A UC Berkeley employee is arrested and suspected of NorCal rape series for 15 years | The California report

For the second time this year, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced on Friday an arrest in a decades-old cold case opened by a new frontier of forensic science.

Schubert was joined by counties prosecutors from Contra Costa, Butte, Yolo, Sonoma and Solano to discuss Thursday's arrest of Roy Charles Waller, a 58-year-old resident of Benicia, suspected of having committed to at least 10 home invasions and rapes between 1991 and 2006.

"The answer has always been in the DNA," Schubert said. "DNA is the silent witness to the truth." For 27 years, this truth has not been known so far. "

Daniel Hahn, chief of the Sacramento police, said Waller was tied to DNA evidence collected after rapes in Rohnert, Sonoma, Vallejo, Martinez, Woodland, Chico, Davis and Sacramento parks.

He said the suspect nicknamed "NorCal's rapist" was responsible for "many horrific crimes where he terrorized women in northern California jurisdictions, usually for hours."

"Waller was arrested yesterday in Berkeley while he was coming to work," Hahn said. "The suspect is married and has been in the same job for 25 years, and we confirmed by DNA that Waller is the suspect in many of these crimes."

UC Berkeley spokespersons confirmed that since 1992, Waller has been a specialist in safety in the environment, health and safety of the school. He managed safety and training programs regarding the use of equipment and forklifts.

"We were shocked to learn that a campus employee was arrested as part of a series of rapes committed more than a decade ago in several northern California communities," he said. indicates the written statement of the university. The university said Waller is on "leave of investigation".

"[T]There is no indication that any crimes have been committed in the campus community, "says the statement citing Sacramento and the university's college forces." However, UCPD will review all cases of open sexual assault to determine if they are related.

The disturbing pattern followed by "NorCal Rapist"

According to detective Avis Beery of Sacramento, who worked for 12 years, the "NorCal rapist" suspect followed a scary pattern in his crimes.

"He would go into the houses, usually late at night," Beery said. "Sometimes the victims slept, sometimes they went to their activities in the evening, he would overcome them, he would tie them up and then sexually assault them several times, search their houses, and sometimes he would kidnap the victims and take them to the ATMs where he will take money out of their accounts, and at other times he will steal personal items from them. "

The series of rapes began in 1991 with an attack in Rohnert Park, followed by another rape a year later in the city of Sonoma, said Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Brian Staebell.

Then there was an attack in Vallejo, Solano County, in 1992.

Waller is a suspect in a 1996 Halloween attack in Martinez in Contra Costa County, said district attorney Diana Becton.

"Ten years after the attack in Contra Costa County, our office has filed a complaint with John Doe with the specific genetic profile of that same person," said Becton. "We filed the complaint to preserve the limitation period for some of the [12 felony] account in this case. "

Schubert said Waller was charged on Wednesday with 12 crimes in Sacramento County, some of which include breakthrough improvements in homes with the intent to rape and attach victims .

These improvements open up the possibility of life imprisonment and may override the statute of limitations, she added.

The same suspect allegedly attacked four women in Davis and Woodland in the late 1990s and in 2000, according to Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig.

"The suspect in this case was a real boogeyman who broke into the homes of the victims in the guise of darkness and attacked them when they were the most vulnerable," Reisig said. "His days of inflicting such terror are over."

DNA came from the victim's blood after the victim fought back

The "NorCal rapist" also reportedly attacked a woman in Chico in 1997, who fought back.

"The DNA in our case just stabbed the accused in the arm," Butte District Attorney Michael Ramsey said. "And a man who tried to clean the scene of the crime failed because there was too much blood, he could not cover his sins, his crime and we owe a lot to a very brave victim."

Finally, Waller is believed to have raped two women in northern Sacramento in 2006. He is expected to be brought to justice on Monday on charges related to these crimes in the Superior Court of Sacramento County.

Sacramento County DA Schubert confirmed that Waller was linked to the crime series in the same way that Sacramento's laboratory criminals identified Joseph James DeAngelo as "Golden State Killer", "East Area Rapist" and "Original Night Stalker" .

"The link has been established through genetic genealogy," said Schubert, citing GEDmatch, the open source DNA information website.

"The genealogy was done about 10 days ago, which brought us very quickly to this individual.And over the past 10 days, the police department has conducted a large-scale investigation that culminated yesterday with his arrest. . "