and strangling graduate student Shannon Schieber.
Accused rapist stole underwear, officials say
Troy Graves also is charged with taking cash from victims in Colo., where he had a hearing yesterday.
Philadelphia Inquirer April 30, 2002
The man charged with being the Center City rapist is also accused of stealing underwear and money from victims he sexually assaulted here, prosecutors revealed in court documents yesterday.
Graves makes court appearance
Media outlets ask judge to lift gag order
Philadelphia Daily News April 30, 2002
The accused "Center City Rapist" made his first personal appearance in court yesterday in Fort Collins, Colo., where he's been charged with sex assaults.
Troy Graves, 29, an airman stationed in Wyoming, was arrested in Colorado last week on charges that he committed seven sexual assaults near Colorado State University.
Missteps early, then DNA led police in 2 states to one suspect
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, April 28, 2002
His childhood was bitter. His heroin-addicted father beat him. He started off a voyeur and ended up an accused killer. Soft in voice, shy and polite, Troy Graves killed one woman and raped or sexually assaulted 13 others as he terrorized two cities on opposite sides of the country, police say DNA evidence shows.
Graphic: The Travels of Troy Graves
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, April 28, 2002
Click here to view this graphic.
In Colo., rape suspect hears charges against him
Troy Graves, accused of being the Center City rapist, also learned that he could face the death penalty in a 1998 slaying.
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, April 27, 2002
The man charged as the Center City rapist appeared in court yesterday facing new sexual-assault charges here and also learned he could face the death penalty for the slaying of Philadelphia grad student Shannon Schieber.
DAs pursue alleged Center City Rapist
Philadelphia Daily News Saturday, April 27, 2002
Troy Graves is being stalked. The man authorities say once stalked and raped women is now finding out what it's like to be pursued. By prosecutors.
Ex-friend relives life with Graves
Philadelphia Inquirer April 26, 2002
A clearer picture of accused Center City rapist Troy Graves emerged yesterday. It was a jarring portrait.
Caution didn't help wife
Graves' in-laws told daughter to pick mate wisely
Philadelphia Daily News April 26, 2002
Amy Wade's parents were always cautious about the men their daughter had met.
Here's how cops were led to Graves
DNA tests, fingerprints among the tools used to narrow case to him
Philadelphia Daily News April 26, 2002
Philadelphia police have had DNA samples from the Center City Rapist for nearly five years. They had a stunningly accurate sketch of the suspect and a wealth of other physical evidence.
South Carolina DNA does not match Graves'
Philadelphia Daily News April 26, 2002
Spartanburg, S.C. police said yesterday DNA tests from Troy Graves did not match those from their unsolved sexual assaults.
DNA links Colo. suspect to city rapes and a murder, officials say
Philadelphia Inquirer April 25, 2002
Backed by new DNA evidence, authorities said they will charge a Bensalem High dropout tomorrow with the six sexual assaults and the 1998 strangulation of Wharton grad student Shannon Schieber by the Center City rapist.
Parents grapple with empathy
Philadelphia Inquirer April 25, 2002
Vicki and Sylvester Schieber spent yesterday wrestling anew with how Troy Graves - or anyone - could have taken the life of their daughter, Shannon.
Linked to rapes in other areas?
S.C. cops say Graves fits profile as Philly announces DNA match
Philadelphia Daily News April 25, 2002
EVEN AS Philadelphia police were announcing the long-awaited news that the "Center City Rapist" is behind bars, the Spartanburg, S.C., Sheriff's Department was trying to reach them about a slew of unsolved sexual assaults in their area.
Expert: Nice guy image common
Philadelphia Daily News April 25, 2002
He was Camouflage Man. During the height of the "Center City Rapist's" attacks, police got hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tips. But not a single one, they say, made any mention of Troy Graves.
Unique codes held in DNA
Philadelphia Inquirer April 26, 2002
The coiled molecules of DNA in human cells carry a unique chemical code that can match a trace of blood, semen, skin or hair to the person who left it.
Philadelphia rape suspect arrested
Evidence links a suspect in Colorado assaults to the attacks in Center City, including the 1998 killing of Shannon Schieber.
Philadelphia Inquirer April 24, 2002
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - After leaving DNA evidence in two states, the man who police believe is almost certainly the Center City rapist was caught yesterday by old-fashioned fingerprint analysis - and a letter tying him to the crime spree.
Accused rapist is Colorado airman
Philadelphia Inquirer April 24, 2002
Troy Graves, the man police suspect of being the Center City rapist, slipped out of town and started a new life as a military man and husband in Colorado. But he couldn't stop himself, police say, from preying on more women.
Two states, a killing, and a string of sexual assaults
Philadelphia Inquirer April 24, 2002
Graphic of timeline, map of crimes.
Same DNA, different response by police
In Ft. Collins, Colo., tests focused attention quickly on a serial rapist. Phila. investigators were slow to react and made mistakes.
Philadelphia Inquirer April 24, 2002
As the predator stalked Philadelphia's Rittenhouse neighborhood and later a Colorado college town, his pattern was the same. He would strike late at night, attacking young, single women as they slept.
Friends say he hardly fits profile of Center City Rapist
They describe suspect as quiet, shy, even 'sweet'
Philadelphia Daily News April 24, 2002
TROY GRAVES was definitely not an alpha male.
When other guys were talking loudly, back and forth, about women, about guy stuff, he'd stay quiet, in the background.
FBI: Killing would jar him
Graves' changed behavior matched that of rapist's profile
Philadelphia Daily News April 24, 2002
Nearly three years ago, an FBI profiler predicted that Shannon Schieber's murder would have sent the Center City Rapist into a tailspin.
