DNA test leads to charges 30 years after rape rampage

A MAN suspected of raping 25 women in a rampage spanning three US states has been arrested after a forgotten piece of evidence was DNA-tested - more than 30 years later.

Clarence Williams, aged 58, was charged with the 1973 rape of a New York woman when DNA from her underwear was checked against a national database, linking him to the crime.

He is also a suspect in a further nine unsolved sexual assaults in Maryland and two in New Jersey and potentially at least 12 others between 1987 and 1993.

Williams was tried on rape charges in 1974 but the jury could not reach a verdict. A conviction for a separate rape, also in New York, was reversed in 1976.

He was released on bail but fled in 1978 to avoid facing a retrial in both cases. He was not recaptured until last year when he tried to buy a gun in Atlanta, Georgia and the arrest warrants showed up in background checks. Williams faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of the 1973 rape.

Prosecutor, Robert Morgenthau said the case showed the importance of a national DNA database and how vital it was to keep all files.

“It will send a chill through defendants to know that you can still test for DNA after 32 years,” he said.

He would not comment on potential charges against Williams in the other attacks in New York, Maryland and New Jersey.

Williams’s lawyer, Michael Rubin, said his client had “maintained his innocence throughout”, adding that the latest allegations were new to him.

Williams has been extradited to New York and is being held without bail. He is due in court on May 17.