"Bike Path Rapist" Altemio Sanchez Pleads Guilty to Murdering Three Women Around Buffalo
Sanchez admitted killing Linda Yalem, Majane Mazur and Joan Diver. DNA tied him to other attacks, including two rapes for which another man served 22 years.
Published
Four months after DNA led police to him, the man known around Buffalo as the "Bike Path Rapist" admitted to three killings. On May 16, 2007, Altemio Sanchez, 49, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder.
Sanchez admitted in court that he had killed each of the women. Linda Yalem, 22, a University at Buffalo student, was killed on a bike path near campus in 1990. Majane Mazur, 32, was found on a Buffalo street two years later, and Joan Diver, 45, was found along a bike path in the fall of 2006. "The case against him in each of the three homicides was overwhelming," Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said after the pleas. Sanchez wept as he made his admissions, and his wife cried in the courtroom.
Clark said investigators had tied Sanchez to eight or nine rapes and suspected him in a dozen more. DNA also tied him to two rapes for which another man, Anthony Capozzi, had served 22 years in prison; Capozzi's convictions had been erased the month before.
On August 14, 2007, Judge Christopher Burns sentenced Sanchez to the maximum, 75 years to life. "Whatever sentence I get today I deserve," Sanchez told the court. "You showed (victims) no mercy and you deserve none," Burns said.
Prosecutors said in May that DNA tied Sanchez to eight or nine rapes, while his lawyer said in August that he had admitted raping between 13 and 20 women.
Sources
- 'Bike Path Rapist' suspect pleads guilty, NBC News (The Associated Press)
- Sanchez Pleads Guilty to Murders of Three Women, WBFO, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
- 'Bike Path Rapist' sentenced to 75 years to life, NBC News (The Associated Press)
Related News
- January 15, 2007: Buffalo-Area Police Arrest Altemio Sanchez as the "Bike Path Rapist" After a DNA Match