Colo. police arrest suspect in Center City rapist case
Philadelphia Inquirer April 23, 2002
Police in Colorado arrested a man overnight who they believe may be the Center City rapist, but officials here say they are taking a "wait and see" approach until DNA tests are completed later this week.
Center City rapist eyed in Colo. case
Cops: Attempted to assault college student
Philadelphia Daily News April 23, 2002
Fort Collins, Colo. police believe the "Center City Rapist" may have struck in their area again.
Man guilty of raping girl sentenced to 15-30 years
Jasper Washington of North Phila. assaulted a 7-year-old in 1996. Police had originally mishandled the case. Girl's rapist is sentenced to 15-30 years.
Philadelphia Inquirer February 5, 2002
Calling the case "one of the most upsetting" she had ever seen, a Common Pleas Court judge yesterday sentenced the rapist of a 7-year-old girl to the maximum possible sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison, six years after police initially failed to investigate the crime.
With DNA only, rapist identified in warrant
The chemical profile of the Center City attacker was cited in arrest paperwork. He is also sought in Colorado.
Philadelphia Inquirer December 13, 2001
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said yesterday it had identified the Center City rapist. The man is: D3S1358: 15, 16; D16S539: 11, 12; TH01: 6, 9.3; TPOX: 8, 11 . . .
and more.
Center City Rapist's DNA charged with 6 attacks
Philadelphia Daily News December 13, 2001
The Center City Rapist's first victim talked him out of raping her after he broke into her apartment in the dead of night.
Copwork gaps aid Center City stalker
Different DNA tests and statutes of limitations are obstacles in catching rapist
Philadelphia Daily News November 26, 2001
HE STALKS attractive young women, like a hunter tracking prey. When the time comes to attack, he slithers through an unlocked door or window. He creeps into his victim's bedroom and presses his face close.
$40,000 reward offered for rapist
The attacks: When, where
Philly, Ariz. rapes not linked
DNA doesn't match Center City attacker
Philadelphia Daily News October 3, 2001
Philadelphia police said yesterday that the Center City rapist was not responsible for a series of sexual attacks in Mesa, Ariz.
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.
Philadelphia Inquirer October 2, 2001
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: Suspect isn't serial rapist
Philadelphia Daily News October 2, 2001
Police Commissioner John Timoney yesterday angrily denounced weekend TV reports that investigators suspect a Philadelphia man could be the killer rapist who terrorized the city in 1998 and 1999 and attacked several women in Colorado last summer.
Center City rapist may have made stops in Ariz.
Authorities check possible links to 6 sexual assaults
Philadelphia Daily News September 19, 2001
The Center City rapist may have made a stop in Mesa, Ariz., before moving to Fort Collins, Colo. to hunt for victims last May, police said yesterday.
In Colorado, portrait of rape suspect grows
DNA indicates that the Center City rapist has lately struck in Fort Collins. Phila. sketches are now being circulated there.
Philadelphia Inquirer September 19, 2001
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Stephanie Schmidt, a senior at Colorado State University here, took a short break from cramming for a sociology test to explain the steps she has taken in response to the knowledge that a sexual predator is loose in the community.
DNA links Center City rapist to Colo. assaults
Seven women have been attacked in Fort Collins, police say. Six assaults occurred in Phila., including Shannon Schieber's killing.
Philadelphia Inquirer September 18, 2001
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - DNA tests have linked Philadelphia's Center City rapist to sexual assaults on seven young women since May in this college town in the foothills of the Rockies, police here said last night.
Editorial: Comfortable new home
Phila. sex-crimes unit has earned a new facility.
Philadelphia Inquirer June 26, 2001
Carpeted, cool, and more convenient to reach, the new headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department's sex-crimes unit at Episcopal Hospital represents a major win-win.
New home, fresh start for rape unit
Modern offices at Episcopal Hospital will greet the once-troubled squad.
Philadelphia Inquirer June 23, 2001
There are separate doorways to keep apart accused rapists and their victims, and a special room for child victims and their parents, with toys and children's books. There is double the space for detectives. And there is no barbed wire.
Judge: Suit in student's death may proceed
Philadelphia Inquirer May 10, 2001
A federal judge yesterday rejected the City of Philadelphia's request to dismiss a lawsuit contending that police inaction and "downgrading" of sex crimes set the stage for a 1998 murder by the so-called Center City rapist.
Inquiry board is reshaped by Timoney
He named two officers with legal training to the police disciplinary tribunal. Union officials approved
Philadelphia Inquirer April 4, 2001
In a shake-up of his department's disciplinary structure, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney replaced top officers yesterday on the internal tribunal that punishes errant police.
Rape squad to get new quarters
Women's groups hailed the decision as a victory in their drive to make city police more accountable.
Philadelphia Inquirer Jan. 25, 2001
Philadelphia women's groups moved a step closer yesterday to seeing a new center established for the police rape squad, their latest success in the push for better treatment of sexual-assault victims.
New site for rape squad offices near
Philadelphia Inquirer Jan. 24, 2001
Philadelphia women’s groups today moved a step closer to establishing a new center for the police rape squad, the latest victory in their push for better treatment of sexual assault victims.
Rape unit could get a new home
City officials support a move. Child advocates have even bigger dreams.
Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 18, 2000
Rape arrests in Philadelphia have skyrocketed. So has the number of detectives assigned to investigate sex crimes. Women's groups have been given unparalleled access to investigative files in sexual assaults.
Timoney commends rape-squad reforms
Sex crimes now are being pursued aggressively, but the unit is paying for its sins, the commissioner said.
Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 13, 2000
Concluding that the Philadelphia police rape squad was "paying the price for some past sins," Commissioner John F. Timoney yesterday said the unit had radically transformed its operation - weeding out bad investigators, treating women with more respect, and investigating sex crimes much more aggressively.
