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American Morning
Serial Rapist
Aired June 12, 2003 - 08:31 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, police hunting down for a serial rapist. DNA evidence links the same man to at least four rapes, including two cases in which young girls were attacked while home alone.
Susan Candiotti is live in Miami where, again, the effort is in place.
Apparently, Susan, we're hearing about off-duty police officers coming back, trying to hunt down this man.
Good morning there.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Even retired police officers, Bill.
You know, after three girls, ages 11, 12 and 13, were attacked within the last few weeks, police then started broadening their search, and using DNA. They were then able to connect the same rapist, they say, to attacks on three women, including two women who were attacked last fall, and a 79-year-old woman who was assaulted last month. Police have been using composite sketches of the suspect to try to find him.
They're also receiving a lot of help from the community in trying to find the attacker, including help from the Guardian Angels, who have been patrolling the neighborhoods where police say these attacks all occurred. The Guardian Angels and other city employees have been handing out flyers featuring these composite sketches of the suspect, and making sure people are aware that authorities are looking for him.
And even though the attacks happened in one neighborhood, police say people should not become complacent, only limiting it to that one area.
They are also hard-pressed to explain why they think this rapist is attacking victims in such a wide range of ages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. BILL SCWARTZ, MIAMI POLICE: He's totally indiscriminate. And he's getting brazen, more brazen, with each attack. Like I said, rape is an underreported crime. So it just makes us very fearful that there could be other victims out there that aren't reporting it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CANDIOTTl: Now, if, indeed, the rapist is targeting children, police say that parents especially should be careful during the summer, because now that school is out, kids will have a lot more time on their hands, and they want to make sure that these little ones don't answer the door to strangers and don't go anywhere by themselves.
And finally, Bill, they're also looking at more unsolved cases to see if they can find any more matches -- Bill.
HEMMER: Susan, there are some reports going back to September of last year that indicate this man may have been involved as early as perhaps 10 months ago. If that's the case, is there criticism right now? And if so, is it warranted, about the police not making the connection prior to this time?
CANDIOTTI: Well certainly, Bill, it is a question that's coming up. Although authorities are answering it this way at this time; they say, look, in the beginning when we looked at these three children we thought that that's who this attacker was targeting. And because we have limited resources, we then started to say, okay, now that we're looking at just that, it's time for us to start looking for DNA matches at other unsolved cases. So they said they were working as quickly as they could to try to look for any connections.
HEMMER: Susan Candiotti, live in Miami.
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 12, 2003 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, police hunting down for a serial rapist. DNA evidence links the same man to at least four rapes, including two cases in which young girls were attacked while home alone.
Susan Candiotti is live in Miami where, again, the effort is in place.
Apparently, Susan, we're hearing about off-duty police officers coming back, trying to hunt down this man.
Good morning there.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Even retired police officers, Bill.
You know, after three girls, ages 11, 12 and 13, were attacked within the last few weeks, police then started broadening their search, and using DNA. They were then able to connect the same rapist, they say, to attacks on three women, including two women who were attacked last fall, and a 79-year-old woman who was assaulted last month. Police have been using composite sketches of the suspect to try to find him.
They're also receiving a lot of help from the community in trying to find the attacker, including help from the Guardian Angels, who have been patrolling the neighborhoods where police say these attacks all occurred. The Guardian Angels and other city employees have been handing out flyers featuring these composite sketches of the suspect, and making sure people are aware that authorities are looking for him.
And even though the attacks happened in one neighborhood, police say people should not become complacent, only limiting it to that one area.
They are also hard-pressed to explain why they think this rapist is attacking victims in such a wide range of ages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. BILL SCWARTZ, MIAMI POLICE: He's totally indiscriminate. And he's getting brazen, more brazen, with each attack. Like I said, rape is an underreported crime. So it just makes us very fearful that there could be other victims out there that aren't reporting it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CANDIOTTl: Now, if, indeed, the rapist is targeting children, police say that parents especially should be careful during the summer, because now that school is out, kids will have a lot more time on their hands, and they want to make sure that these little ones don't answer the door to strangers and don't go anywhere by themselves.
And finally, Bill, they're also looking at more unsolved cases to see if they can find any more matches -- Bill.
HEMMER: Susan, there are some reports going back to September of last year that indicate this man may have been involved as early as perhaps 10 months ago. If that's the case, is there criticism right now? And if so, is it warranted, about the police not making the connection prior to this time?
CANDIOTTI: Well certainly, Bill, it is a question that's coming up. Although authorities are answering it this way at this time; they say, look, in the beginning when we looked at these three children we thought that that's who this attacker was targeting. And because we have limited resources, we then started to say, okay, now that we're looking at just that, it's time for us to start looking for DNA matches at other unsolved cases. So they said they were working as quickly as they could to try to look for any connections.
HEMMER: Susan Candiotti, live in Miami.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
