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http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/253121.html
Suspect charged in 1999 rape of woman, 81
It was a rape case no one could forget.
An 81-year-old woman left her apartment on Christmas Eve 1999 to deliver
cookies to a neighbor's doorstep. When she returned to her apartment, a man
followed. He shoved her inside and attacked her.
"We all remembered the case because of her injuries," sex crimes Detective
Janna Eikel said. "You look at the photos of her, and it makes you want to
cry."
Now police may have solved the case.
On Wednesday, Jackson County prosecutors filed six felony charges against a
convicted burglar after DNA linked him to the unsolved rape. Terry U.
Birmingham, 41, is charged with burglary, robbery, assault and three counts
of rape.
Birmingham was convicted in January of burglary and resisting arrest. When
he was booked into a Missouri prison, he had to provide a DNA sample. That
sample matched evidence from the 1999 rape, according to court records.
Police said the sample also matched two other crimes against older women in
Kansas City: an attempted rape and robbery in 2004 against a 66-year-old
woman, and a home invasion and robbery in 2005 against a 99-year-old woman.
Prosecutors have not filed charges against Birmingham in those cases, which
occurred in the Waldo area. Police said that the DNA evidence in those cases
was not as strong as in the 1999 attack, but that the investigations were
continuing.
In the 1999 case, the victim told police her assailant pushed her inside her
apartment, shut the door and demanded money. When she gave it to him, he
demanded more, then pushed her into a bedroom and raped her repeatedly while
choking her until she could not breathe and hitting her until she lost
consciousness.
He fled with about $225.
While investigating the case, prosecutors discovered a loophole in state law
that might have allowed the rapist to get away with the crime if they did
not identify the attacker within three years.
Lawmakers had inadvertently added forcible rape and forcible sodomy to a
list of crimes with a short statute of limitations.
Jackson County tried to keep the case active by using DNA left at the crime
scene to charge an unknown "John Doe" assailant before the statute of
limitations expired in 2002. This case was the first time Jackson County
prosecutors used that technique. The office has now filed 13 such "John Doe"
warrants.
The case also prompted prosecutors to push for a change in the shortened
statute of limitations. In March 2002, Gov. Bob Holden signed legislation
that eliminated forcible rape and forcible sodomy from the three-year rule.
The 1999 victim went missing three years ago from her assisted-living center
in Waldo, where she had moved after the rape. Police printed and distributed
fliers with her photograph. They were concerned she might have again been
the victim of a crime.
Police never figured out what happened to her.
She vanished just 10 days before the 2004 attack on the 66-year-old woman in
the same area. The attack on the 99-year-old woman occurred seven months
later.
In February 2006, prosecutors sought "John Doe" grand jury indictments in
those two cases.
Suspect charged in 1999 rape of woman, 81
It was a rape case no one could forget.
An 81-year-old woman left her apartment on Christmas Eve 1999 to deliver
cookies to a neighbor's doorstep. When she returned to her apartment, a man
followed. He shoved her inside and attacked her.
"We all remembered the case because of her injuries," sex crimes Detective
Janna Eikel said. "You look at the photos of her, and it makes you want to
cry."
Now police may have solved the case.
On Wednesday, Jackson County prosecutors filed six felony charges against a
convicted burglar after DNA linked him to the unsolved rape. Terry U.
Birmingham, 41, is charged with burglary, robbery, assault and three counts
of rape.
Birmingham was convicted in January of burglary and resisting arrest. When
he was booked into a Missouri prison, he had to provide a DNA sample. That
sample matched evidence from the 1999 rape, according to court records.
Police said the sample also matched two other crimes against older women in
Kansas City: an attempted rape and robbery in 2004 against a 66-year-old
woman, and a home invasion and robbery in 2005 against a 99-year-old woman.
Prosecutors have not filed charges against Birmingham in those cases, which
occurred in the Waldo area. Police said that the DNA evidence in those cases
was not as strong as in the 1999 attack, but that the investigations were
continuing.
In the 1999 case, the victim told police her assailant pushed her inside her
apartment, shut the door and demanded money. When she gave it to him, he
demanded more, then pushed her into a bedroom and raped her repeatedly while
choking her until she could not breathe and hitting her until she lost
consciousness.
He fled with about $225.
While investigating the case, prosecutors discovered a loophole in state law
that might have allowed the rapist to get away with the crime if they did
not identify the attacker within three years.
Lawmakers had inadvertently added forcible rape and forcible sodomy to a
list of crimes with a short statute of limitations.
Jackson County tried to keep the case active by using DNA left at the crime
scene to charge an unknown "John Doe" assailant before the statute of
limitations expired in 2002. This case was the first time Jackson County
prosecutors used that technique. The office has now filed 13 such "John Doe"
warrants.
The case also prompted prosecutors to push for a change in the shortened
statute of limitations. In March 2002, Gov. Bob Holden signed legislation
that eliminated forcible rape and forcible sodomy from the three-year rule.
The 1999 victim went missing three years ago from her assisted-living center
in Waldo, where she had moved after the rape. Police printed and distributed
fliers with her photograph. They were concerned she might have again been
the victim of a crime.
Police never figured out what happened to her.
She vanished just 10 days before the 2004 attack on the 66-year-old woman in
the same area. The attack on the 99-year-old woman occurred seven months
later.
In February 2006, prosecutors sought "John Doe" grand jury indictments in
those two cases.
