‘Serial rapist’ caught after investigators test DNA from his trash
'Mr Cooke was a true predator in the sense that he was stalking, watching his victims, waiting for them to be alone and then he would take his chance.'
An alleged serial rapist has finally been caught thanks to investigators who tested items from his trash and linked his DNA to a string of horrific sex attacks.
Darin Edward Cooke, 50, was extradited to Southern California this week and charged after police connected him to a string of rapes that dates back nearly 25 years.
Cooke is accused of raping five women and attacking a sixth woman. Police say Cooke used a knife or a gun during the attacks, which terrorized the community of Riverside, California 1996 and 1998. Authorities say he also committed crimes in Corona in 2007.
Investigators were able to get a DNA profile for a suspect in the crimes, although detectives did not link the Riverside cases with the Corona cases until 2019, according to AZ family. The FBI Los Angeles Forensic Genetic Team joined the investigation and helped match Cooke as the suspect for the ‘John Doe’ DNA profile in the cases.
Investigators reportedly conducted surveillance on Cooke and the DNA profile was created from Cooke’s trash collected from his home in Chino Valley, Arizona.
Cooke was arrested in Chino Valley on May 26 and extradited to California on Sunday. Police say he is not a suspect in any sexual assaults reported in Arizona.
‘Mr Cooke was a true predator in the sense that he was stalking, watching his victims, waiting for them to be alone and then he would take his chance and opportunity to hold them at gunpoint or knife point and violently rape them and assault the,’ Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said at a news conference Wednesday.
‘And I think that he did that over and over again.’
Cooke is facing 16 felony charges including the forcible rape of five separate victims.
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