Serial Rape Suspect: Did he slip through the cracks? - 19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

Serial Rape Suspect: Did he slip through the cracks?

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Serial Rape Suspect (Source: Cleveland Police) Serial Rape Suspect (Source: Cleveland Police)
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CLEVELAND, OH -

Investigators are wondering why a suspect in serial rapes did not get identified earlier.

The man is suspected in sex assaults on Cleveland's southeast side dating back to 1996. He's just been tied to the crimes by DNA.

However, he'd been in prison for other crimes, and the prisons get DNA samples from inmates. So why is there a match with the cold cases just now?

Were there no DNA prison samples taken? Were they lost or somehow messed up? Still not clear.

A spokesman for the state prisons says he'll get back to us.

Police are still investigating the new DNA connection and what may have happened in the past with any samples.

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