Man convicted of '96 rape after Phila. reopened case
The girl, then 7, was among many whose cases were shelved by police. Timoney is to detail rape-squad changes today.
Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 12, 2000
A Philadelphia jury yesterday convicted an auto mechanic of raping a 7-year-old girl in Fairmount Park nearly five years ago - the latest successful prosecution to grow out of a police decision to reopen 2,000 cases wrongly mothballed by investigators.
Man guilty in 1996 rape of 7-year-old
Philadelphia Daily News Dec. 12, 2000
The 7-year-old girl told the truth in 1996, but cops apparently were skeptical. After complaining she had been abducted from her South Philadelphia neighborhood, driven to Fairmount Park and raped on Jan. 12 of that year, police closed the investigation.
3 YEARS LATER, HE'LL GO ON TRIAL
'97 RAPE ACCUSATION WENT UNEXPLORED
Philadelphia Daily News Dec. 6, 2000
The former drug addict's rape accusation apparently fell through the cracks in 1997. Somehow, the now 44-year-old woman's complaint against Harold Strand, 43, was not followed through by investigators.
Police knew of rapist's pattern
Officers on the beat in Center City weren't told, though, documents in the Schieber family's suit say.
Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 3, 2000
When the Center City rapist began his attacks three years ago, top Philadelphia police brass say they picked up his pattern early: He was moving along Pine Street to break into apartments to attack young women as they slept. But the same top officials did not tell the commander whose beat officers patrol Center City.
911 tapes tell of scuffle, cry, body next door
Transcripts in the Shannon Schieber case were released.
Philadelphia Inquirer Nov. 29, 2000
Two anguished calls to 911 define the strangulation of Shannon Schieber. "My next-door neighbor, I just heard her yelling for help," a fellow tenant in her Center City apartment building told a police dispatcher the night she was killed. "I just heard her yell help. I knocked on the door and I just heard like a . . . choking-type sound."
Graphic: A cry for help
Court documents reveal horror of . . .
The last moments of Shannon's life
Philadelphia Daily News Nov. 29, 2000
The first sounds of a violent struggle in Shannon Schieber's apartment came around 1 a.m. on Thursday, May 7, 1998. Neighbors, attracted by sounds of scuffling, strained to hear what was going on. But then there was silence.
A new take on FBI work in Schieber case
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Nov. 19, 2000
With considerable drama, the Philadelphia Police Department summoned anxious women to a Center City church last year for a packed meeting on the hunt for the so-called Rittenhouse rapist.
Expert: Patterns in rapes missed
Police had overlooked a serial rapist, according to testimony at a hearing in a suit filed by slaying victim Shannon Schieber's parents.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000
By "downgrading" the first two known attacks of the so-called Rittenhouse Square rapist, the Philadelphia Police Department blinded itself to a predator attacking young women in Center City, an expert witness testified in federal court yesterday.
Judge orders accused rapist,
held 7 months, to stay in jail
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, October 11, 2000
A judge yesterday ordered accused rapist Jasper Washington held without bail to await a December trial on charges of raping a 7-year-old girl in 1995.
Experts disagree on time of death
At the heart of the lawsuit over Shannon Schieber's slaying is whether she was alive when police arrived.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000
A nationally known medical expert told a federal judge yesterday that he believes slain University of Pennsylvania graduate student Shannon Schieber might have been alive, gagged and held hostage in her Center City apartment for up to 40 minutes after police responded to a neighbor's 911 emergency call.
DNA backs a rape story police ignored
In 1996, a girl, 7, said a North Phila. man had attacked her. Arrested in March, he now has been linked to the crime.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000
Four years after a 7-year-old girl told police that a North Philadelphia man had raped her, DNA tests have linked the man to the attack, prosecutors said yesterday.
Delays in making arrests added to city sex-crime unit's problems
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, Sept. 30, 2000
The Germantown girl was sexually assaulted by her mother's boyfriend. When the 15-year-old girl and her aunt reported the crime, Officer Belinda Daniel of the Philadelphia Police Department sex-crimes unit took down the attacker's name and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
Controller: Crime figures short in 1998
Police Commissioner John F. Timoney criticized the audit, done by the City Controller's Office, as statistically flawed.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, Sep. 14, 2000
A review of Philadelphia's crime statistics by the City Controller's Office has concluded that the police failed to report between 13,000 and 37,000 major crimes in 1998.
Editorial: DNA can close a loophole, if we let it
Lasting evidence nullifies justification for statute of limitations in rape, other crimes
Philadelphia Daily News Monday, June 25, 2000
Thanks to some hard-nosed digging by the Inquirer, we have a much clearer picture of the cavalier way the Philadelphia Police Department treated rape cases - and the victims of such crimes - over at least the last five years.
Editorial: Apology is just a start
As impact of sex-assault bungling is revealed, city police show they've learned some lessons.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, June 23, 2000
For nearly 350 women - and likely hundreds more - Philadelphia must seem a cruel place.
Review turns up hundreds of rapes
Police had dismissed more than 300 of the cases from 1995 on, Commissioner John F. Timoney revealed.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, June 21, 2000
With a Philadelphia Police Department review of sexual-assault cases less than half-finished, detectives have identified more than 300 rapes that were written off by investigators in the Special Victims Unit during past years.
Police knocks turned rapist into killer, FBI profile says
The victim's parents filed the report in a suit, saying officers could have stopped the Rittenhouse attacker.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, May 24, 2000
Had Philadelphia police knocked down Shannon Schieber's door, they would likely have interrupted a death struggle between the young graduate student and her killer, FBI profilers contend.
Suspect charged in 1995 rape case
He is one of 20 who face prosecution after a massive reopening of improperly shelved cases in Phila.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, April 16, 2000
Five years after Melody Madison was beaten and raped on a deserted
playground, Philadelphia police finally launched a serious investigation.
