DNA links man to area rapes
County attorney to charge New Mexican man with crimes

By KIM SKORNOGOSKI

DNA ties a man arrested in a New Mexico rape with six sexual assaults in Great Falls that have been unsolved for 12 years.

Cascade County Attorney Brant Light said DNA tests that came back Tuesday match Michael Anthony Silva, 43, with the rapes and assaults of five women and a teenage girl in 1993 and 1994.

"It's a case that is particularly heinous because of the fact that he targeted older women," Light said. "I wouldn't doubt that this has happened all over the Southwest, that he hasn't stopped since he left here. There may be many more victims out there."

Silva will be charged in the Great Falls crimes, once Light receives a written report of the DNA results in the next few days.

Silva was charged last month with criminal sexual penetration, aggravated burglary, kidnapping and larceny in the rape of a 94-year-old Albuquerque woman in March 2001.

The DNA test also ties Silva to two other rapes in Albuquerque. Charges are pending in those cases.

To beat the statute of limitations clock, Light filed charges in 1999 against an unknown man with a known DNA, hoping that one day a genetic match would lead to an arrest.

At the time, that legal move had been made in only two other cases across the country.

Prosecutors can charge defendants up to five years after the crimes are reported. Light filed 13 charges just one month shy of that expiration date.

During the 18-month period between June 2, 1993, and Christmas Eve 1994, six women were attacked in their homes in a strikingly similar pattern.

In each case, a man broke into the women's homes early in the morning. The homes were mostly located on the south side. Wearing a mask, gloves and dark clothing, the intruder covered their faces and tied them up, often with a telephone cord.

The victims were always alone — a sign that the attacks weren't random. Their ages, except for one 17-year-old, ranged between 52 and 79. The teen-age victim was asleep in her mother's room when she was assaulted in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity.

Three of the women were raped; the others were sexually assaulted. The man left behind DNA in four of the cases that matched each other and three rapes in Albuquerque in spring 2001.

But police there didn't yet have a suspect. The New Mexico crimes follow the same pattern; the victims were 59, 72 and 94.

Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said it was extensive forensic work in the crime against the 94-year-old that led to a break in the case.

"The crime is a very, very tragic sexual assault," he said. "She received extensive injuries."

Investigators were able to lift a partial latent fingerprint off a phone that had been moved during the crime. The print matched Silva's fingerprint earlier this year and Albuquerque police issued a $20-million warrant for his arrest on Aug. 31.

U.S. Marshals picked up Silva Nov. 16, outside a homeless shelter in Phoenix. Silva is a Fort Collins, Colo. native.

Since his arrest, Great Falls police learned that Silva lived in Great Falls when the rapes occurred.

He was transported back to Albuquerque last week, where investigators collected a sample of his DNA.

Light said he would work with New Mexico prosecutors to determine which state should prosecute Silva first. The decision will take into consideration the age of the victims and the facts of the cases.

To charge Silva in Cascade County, Light will simply have to amend the 1999 affidavit to substitute Silva's name for John Doe.

The 13 charges against John Doe include three counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of attempted sexual intercourse without consent, four counts of felony burglary, and two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault.