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American Morning
Police Hunting For Serial Rapist
Aired June 12, 2003 - 07:32 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, where police are hunting 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 they were home alone.
Susan Candiotti is live in Miami with the latest -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
At first authorities thought they were looking for a rapist who was only targeting children, which, of course, is horrible enough. But then because of DNA comparisons and physical evidence, they were able to link this rapist to a few more attacks. And so now they stand with this count -- four rapes definitely linked through DNA evidence and two more that are highly probable, police say.
Now, authorities are working from three composite sketches. These come from descriptions from the three most recent alleged victims that happened within the last three weeks. These are the youngest victims, ages 11, 12 and 13, police say. And two more women, police say, were attacked by the same man between last September and December.
Now, Miami city employees have been distributing fliers throughout the city and warning people to be on guard. Also last night, Guardian Angels were volunteering their time, spending the night patrolling the neighborhood where police say all of these attacks occurred. They are also handing out fliers. And police today expect to be releasing more information about some particular jewelry and clothing worn by the attacker, police say, on at least one of the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK FERNANDEZ, DEPUTY CHIEF, MIAMI, FLORIDA POLICE: One thing I want to say to this individual, if he's watching us on TV right now, we're making it personal. We're going to catch him. If you're watching me now, I'm going to catch you, I'm going to put you behind bars. We have the best detectives assigned to this case and we can guarantee you that he will be behind bars as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Police say they are worried that this rapist, they say, is becoming even more bold because, they say, during the most recent attack just a few weeks ago, or earlier this week, actually, they said that he was actually waiting inside the house of his intended victim -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And, Susan, I understand that there's also great concern given the time of year. Summer, school is letting out, a lot of kids, young girls might be home alone since they're not in school.
CANDIOTTI: That's right. Children have a lot more time on their hands and so that's why police are advising parent to please make sure that their children are involved in some sort of activity, make sure they don't open the door to strangers and make sure if they're going anywhere that they do not go by themselves.
KAGAN: Susan Candiotti, the latest in Miami.
Thank you.
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 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, where police are hunting 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 they were home alone.
Susan Candiotti is live in Miami with the latest -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
At first authorities thought they were looking for a rapist who was only targeting children, which, of course, is horrible enough. But then because of DNA comparisons and physical evidence, they were able to link this rapist to a few more attacks. And so now they stand with this count -- four rapes definitely linked through DNA evidence and two more that are highly probable, police say.
Now, authorities are working from three composite sketches. These come from descriptions from the three most recent alleged victims that happened within the last three weeks. These are the youngest victims, ages 11, 12 and 13, police say. And two more women, police say, were attacked by the same man between last September and December.
Now, Miami city employees have been distributing fliers throughout the city and warning people to be on guard. Also last night, Guardian Angels were volunteering their time, spending the night patrolling the neighborhood where police say all of these attacks occurred. They are also handing out fliers. And police today expect to be releasing more information about some particular jewelry and clothing worn by the attacker, police say, on at least one of the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK FERNANDEZ, DEPUTY CHIEF, MIAMI, FLORIDA POLICE: One thing I want to say to this individual, if he's watching us on TV right now, we're making it personal. We're going to catch him. If you're watching me now, I'm going to catch you, I'm going to put you behind bars. We have the best detectives assigned to this case and we can guarantee you that he will be behind bars as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Police say they are worried that this rapist, they say, is becoming even more bold because, they say, during the most recent attack just a few weeks ago, or earlier this week, actually, they said that he was actually waiting inside the house of his intended victim -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And, Susan, I understand that there's also great concern given the time of year. Summer, school is letting out, a lot of kids, young girls might be home alone since they're not in school.
CANDIOTTI: That's right. Children have a lot more time on their hands and so that's why police are advising parent to please make sure that their children are involved in some sort of activity, make sure they don't open the door to strangers and make sure if they're going anywhere that they do not go by themselves.
KAGAN: Susan Candiotti, the latest in Miami.
Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