A cry for help that went unheeded
In 1996, a girl, 8, said she was raped at her baby-sitter's. Only now is a city man charged in that case and another.
Philadelphia Inquirer April 6, 2000
Prosecutors say the Kensington man repeatedly raped and sodomized two girls whom his wife was baby-sitting at their rowhouse. He allegedly employed a plastic baseball bat on one occasion.
Timoney says he will make call on rape cases
The commissioner asserted police jurisdiction, even as he invited unprecedented public oversight.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
April 1, 2000
Clarifying his unusual offer to let women's organizations play a role in the classification of sex crimes, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney said that the department would be the ultimate judge of cases - and that he personally would make the final call.
Daily News Columnist Jill Porter: It's a case of citizen participation
Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, March 22, 2000
There's an unspoken journalism custom, and a pretty dumb one at that, that a newspaper avoids acknowledging stories which have been exclusively developed and reported by a competitor.
Timoney to allow sex-case oversight
Women Organized Against Rape, other groups will get to see how rape and related crimes are being classified.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, March 21, 2000
Opening Philadelphia's sex-crimes unit to unprecedented scrutiny, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney says he will let women's organizations help police decide when to believe sexual-assault complaints and how to classify them.
Editorial: Crime stats and the city
Good, but with state help, could be better.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, March 21, 2000
There were still 104,658 major crimes reported in Philadelphia last year, a total that won't encourage anyone to get rid of the Club for the steering wheel or to stop bolting shut the front door.
Arrests in rapes up 46% in 1999
Reported cases were up 24%. Philadelphia police say they have been taking the crime more seriously.
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, March 20, 2000
After years of discarding sexual-assault complaints en masse, Philadelphia police are investigating rapes much more aggressively and making many more arrests.
Based on Timoney's new data, Phila. crime is down
The commissioner says the Police Department's new approach has resulted in statistics that can be believed for the first time.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, March 19, 2000
Crime in Philadelphia fell slightly last year and has continued declining - sharply - in 2000, according to new figures that Police Commissioner John F. Timoney describes as the first-ever reliable portrait of crime in the city.
Rape suspect arrested in a case police botched
In 1996, an officer classified a 7-year-old as a "lost child." A card left at the suspect's house got no response.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Police have arrested and charged a suspect in the rape of a 7-year-old North Philadelphia girl - a case that the sex-crimes unit closed four years ago after a series of blunders.
City Council OKs new public hearings on sex-crimes unit
The Public Safety Committee will monitor progress as police work to improve handling of assault complaints.
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, February 4, 2000
Promising to closely monitor reforms in the police rape squad, City Council yesterday authorized new public hearings into the unit's efforts to correct past mishandling of investigations.
Review of 1996 rapes leads to 2 arrests
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, January 30, 2000
Reopening a case shut four years ago by the police sex-crimes unit, Philadelphia detectives have arrested a Kensington man and charged him with raping his 10-year-old stepsister.
Opinion Column: City police should be more open on the disposition of rape cases
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, January 28, 2000
Rape is a big problem here in Philadelphia, but we are not alone in that respect. A 1997 random-sample survey of more than 10,000 women by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 20 percent of American women have been forced to have sexual intercourse against their will, which is the legal definition of rape.
Editorial: Bolster police reforms
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, January 20, 2000
Maybe Mayor Street's agenda for his first 100 days was too crowded to include the overhaul of the Philadelphia police sex-crimes unit.
Timoney to raise rape unit staffing
With as many as 20 new detectives, numbers could increase by a third. More overtime will be approved.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney, as part of a series of moves to improve the sex-crimes unit, says he will add as many as 20 detectives to the squad to increase its investigative staff by a third.
Police reopen thousands of dumped cases
Forty-five detectives are reinvestigating more than 2,000 sex offenses that were improperly downgraded since '95.
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, January 16, 2000
The Philadelphia Police Department has launched a massive effort to reinvestigate more than 2,000 reported rapes, indecent assaults and other sex offenses dating to 1995 - cases that had been shelved by the police sex-crimes unit, often after little or no investigation.
City police reopen case in 1996 rape of girl, 7
Missteps included never questioning a prime suspect. Now, a DNA sample from him is sought.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Philadelphia police have reopened their investigation into the 1996 kidnapping and rape of a 7-year-old North Philadelphia girl - a case that police had earlier closed after a series of blunders.
Editorial: Blind eye no more
Police response to sex crimes must improve.
Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, December 23, 1999
Having faced a sexual predator, then-teenager Jodi Rimmer described the raw emotions that wracked her following the 1990 ordeal. "I was isolated," she said. "I was embarrassed. I was scared. I was alone."
Police doubted teen was groped
Part Three: The Rape Squad Files
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, December 21, 1999
When she turned 16, Jodi Rimmer developed an "attitude." She fought with her parents, lost her lifelong love of sports, and let her grades tumble. Her mother and father took her to see a therapist.
Jogger took initiative to seek attacker
Part Two: The Rape Squad Files
Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, December 20, 1999
Even now, Grace Roman is haunted by the attack. She was jogging after dark on West River Drive when a man stepped out of the shadows near the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and knelt to tie his shoe.
A 7-year-old knew who did it
Part One: The Rape Squad Files
Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, December 19, 1999
Jesine Williams was playing in the snow on a January day in 1996 when a man dragged her into his car on a North Philadelphia street and drove to Fairmount Park. Her chilling story of how Philadelphia police mishandled the rape this 7-year-old shows that police often fail those who need them most.
Council clears raft of bills, bids colleague adieu
Philadelphia Inquirer Friday, December 17, 1999
The City Council that acted in relative harmony for four years to approve city budgets, spur economic development with tax breaks, and regulate the quality of life on city streets ended its term yesterday by swiftly passing 86 bills and bidding farewell to a longtime colleague.
