DNA links jogger's death to earlier rape and murder cases

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ DNA evidence has linked the death of a woman found strangled along a suburban bike path Oct. 1 with other unsolved rape and murder cases dating back 20 years, investigators said Thursday.

Authorities now believe the suspect, known as the "bike path rapist," is responsible for 10 unsolved attacks since 1986, including two other homicides.

Before Joan Diver, 45, went missing while jogging on a path in Newstead Sept. 29, the last known attack was in 1994.

"Probably the biggest question that we have is what happened during the last 12 years," Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard said.

Investigators theorize the suspect may have been in prison, the military or out of town because of a job.

The two previous homicides occurred in 1990 and 1992. A University at Buffalo student was killed on the Ellicott Creek bike path in suburban Amherst. The body of another woman was found on a Buffalo street two years later. Other attacks occurred in Buffalo's Delaware Park and the suburb of Hamburg.

Authorities believe all of the victims were attacked from behind while alone in a remote area and strangled with a cord or clothesline.

Unlike the previous nine cases, however, there was no evidence of sexual assault against Diver, a mother of four from Clarence.