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DNA links man to rape a decade ago

Test results from the victim's clothing makes its way through a database again and gets a hit.

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published October 1, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - The woman, now in her early 30s, looked at the men in the photos. One of them was tied by DNA evidence to that horrible night 10 years ago.

She had walked along the river that night at Sims Park. She did that every year on the anniversary of her aunt's death.

She threw flowers into the water. Then she read poetry to herself and wandered in the darkness, thinking.

She passed a man lying on a bench. Then, from behind, a hand over her mouth. He threw her down and raped her.

When he was done, he stood up. Then he ran off toward the Main Street bridge.

That was March 8, 1995. She spent the next 10 years trying to forget.

On Monday, she looked at the men in the photos and trembled.

She recognized him "immediately, dramatically," said New Port Richey police Detective Randy Murphy, who recounted the scene and how the woman described her feelings.

She cried and shook. You could see flashbacks in her eyes, Murphy said. She wanted to look away.

"It's not fair to her," Murphy said. "She's going relive it twice now."

But they had to get him.

"It's not something that we should let go," Murphy said. "And she agreed with that, as traumatic as it is for her."

On Sept. 20, Murphy received a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It said DNA from the woman's underwear, submitted by police 10 years ago, had made its way through a database again and, this time, got a hit.

The report said it matched that of Wayne A. Jacobs, 40, of Kanawha Lane in Spring Hill. His DNA profile was in the FDLE's computer system because he is a sex offender, convicted in another case in 1996.

Murphy's suspect is engaged to a woman he has been with for eight years, the detective said. They have a child together. And Jacobs has another child from a previous marriage in Massachusetts. Jacobs said he works as a driver for a hauling company.

Murphy got Jacobs to come to the station Friday. He gave the blue-eyed, red-haired man the facts.

It couldn't have been me, Murphy said Jacobs replied. He worked for the carnival back then, Jacobs said, and that night he was in Wisconsin.

But the alibi wasn't solid, Murphy said. "I caught him in a couple of trip-ups, but I couldn't get him to admit to it. I tried."

Jacobs told him he was being set up, Murphy said, just like in 1996, in the thing with the 13-year-old girl. He was convicted then in Pasco for lewd and lascivious behavior in the presence of a child. He was sentenced to about a year of jail, then five years' probation.

Now Jacobs is being held in the county jail again, on $200,000 bail. He is accused ofsexual battery and kidnapping.

It was not clear late Friday why his DNA only now has been matched to the old evidence inside the database. Old DNA data is re-run repeatedly through the system in search of new matches, FDLE officials said. But they could not look up Jacobs' case because they already had left their offices for the weekend.

Murphy said it seemed from the report that Jacobs' sample was taken in 2001. State records show Jacobs had violated his probation twice the year before that.

"You're going to see a lot more of these cases come out," Murphy said, "as time goes on."

--Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 1, 2005, 01:46:16]