Council panel backs changes to rape squad
Sex-crimes officers should be more responsive and better trained, the Public Safety Committee report said.
Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, December 14, 1999
A City Council committee yesterday called for sweeping change in the police sex-crimes unit, saying the department and Mayor-elect John F. Street should make sure investigators are "committed to proper treatment of sexual assault victims" and are "free of victim-blaming biases."
Editorial: The right response
Philadelphia is ready for significant changes in police's handling of sex-crimes cases.
Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, December 8, 1999
What is it about the Frankford Arsenal facility that led Philadelphia police to base the city's sex-crimes unit there?
It couldn't be the daunting, military atmosphere, with its barbed-wire fence and high stone walls.
Timoney: Some sex cases dumped
He told a Council panel that the practice had gone on for "years and years." He also voiced support for a new unit to aid young victims of sexual assaults.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, December 7, 1999
Police Commissioner John F. Timoney acknowledged yesterday that the police rape squad had "improperly" and "for years and years" kept some sexual-assault cases out of the city's crime statistics, a practice that cut short investigation.
Victims' trauma continues at sex-crimes unit, advocates testify
Survivors, already vulnerable, encounter a forbidding location and often-hostile investigators, Council is told.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, December 7, 1999
Twenty years after it helped goad the Philadelphia Police Department into creating a separate sex-crimes unit, Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR) spoke out again yesterday about the department's handling of sexual assault.
Update on rape stats
Timoney addresses Council
Philadelphia Daily News, Tuesday, December 7, 1999
Police Commissioner John F. Timoney told a City Council committee yesterday that the Police Department was correcting problems on how sex crimes are reported.
Panel to examine sex-crimes unit
It will hear reform advocates and the police commissioner speak. The squad has been under fire for dumping cases.
Monday, December 6, 1999
A City Council panel will hear testimony today from women's advocates, criminologists, law professors and Police Department brass. Their topic: What to do about tight staffing and antiquated facilities at the police sex-crimes unit, and about the unit's history of manipulating statistics on sexual assault.
Editorial: The ugly reality
A more accurate look at city's rape statistics.
Friday, December 3, 1999
Go easy on the messengers: Don't chastise the Philadelphia Police Department for the spike in rape cases it just reported. It doesn't mean officers have suddenly fallen down on the job.
Rape cases in city rise as reporting changes
Figures for the first six months of '99 show a rise of 17 %. Fewer crimes are being shunted into lesser categories.
Thursday, December 2, 1999
The number of rapes recorded by Philadelphia police is surging - not because of an actual increase in sexual assaults, but because investigators are under pressure to stop burying cases.
Editorial: A good signal
Staffing moves at the sex-crimes unit may boost confidence in police force.
November 8, 1999
Some smart tactical moves in policing also send an important public-safety message - like posting an attentive cop on the corner. That's the dual benefit of Police Commissioner John F. Timoney's decision to run several dozen detectives through the Philadelphia Police Department's troubled sex-crimes unit.
New detectives to get training with rape squad
Commissioner John F. Timoney said about 45 officers will be sent to the unit for a week or longer. Some will stay on.
November 5, 1999
In his latest move to deal with problems in the Police Department's handling of sex crimes, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney plans to send about 45 detectives to the rape squad for a period of training - with some staying on to expand the understaffed unit.
Promises of change for city's rape unit
After a meeting with the police commissioner, women's advocates said the talk was productive.
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, October 30, 1999
Police Commissioner John F. Timoney yesterday promised changes in the department's sex-crimes unit and an extensive review of rape and sexual-assault complaints that may have been buried by investigators, according to women's advocates who met with him.
Opinion Column
Rape cases in Center City area are changing the way people live
Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, October 30, 1999
MBA student Jeanne Favazzo isn't looking forward to the end of daylight savings time. The night seems especially long with the Center City rapist case unresolved.
Police checking into old sex cases
The department is reviewing hundreds of assault complaints in Phila. dating from early '98.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 29, 1999
Philadelphia police are conducting an extraordinary review of hundreds of sexual-assault complaints that detectives had either rejected as groundless or filed in administrative categories where they did not show up in crime statistics.
In Council, questions on rape cases
Some members want to know why many assaults were not investigated. Public hearings are likely.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 22, 1999
The shelving of thousands of sexual-assault complaints by the Police Department's rape squad likely will be the subject of public hearings in City Council.
Living with fear in Rittenhouse Square
A series of sexual attacks has women taking precautions - and eyeing men with suspicion.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 22, 1999
Maureen Rainey, 37, studied the thin man who strode past her on 21st Street near Pine. "There he goes," she said Monday, as the man in the black leather jacket and jeans sauntered down the sidewalk past the office where she works as a legal secretary. "That's him, that's the Center City rapist."
Editorial: More work to do
Scrutiny and safeguards will be needed to ensure changes in city's sex-crimes unit.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Philadelphia police have far more work ahead of them if they plan to redress a legacy of two decades in which thousands of women's reported sexual assaults were dismissed or shelved - often improperly and sometimes with nightmarish results.
Review of city sex cases sought
Women's groups and a city judge want to reopen thousands of assault cases police labeled non-crimes.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Tuesday, October 19, 1999
Women's groups and a Philadelphia judge yesterday called for a review of thousands of sexual-assault cases shelved by the police sex-crimes unit in recent years to see whether any could lead to prosecutions.
Part 2: How police use a new code when sex cases are 'unclear'
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, October 18, 1999
Despite Police Commissioner John F. Timoney's campaign for accuracy in crime reporting, Philadelphia's rape squad is still keeping some sexual assaults out of the official crime count.
