CNN
—
Aided by advances in DNA expertise, authorities in Florida say they’ve recognized and charged the so-called Pillowcase Rapist accused of sexually assaulting a number of ladies in the 1980s.
Robert Koehler, 62, is charged in six sexual assault circumstances that investigators say have been carried out with “diabolical precision,” in accordance with a Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) information launch.
“BSO Cold Case Unit detectives worked with Broward State Attorney’s Office prosecutors to bring charges against Koehler in a total of six sexual assault cases,” BSO mentioned, although it didn’t element the particular expenses he faces.
“On at least eight occasions in 1984 and 1985, detectives believe Koehler snuck into homes in Broward County late at night or in the wee hours of the morning through unlocked doors and attacked his victims while they slept or prepared for bed,” the launch mentioned.
The suspect allegedly coated his victims heads or his personal, typically with pillowcases, and made threats to kill the ladies or their households earlier than assaulting and robbing them, the launch mentioned.
Koehler is already in custody in neighboring Miami-Dade County on separate armed sexual battery expenses associated to a 1983 rape, to which he has pleaded not responsible. He was arrested on these expenses in January 2020, CNN previously reported. Once the Miami-Dade case is adjudicated, Koehler can be delivered to Broward County to face the extra expenses, BSO mentioned.
CNN has reached out to Koehler’s public defender in the Miami-Dade case for remark.
Shortly after his 2020 arrest, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office introduced DNA evaluation used to cost him in the 1983 assault additionally matched DNA samples collected in a number of different assaults believed to have been dedicated by the Pillowcase Rapist.
For many years, assaults believed to have been tied to the Pillowcase Rapist went chilly as investigators hit lifeless ends with no important leads, Cold Case Unit Sergeant Kami Floyd mentioned in a video launched by BSO.
In 2019, Floyd started sifting by way of hundreds of sexual assault circumstances from the 1980s and narrowed down a handful of suspected Pillowcase Rapist circumstances.
“At the time (of the assaults), all we had was blood typing,” Floyd mentioned in the video. “With this new technology that we have, we were able to retest the specimens and get a full DNA profile of our suspect.”
After Koehler was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Broward County investigators obtained a new DNA swab from him that matched the authentic specimens from a number of of the suspected Pillowcase Rapist circumstances, Floyd mentioned.
“From the DNA that we were able to pull from our evidence, with 100 percent certainty Robert Koehler’s DNA matches the DNA from every one of our victims,” Floyd mentioned. “Every single one of these women, I can’t imagine what they went through in the initial instance. But having to relive it this many years later, I’m amazed at their ability to recall, their ability to speak freely about it and so detailed.”
DNA evaluation additionally led investigators to Koehler in the Miami-Dade case he is at the moment in custody for.
A “key breakthrough” occurred after Koehler’s son was arrested in an unrelated case, CNN previously reported. His son’s DNA was related sufficient to the Pillowcase Rapist’s that investigators believed the unknown attacker was his father. After arresting Koehler in 2020, police obtained a search warrant that allowed them to get a swab of his DNA to verify the match, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle mentioned at the time.
Broward County authorities imagine there could also be extra victims unknown to regulation enforcement and inspired anybody with info to achieve out to the BSO Cold Case Unit or the Broward Crime Stoppers tipline.
“Based on the number of similar cases that occurred in South Florida in the 1980s and gaps in the reported attacks, detectives and victims believe there may be more victims of the ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ who have yet to come forward,” the BSO video mentioned.