DNA Links Navy Diver to Decades-Old Rape Cases

A Navy diver who died nearly 30 years ago has been identified as the culprit in a string of rapes spanning four states in the 1980s and '90s, reports CBS News. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office in California announced that Sean Patrick McNulty—who took his own life in 1997 after becoming a suspect in a 1993 Indiana rape case—has been definitively linked to six sexual assaults in California, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

The attacks all involved home invasions, with the assailant sometimes calling his victims afterward and threatening them further. Progress in the investigation came after Ventura County officials tested evidence from rape kits collected in 1982 and 1983, and uploaded the DNA to a national database. A multi-state effort, aided by a forensic genealogist, ultimately pointed to McNulty.

"The results show the importance of testing every kit and pursuing every lead, no matter how old or how long it takes," Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said in a statement, per NBC News. Officials have begun notifying victims. McNulty, originally from Burlingame, California, served as a Navy diver from 1979 to 1992, was married and later divorced, and had a prior arrest for making obscene calls to women in 1978. The investigation continues as authorities try to determine if more cases may be linked to him.