At a press conference police as well as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Bronx DA Darcel Clark hailed the new technique of Investigative Genetic Genealogy as leading to the arrest of the suspect in the cold case. The technique combines DNA analysis using crime scene samples and matching them with consumer genealogy databases looking for a match with “genetic relatives who consented to assist law enforcement.”
The profile led investigators to Jancys Santiago, 48, in Florida. Prosecutors said officers recovered a sample of Santiago’s DNA from a discarded water bottle thrown out in Florida. Investigators said the DNA sample matched the DNA taken from the crime scenes 20 years earlier.
Santiago was arraigned on November 15, 2023, on first-degree Rape before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Kim Parker. On December 12, 2023, bail was set at $1 million cash and $2.5 million bond.
“After all these years, we are finally providing justice for two women who survived terrifying attacks,” Clark said. “Our Bronx victim said she had been waiting more than 20 years to hear that her alleged rapist was caught. I thank the Manhattan DA’s Office and the NYPD, and my Forensic Science Unit for their relentless efforts for these women. Investigative Genetic Genealogy will help solve all sorts of cold cases, not limited to murders, and hold perpetrators accountable. It will also help to name our unidentified homicide victims so their relatives can have closure.”
According to the indictment the first victim was attacked on May 23, 2000. A 27-year-old woman returned to her Midtown apartment to find a man had broken in. The woman said she was forced into the bathroom where her attacker tied her arms and feet with a wire hanger. He then raped her.
Evidence from a rape kit taken of the victim created a DNA profile and Manhattan District Attorney’ Office indicted the profile as “John Doe” in 2005.
The second case took place in December 2001 in the Bronx. A 21-year-old woman was sleeping when she awoke to find man in her room who covered her face. He bound her with a wire hanger and raped her.
