Exclusive: New York City officials solve 2 decades-old rape cases with help from DNA consumer databases

By SHOSH BEDROSIAN

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    NEW YORK, NY (WCBS) — For the first time in the state’s history, New York City officials say they’ve solved two decades-old rape cases using genealogy from DNA databases.

The Bronx district attorney’s office tells CBS New York’s Shosh Bedrosian in this exclusive report the new technique was funded by a grant awarded to them by the Department of Justice in 2022.

For 22 years, this anonymous survivor of sexual assault in the Bronx has been hoping to see her case solved.

“We’re coming up on the anniversary of it, and often in December, I would think about, will this be the year?” she told Bedrosian over the phone.

For the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and NYPD, they’ve been tracking dozens of unsolved homicide and sexual assault cases, working to get to the bottom of them.

But new technology is turning some of pre-1996 cases into solved ones with the help of DNA consumer databases.

“With this new technology, it’s almost like a defibrillator. These are cases that are basically dead in the water, and we can use this technology to bring them back to life,” said David Slott, chief of the Forensic Science Unit at the Bronx DA’s office.

For two decades, two different rape cases have appeared lifeless in Manhattan and the Bronx DA’s offices.

Part of a pattern, Slott says the same unknown DNA was collected from both crime scenes.

“That DNA profile had been circulating through the CODIS databases in state and national for over 20 years with no hit,” he said.

The survivor in the Bronx case says she’s been searching for justice for years.

“When you survive something and you live with it, there’s just parts of that fear and trauma that are very much deep embedded inside of you,” she said.

That all changed when the crime scene evidence was taken to a private lab to develop a profile using consumer DNA databases.

“The consumers had consented to law enforcement search. From there our partners at the NYPD were able to build out a family tree, identify a suspect and give us that lead,” Slott said.

Officials say the process took about five months, sending the DNA sample out to the lab back in July. Fast forward to November when they indicted a man in Florida for both cases.

“To know that the society that you live in is giving that person a consequence is very gratifying and very satisfying that we can do what we set out to do,” the survivor said.

“Bringing closure and justice to our victims, that is paramount to our unit and to District Attorney Clark’s office,” Slott said.

Jancys Santiago, 48, was arraigned in both Manhattan and Bronx for the cases. He’s charged with first-degree rape and his bail was set at $1 million.

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