Police used 'throwaway categories' since 1960s
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, October 18, 1999
Philadelphia police have been downgrading sexual-assault cases for at
least three decades. In the late 1960s, a University of Pennsylvania law student documented how police made numerous rape complaints disappear into bureaucratic black holes.
After FBI questioned one tactic, another was found
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, October 18, 1999
Perhaps the most breathtaking example of statistical manipulation by
the Special Victims Unit occurred during the first few years of its existence. Mayor William J. Green established the unit in 1981. Police reported a 10
percent decline in rapes in 1982, followed by a 2 percent drop in 1983.
Rape squad office? 'It's sort of scary'
The Special Victims Unit is in the old Frankford Arsenal. Some say its condition is regrettable. Timoney called the site suitable.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, October 18, 1999
The offices of the Special Victims Unit have been anything but
special. For the rape squad's first decade, its home was a crumbling, granite former schoolhouse in the Port Richmond section. The heating system was so inadequate
that one captain remembers typing reports while wearing gloves.
Part 1: Women victimized twice in police game of numbers
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Sunday, October 17, 1999
Over nearly two decades, thousands of women who have gone to Philadelphia police to report sexual assaults have been dismissed as liars or had their cases dumped in bureaucratic limbo.
Daily News Columnist Jill Porter:
Very visible terror somehow manages to remain invisible
October 12, 1999
His picture glares from storefront windows. His presence permeates the streets, ominous and chilling. Publicity about him is unrelenting. And yet he slinks beneath the glaring searchlight, escaping detection. He is, impossibly, still out there.
DNA links serial rapist to 'inactive' case
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Saturday, October 9, 1999
New DNA tests established yesterday that a 1997 assault on a Center City woman - a case that the police rape squad decided was not a crime and stamped "inactive" - was committed by the Rittenhouse Square serial rapist.
Editorial: Downgrading crimes
Serial rapist case is a sad reminder of the cost of misreporting by police.
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 8, 1999
When Philadelphia police dismissed the claims of two Center City women who said they were attacked by apartment intruders, a depraved man likely was left free to continue his nightmarish sex attacks. Eventually, he killed.
Serial rape investigation widens to a sixth attack
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Thursday, October 7, 1999
Philadelphia police say the Rittenhouse Square serial rapist may have struck for the first time two years ago with the attempted rape of a Center City woman - an assault that the department's sex-crimes unit decided was not a crime and stamped "inactive."
DNA links 5th case to Rittenhouse rapist
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Wednesday, October 6, 1999
Two years after investigators labeled the case a burglary, police yesterday confirmed that a 1997 assault on a Center City woman, who was choked and stripped naked inside her apartment, was committed by the same man responsible for a series of rapes and a murder near Rittenhouse Square.
Statistics reveal that crime continues to decline in the suburbs
Philadelphia Inquirer -- Saturday, September 11, 1999
Continuing a trend of the
last few years, overall crime in the four-county Pennsylvania suburbs of
Philadelphia decreased in 1998, according to statistics released yesterday by
the Pennsylvania State Police.
Police unit's relocation to Northeast criticized
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, August 18th, 1999
Internal Affairs is relocating from Center City to the Northeast, something that Police Advisory Commission members, and others who monitor how the department polices its ranks, say is a bad move.
'Second chance' for police captain
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, July 25, 1999
A police captain found to have pressured subordinates to doctor incident reports so that his West Philadelphia district would look safer has gotten his punishment -- a written reprimand from Police Commissioner John F. Timoney.
City crime rate rises 11% as police boost reporting
Philadelphia Inquirer - Monday, May 17, 1999
Philadelphia, which only four years ago boasted that it was the safest big city in America, now ranks sixth among the 10 largest cities in the nation.
Timoney sees a blow to crime-fighting strategy
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, April 1, 1999
A state hearing examiner has dealt what Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney described yesterday as a potential blow to the heart of his
crime-fighting strategy - the computerized mapping of crime.
Police try to aid victims of misreported crimes
Thousands of 1998 cases are under review. Hundreds of people could be eligible for state money.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, January 24, 1999
They were victimized twice - once when they were robbed or beaten,
and again when police discounted their stories and downgraded the crimes. Now, the Philadelphia Police Department is trying to set things right.
Major crimes climb in Phila.
Top police officials say the 9 percent increase simply reflects more accurate reporting, not a surge in violence.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, January 17, 1999
New Justice Department data show a record drop in crime across the
country. Yet Philadelphia's preliminary statistics for 1998 reflect the opposite
trend. Thefts were up 66 percent. Aggravated assaults rose 45 percent.
Burglaries and rapes were each up 15 percent from the year before.
A vicious crime, then a probe languishes
An assault scene goes unsecured. A Phila.
police report cites a ``purse snatch.''
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, December 31, 1998
The robber asked to use the phone, then punched his way into the
Crescentville rowhouse, pounding Melanie Alge so hard he drove her dentures
into her throat. Once inside, he crouched over the 86-year-old widow, throttling her and demanding money.
Murder rates continue to fall in Philadelphia, other major U.S. cities
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, December 31, 1998
Murders in major American cities continued to drop in 1998, reaching
levels not seen in some cases since the 1960s. The trend, perhaps not coincidentally, looks as if somebody reversed a chart of the stock market over the last decade.
After review, Phila. police decide beating was a crime
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, December 22, 1998
It's official: William Johnson was beaten up. Nine months after the South Philadelphia man was pummeled by a group of assailants on a deserted Old City parking lot, the Philadelphia Police Department is prepared to say he was a victim.
Compstat: It's a new weapon for police
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, December 11, 1998
So there's this cop up in the 14th District, see, and he goes to investigate the theft of a cell phone. What's he do? He calls the number. And -- can you believe this? -- the knucklehead answers.
