http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-900723.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – Fifteen criminal charges dealing with rapes in and around the Waldo area are filed against one man. They are not for crimes last year and this, but for attacks more than 25 years ago. Law enforcers are very careful what they say about the freshest assaults.
Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin will only call 52 year old Bernard Jackson a 'person of interest' in the five rapes between last September and this February.
The man charged in four 1983 era sex crimes and robberies is clearly in sharp focus but police don't want to call him a suspect for aesthetic reasons; they think It makes him look accused when he hasn't been charged.
Why did it take so long to connect this man? Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar told KCUR, luck, hard work and science led to the old crime charges. His office and police don't go after unsolved cases the same way.
"So we decided our office would start with the oldest ones," Kanatzar said. "The police department would start with the most recent ones, work on those and eventually, hopefully we meet in the middle and resolve all of these cases. Or determine whether or not we can resolve all these cases."
Solid DNA evidence is clearly what police want to make charges in the 5 newest crime-sets.