Buffalo-Area Police Arrest Altemio Sanchez as the "Bike Path Rapist" After a DNA Match
The attacker had eluded police in western New York for more than 20 years. Prosecutors said DNA linked Sanchez to three killings and a series of rapes.
Published
For more than 20 years, a rapist and killer had eluded police around Buffalo, New York. On January 15, 2007, Erie County authorities arrested Altemio Sanchez, 48, of Cheektowaga, and said DNA identified him as the "Bike Path Rapist."
"All of Erie County can rest a little easier today because the monster known as the Bike Path Rapist has been taken into custody," Sheriff Timothy Howard told a news conference. Investigators said they had identified Sanchez about 10 days earlier and kept him under surveillance, and prosecutors said DNA secretly collected from a restaurant where he ate that Saturday matched DNA from numerous crime scenes. District Attorney Frank Clark called it a 100 percent match. "Old fashioned police work brought everything together. DNA evidence sealed the deal," he said.
Prosecutors said the DNA linked Sanchez to the 1990 rape and murder of Linda Yalem, 22, a University at Buffalo student killed on the Ellicott Creek bike path; to the 1992 killing of Majane Mazur, 32, of Buffalo; and to rapes dating to the 1980s. He was also suspected in the strangling of Joan Diver, 45, of Clarence, whose body was found along a bike path in September 2006. A married father of two, Sanchez pleaded not guilty on January 16 to one count of second-degree murder, and his lawyer, Andrew LoTempio, said his family did not believe the accusations.
Four days later, a grand jury voted to indict Sanchez in the Yalem and Mazur killings. In May 2007 he pleaded guilty to murdering all three women.
The local public radio station reported that Sanchez was picked up at a traffic stop in Buffalo, while the Associated Press reported that he was arrested as he left the factory where he worked.
Sources
- 'Bike Path Rapist' is arrested, Buffalo Toronto Public Media (WBFO)
- Suspect in N.Y. killings, rapes pleads not guilty, NBC News / Associated Press
- Grand jury votes to indict Sanchez in two of three murder cases, Buffalo Toronto Public Media (WBFO)
- Sanchez pleads guilty to murders of three women, Buffalo Toronto Public Media (WBFO)
Related News
- May 16, 2007: "Bike Path Rapist" Altemio Sanchez Pleads Guilty to Murdering Three Women Around Buffalo