Editorial: A call for backup
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, December 10, 1998
Though hardly a SWAT team, a small band of St. Louis University professors and graduate students regularly assaults a serious urban ill: faking crime statistics.
Panel to overhaul crime reporting
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, December 9, 1998
Seeking outside help in restoring credibility to the city's crime statistics, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney has appointed a respected criminologist to lead an academic panel that will try to banish fudging from police crime reports.
Faulty comparisons cut crime tally
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, November 27, 1998
It was a classic illustration of the power of numbers.
A year ago, seeking to stifle growing worry about crime, Mayor Rendell trumpeted statistics that, he said, showed the critics were all wrong.
Web site offers a look at crimes reported '91-'97
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 22, 1998
Wonder how Philadelphia police classified crime on your block?
By visiting The Inquirer's Web site, Philadelphia Online, readers now can pore over incident reports on 700,000 major crimes recorded by police from 1991 through 1997.
Victims hurt again by recast crime logs
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 22, 1998
For the Police Department and the public, downgrading crime means that the statistical picture of crime in Philadelphia is distorted. For the victims, the consequences are more personal. Rob Lehmann, an assault victim, made a stunning discovery when he inquired about getting aid through the state program that compensates crime victims for hospital bills and other costs. He was told he was out of luck.
Editorial: End the corruption
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, November 20, 1998
Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney has taken the first steps to curb the disgraceful practice of downgrading major crimes.
Pressure builds on city police for accuracy
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 15, 1998
For the first time, the City Controller's Office is auditing police
crime figures. Soon, the Police Department will begin using sting tactics on its own
officers, having undercover investigators pose as crime victims to see whether
police report the incidents properly. Now, the Justice Department is starting an inquiry into the fudging of
crime statistics in the nation's fifth-largest city.
U.S. review set for Phila. crime reports
Philadelphia Inquirer - Saturday, November 14, 1998
Attorney General Janet Reno has ordered an inquiry into the
manipulation of crime statistics by Philadelphia police, putting new pressure
on the city to get its crime tally right.
System set up to ensure true police reports
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, November 13, 1998
Declaring that police too often turn crime reports into a ``creative
writing exercise,'' the commander of all Philadelphia patrol officers has
ordered an overhaul of incident reporting intended to leave a paper trail
every time an officer answers a 911 call.
Editorial: A city's disgrace
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, November 11, 1998
The decades-old manipulation of crime statistics by Philadelphia
police is a civic disgrace. And the consequences don't stop at the station
houses, where stabbings and beatings are redefined as ``hospital cases'';
burglaries become ``lost property,'' and holdups become ``threats.''
Targets of latest police sting: Themselves
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 8, 1998
Fighting a widespread practice of fudging crime statistics,
undercover Philadelphia police soon will begin posing as crime victims to see
whether they can catch fellow officers downgrading or tampering with incident
reports.
Doctoring of crime statistics is corrupt
Philadelphia Inquirer -
Saturday, November 7, 1998
OPINION COLUMN: Twenty-seven years ago this month, I resigned as commander of the Sixth Police District in protest of the corruption rampant in the department
and the unwillingness of the police hierarchy and the political administration
to take action.
Murder rate in Phila. has fallen almost 18%
Philadelphia Inquirer -
Friday, November 6, 1998
People are killing one another in Philadelphia at a slower pace this
year than at any time since 1987.
A Phila. crime left uncounted
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, November 6, 1998
COLUMNIST TOM FERRICK JR: It was like a scene from a made-for-TV movie.
The time: A cool, clear Thursday night in October of last year.
Rendell: Crime numbers will rise
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, November 3, 1998
Mayor Rendell said yesterday that Philadelphia faced a ``painful''
period in which counting crime honestly and accurately - something he said
police had not done for decades - would drive up the city's crime rate, at
least on paper.
The big write-off: When stolen goods are `lost'
Philadelphia Inquirer - Monday, November 2, 1998
A diamond ring stolen from a Mayfair pizza maker. A Fire Department command jeep filched by joy-riding teenagers in West
Philadelphia. A handbag containing $650 swiped from a sales clerk at Franklin Mills Mall. Crimes? Not in Philadelphia.
Statistical manipulation by police goes back decades
Philadelphia Inquirer -
Sunday, November 1, 1998
Not long ago, a joke went by fax from one detective division to
another across Philadelphia. For a time, it was pinned to the wall above the
assignment desk at North Detectives, Broad and Champlost Streets. Pearl Harbor: minor disturbance.
How to cut city's crime rate: Don't report it
Philadelphia Inquirer -
Sunday, November 1, 1998
She came at him with a six-inch knife, backing 76-year-old Ernest
Dailey into the bathroom of his tiny apartment. The woman and an accomplice rifled the place and left. Dailey emerged to
find his 27-inch color TV and CD changer missing.
Phila. police now reporting many more crimes
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, October 30, 1998
Responding to Police Commissioner John F. Timoney's edict to get the
numbers right, Philadelphia police are reporting many more major crimes than
they used to, spawning a paper crime wave that casts fresh doubt on statistics
from past years.
3,000 city crimes went uncounted in '97 data
The police commissioner released a recount of major offenses. But even that may be inaccurate.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, September 30, 1998
In the latest acknowledgment of deep flaws in Philadelphia's crime
statistics, the Police Department said yesterday that it undercounted major
offenses by 3 percent last year, omitting more than 3,000 property crimes from
data given to the FBI and the public.
Controller to audit city crime statistics
The accuracy of the numbers, as reported by the police, has been under intense fire.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, September 4, 1998
Responding to growing evidence that Philadelphia police have been
underreporting crime, the City Controller's Office soon will begin an
independent audit in an effort to determine the extent of the problem and
restore public confidence in the statistics.
