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By MIKE BRASSFIELD
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 6, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Anthony Jerome Walker has been in and out of prison three times, once for rape. So, with a few drops of his blood, his genetic blueprint was added to Florida's DNA data base.
On Friday, Walker was back behind bars after the data base scored a "hit" -- matching Walker's DNA with evidence from an unsolved St. Petersburg rape.
Police had no leads until they got a phone call from Tallahassee.
"It makes these cases a lot easier to prove when we get to that point, let alone pulling this guy out of the hat like that," said St. Petersburg police Detective Don Crotty.
Walker, 37, of 1633 18th Ave. S, was charged with sexual battery and was in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $57,500 bail.
The rape occurred early Sept. 19, 1999, after a woman left a bar with a man about 2:30 a.m., police said. He pulled her behind a vacant house at 1408 22nd Ave. S, choked her and raped her.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement set up the data base in 1990, collecting samples from people convicted of rape or lewd and indecent acts.