Four rape victims, who have waited over a decade for answers, now have some peace in knowing who attacked them.
In a Tuesday morning press conference, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Omaha Police Captain Kerry Neumann said that a man who was already in jail was found to be the assailant in four cold case rapes.
Authorities were able to locate the man, Brandon Weathers, thanks to new DNA evidence that was collected from Weathers as part of the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS. CODIS is a national database that catalogs felons DNA for potential matches to other crimes.
Neumann says Weathers is no stranger to police. "Brandon Weathers is a cold, calculated, sexual predator. Our thoughts are with each one of these victims as we move another step closer to bringing Mr. Weathers to justice."
Kleine says after Weathers was convicted in 2015 for the sexual assault of a 13 year old foster child placed in his home, they tried to obtain his DNA sample. "It was requested, he refused and then recently it was obtained by a court order."
Weathers' DNA was found to match samples collected from four rapes from 2002 to 2004 where the suspect targeted black women between the ages of 17 and 23.
Neumann said the women were attacked in their homes. "He forced entry into the homes through a screen window. He bound the victims with tape, phone cords and other items. He spent one to two hours with the victims."
Neumann says that detectives hoped, for over a decade, that they would find the person who attacked the women. "For years while this crime series was a cold case, the detectives have always held out hope that the suspect would be identified by DNA evidence. That's one piece of evidence that we had, that we knew he couldn't hide from."
Kleine says his office will most likely file charges against Weathers by the end of this week. "There really isn't a rush, from that standpoint. He's currently in prison doing 100 to 160 years."
There are still thirteen inmates in Nebraska prisons who have refused to give their DNA for CODIS.