Timoney throws out crime stats as faulty
Random checks found as many as 4,000 major offenses unreported over the last six months.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, July 26, 1998
In a startling admission of his department's failure to count crime
accurately, Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney has rejected the
crime statistics given him for the first half of the year and ordered a
citywide recount
.
Police plan new tack on car theft
Starting on June 8, they will respond in person to such crimes in the city. The goal: Good service.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Saturday, May 30, 1998
In a major shift in how police deal with auto theft, one of the
city's most widespread and persistent crime problems, Philadelphia police soon
will respond in person to each report of a stolen car rather than simply take
information over the phone.
'97 Phila. stats left out hundreds of crimes
Preliminary indications are that data-gathering for some non-violent crimes was flawed.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, May 27, 1998
City officials yesterday confirmed that the Police Department's
official crime statistics for 1997 left out hundreds - possibly thousands - of
non-violent crimes committed during the first half of the year.
Crime stats target of 2d probe
In dispute: A major dip in the number of reported crimes in Phila. in the first half of 1997.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, May 24, 1998
For the second time in a year, the Philadelphia Police Department has
launched an investigation into its own crime statistics and is exploring
whether hundreds - possibly thousands - of crimes were not included in the
department's official 1997 tally.
Crime fell, but so did Phila. rank
FBI data showed a 2 percent drop in violent crime, but other cities saw greater declines.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Monday, May 18, 1998
Robberies in Philadelphia dropped 9 percent last year, but a
late-year surge in burglaries, thefts and stolen cars left the city with a 2
percent overall fall in reported major crimes, the FBI said yesterday.
The city gets good news on murder rates
No one is sure why, but killings were down in the first four months of the year.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, May 13, 1998
It could be smarter policing. It could be a strong economy. It could
be a crackdown on gun traffickers. Whatever the cause, the trend is clear: Philadelphia's homicide rate fell sharply in the first four months of this year.
Timoney names team, all from city's ranks
He called his picks ``idea people.'' Emphasis is being placed on drug-fighting and technology.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, April 10, 1998
Reshuffling the command structure to strengthen the roles of
drug-fighting, technology and anti-corruption oversight, Commissioner John F.
Timoney yesterday named the management team he will rely on to overhaul the
Philadelphia Police Department.
Timoney picks replacement for No. 2 commander
Richard Zappile becomes a deputy mayor. Sylvester
Johnson, a decorated 33-year veteran, succeeds him.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, April 7, 1998
Moving to put his stamp on the force, Philadelphia Police
Commissioner John F. Timoney soon will replace the department's No. 2
commander and give the job to a decorated career cop known in recent years for
his work investigating corrupt officers.
New police commissioner named
Rendell brings in ex-deputy from N.Y.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, February 19, 1998
With surprising swiftness, Mayor Rendell yesterday set the stage for
sweeping change in the Philadelphia Police Department by naming a key figure
in New York City's crime turnaround as the city's new police commissioner.
One lost, one a haven: A tale of 2 city neighborhoods
Those who live there spell Roxborough S-A-F-E.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, January 1, 1998
Twenty-one years ago, aspiring florist Stan Tropiano decided to buy
an established flower shop in Philadelphia - a place blooming with
possibilities, with roots in its community.
One lost, one a haven: A tale of 2 city neighborhoods
Violence and drugs rule in the place they call Oz.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, January 1, 1998
Tonight, it's fun with white people in the Land of Oz. Caucasians driving through the drug bazaars in Fairhill - ``Oz,'' to residents and police alike - will be maximally and enthusiastically hassled by cops this evening.
Here's where your car goes after it's stolen
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 23, 1997
Shiny and upscale, or drab right down to the hubs, they sit curbside,
in driveways and on parking lots, mobile magnets for crime. Whether you keep a
car in the city or in the suburbs, commute everyday, or only occasionally
drive, motorist beware: Some thief wants your wheels.
How crime hits Phila. neighborhoods
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, October 24, 1997
Drug dealers waving handguns sometimes chase each other down Loraya
Butler's block in North Philadelphia. A few months ago, their shots whistled
past her toddler grandchildren as they played outside.
Phila.'s crime data discarded by FBI
Philadelphia Inquirer - Saturday, October 18, 1997
The FBI, citing problems with how Philadelphia police count crime, is
purging Philadelphia statistics for the last year and a half from its national
surveys of crime.
A hard look at how police are deployed
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, October 5, 1997
The last time the Philadelphia Police Department overhauled
deployment, patrol cars were red, officers used call boxes instead of radios,
and a swaggering veteran cop named Frank Rizzo was commissioner. Today, police cars are white and blue, and some officers communicate with headquarters by computer.
Comparing the risks from city to suburbs
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, September 28, 1997
At a Delaware County pistol range, gun-gripping suburbanites blast
away at cardboard bogeymen. Laura Defazio, 15, raises a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun at Targetmaster in Chadds Ford. As her approving father looks on, the Bishop Shanahan High School sophomore fires four slugs through the chest of a human-shaped target.
Trust us
Mayor's math just does not add up
Philadelphia Daily News - Thursday, September 25, 1997
The Philadelphia Police Department has been misreporting the number
of city crimes to the state police and the FBI, counting thousands of offenses
that occurred in one year as if they happened in another.
Phila. looks to New York for lessons on cutting crime rate
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, September 2, 1997
The New York Police Department can tell you how many robberies the
entire borough of Brooklyn logged, their proximity to subway stops and cash
machines, descriptions of the perps, even the number of guns pointed.
Last night.
In Phila., a pattern of murder statistics, a common thread
Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, April 18, 1997
Of the 414 people murdered in Philadelphia last year, two were killed
in Center City. A security guard at a Rite Aid near 16th and Chestnut
strangled the assistant manager with a necktie and fled with $5,000. A
homeless man was stabbed to death during an argument at Broad and Arch.
