'Bike Path Rapist' connected to rapes through DNA evidence

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ DNA evidence has connected a man dubbed the "Bike Path Rapist" to at least eight more rapes in the Buffalo area between 1981 and 1994, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Altemio Sanchez, 49, pleaded guilty May 16 to murdering three women since 1990, including two whose bodies were found on bike paths.

Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said a laboratory analyzed 15 slides that the Erie County Medical Center provided to the Bike Path Rape Task Force.

Of those, the hospital confirmed eight were connected to Sanchez by DNA. Three others may be linked to Sanchez, pending further lab work, Clark said.

Sanchez can't be prosecuted for any of the unsolved cases.

"They're all time barred (by the statute of limitations), so there's no way we could prosecute them," Clark said. "But, I feel we have some moral obligation to bring closure to the victims."

Another man served 22 years in prison for two rapes that are now tied through DNA to Sanchez. Anthony Capozzi's convictions were erased earlier this year.

Sanchez was arrested after investigators reviewed a 1981 victim's report that included her attacker's license plate number. The car belonged to Sanchez's uncle, who had said at the time that the car had not been driven.

Twenty-six years later, the uncle said his nephew had borrowed the car. Investigators then followed Sanchez and secretly collected his DNA from drinking glasses at a restaurant in January. He was arrested two days later.

Sanchez faces 75 years to life in prison at sentencing Aug. 2.