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Serial Rapist At-Large in Florida
Aired June 18, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All the doors are locked in a section of Miami, where the manhunt continues for a serial rapist. Police believe he's still in West Little Havana, the neighborhood where he's now linked to seven rapes.
CNN's Susan Candiotti live from Miami now.
Susan -- this is the seventh attack, a total of seven. What's the latest now?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reason that they only made this latest connection only yesterday, Kyra, is because it was in the process of going over old cases. Miami police said that they discovered that there was some DNA that they had failed to submit from an attack, a rape that occurred last March. So, within the last couple of weeks, they made that discovery, submitted it. They were supposed to -- they are required by policy to submit it to a county crime lab. That wasn't done.
And so, after they made that discovery of something that they didn't do, that's when they were able to make the connection that this other attack was linked to all of the others.
Now, so far, all but one of the seven attacks has been connected through DNA. The other one they believe is linked, because of the description of the suspect from the victim, as well as the method that the rapist allegedly used.
PHILLIPS: The police receiving, obviously, Susan, a lot of criticism with regard to how it's handled this. What's being done now to prevent this from happening again? How are they instilling a little more faith within the community?
CANDIOTTI: Well, certainly, questions have been raised about the procedures, and the Miami police chief and the deputy chief have been out front and acknowledging that mistakes were made early on. They discovered that their policy about turning over DNA samples immediately to the county crime lab was written back in 1999, and needs some revision, some clarification, as the police chief puts it, to make sure that the detectives are very clear on what it is that they're supposed to do. And the department has gone out of its way to say that now that they've made this discovery that things weren't working quite the way they should have been that they insist that it won't be happening again.
PHILLIPS: And quickly, before we let you go, Susan, of course we've got those sketches of this serial killer, the man that police are looking for. Tell us what you know with regard to the description of this man.
CANDIOTTI: According to police, they believe he's anywhere between 25 to possibly in his 30s. Police say he spoke only in Spanish to his victims. The chief describes him as very disarming, because he was able to talk his way, in some cases, into the victims' homes. And, in fact, they also put out a description of a very flashy shirt that he was wearing, as well as some jewelry, distinctive enough, police believe, that someone is sure to recognize these things and then to call police.
The chief is convinced that someone out there knows who this individual is, lives down the street, knows him personally, has seen him somewhere, and they hope that someone will call in a tip to the authorities.
PHILLIPS: Our Susan Candiotti live from Miami. Appreciate it. Thanks, Susan.
CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 18, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All the doors are locked in a section of Miami, where the manhunt continues for a serial rapist. Police believe he's still in West Little Havana, the neighborhood where he's now linked to seven rapes.
CNN's Susan Candiotti live from Miami now.
Susan -- this is the seventh attack, a total of seven. What's the latest now?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reason that they only made this latest connection only yesterday, Kyra, is because it was in the process of going over old cases. Miami police said that they discovered that there was some DNA that they had failed to submit from an attack, a rape that occurred last March. So, within the last couple of weeks, they made that discovery, submitted it. They were supposed to -- they are required by policy to submit it to a county crime lab. That wasn't done.
And so, after they made that discovery of something that they didn't do, that's when they were able to make the connection that this other attack was linked to all of the others.
Now, so far, all but one of the seven attacks has been connected through DNA. The other one they believe is linked, because of the description of the suspect from the victim, as well as the method that the rapist allegedly used.
PHILLIPS: The police receiving, obviously, Susan, a lot of criticism with regard to how it's handled this. What's being done now to prevent this from happening again? How are they instilling a little more faith within the community?
CANDIOTTI: Well, certainly, questions have been raised about the procedures, and the Miami police chief and the deputy chief have been out front and acknowledging that mistakes were made early on. They discovered that their policy about turning over DNA samples immediately to the county crime lab was written back in 1999, and needs some revision, some clarification, as the police chief puts it, to make sure that the detectives are very clear on what it is that they're supposed to do. And the department has gone out of its way to say that now that they've made this discovery that things weren't working quite the way they should have been that they insist that it won't be happening again.
PHILLIPS: And quickly, before we let you go, Susan, of course we've got those sketches of this serial killer, the man that police are looking for. Tell us what you know with regard to the description of this man.
CANDIOTTI: According to police, they believe he's anywhere between 25 to possibly in his 30s. Police say he spoke only in Spanish to his victims. The chief describes him as very disarming, because he was able to talk his way, in some cases, into the victims' homes. And, in fact, they also put out a description of a very flashy shirt that he was wearing, as well as some jewelry, distinctive enough, police believe, that someone is sure to recognize these things and then to call police.
The chief is convinced that someone out there knows who this individual is, lives down the street, knows him personally, has seen him somewhere, and they hope that someone will call in a tip to the authorities.
PHILLIPS: Our Susan Candiotti live from Miami. Appreciate it. Thanks, Susan.
CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
