By Mike Underwood
Monday, July 30, 2007 - Updated: 05:05 AM EST
Boston police have arrested a 50-year-old man in the horrific daytime rape of a 67-year-old woman in her apartment last week.
DNA evidence recovered at the scene led cops to the home of a suspect who was taken into custody yesterday, police announced.
A man identified by police as Monty Garrett, 50, of Boston was arrested at his home yesterday morning by the Boston Police Fugitive and Apprehension unit along with investigators from the Sexual Assault Unit.
“I would like to commend the collaborative effort of the sexual assault unit, the fugitive apprehension unit and officers from district D-4 for their tremendous work in swiftly locating this dangerous suspect,” Superintendent Bruce Holloway said in a statement.
On July 24 at about noon, police say a rapist posing as a maintenance worker entered a five-story brick apartment building on Clarendon Street before forcing his way into the 67-year-old victim’s home. The woman struggled with the attacker before being overpowered and subjected to a “vicious” attack, police said.
Investigators were able to obtain DNA evidence that was sent to the state police crime lab for review. Yesterday afternoon those results were returned, leading investigators to Garrett, police said.
Garrett is scheduled to be charged with aggravated rape, kidnapping, assault and battery on a person over 60, unarmed robbery and threats.
A Boston police spokesman said the victim is back at home. The attack stunned residents of the South End and prompted cops to launch a manhunt.
By Laurel J. Sweet
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - Updated: 12:04 AM EST
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said police might not have caught the ex-con accused of raping his wife’s 67-year-old neighbor had legislation not been passed in 2004 to retroactively record the DNA of all convicted felons.
The DNA of Raymond Epps Jr., 50, was not in the state database when he began serving a seven-year sentence in 2001 for breaking and entering. But it was there when he walked out of MCI-Cedar Junction on June 23 - one month and a day before he allegedly brutalized and threatened to kill the South End victim.
Because the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association pushed to expand the DNA database beyond violent felons, “We were able to identify a suspect very rapidly and make an arrest far sooner than we would have prior to 2004,” Conley said. “In fact, Epps probably would have gone free.”
Accused: Raymond Epps Jr., 50, is blocked by his lawyer, Steven Sack, yesterday as he is arraigned in Boston Municipal Court for allegedly raping his wife’s 67-year-old neighbor. (Staff photo by Matt Stone)
Epps, whose criminal history dates back to 1974 and whose aliases include Monty Garrett, was held on $750,000 cash bail by Judge Sally A. Kelly after pleading not guilty yesterday in Boston Municipal Court to aggravated rape, kidnapping and unarmed robbery.
In addition to his DNA being amatch in a rape-kit test, police have recovered from Epps’ wife’s home in the same apartment building clothing matching a description provided by the victim, as well as a towel she said he stole from her apartment on July 24and a pair of pearl earrings, her mother’s birthstone ring and a diamond ring.
“Mr. Epps denies it - denied it to the police who arrested him,” said defense attorney Christopher Skinner.
Epps allegedly told the woman, “You scream, (expletive), I will kill you,” after getting her to open the door by posing as a maintenance worker there to inspect her smoke alarm. Before raping her, prosecutors said Epps dragged her around her home with one hand around her throat and a scented cloth pressed to her face.
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