DNA evidence has now linked the crimes to a serial rapist who is still wanted for attacks committed against women over the past two decades.
Since 2012, the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law has been fighting for the freedom of Luis Vargas, who was sentenced to a prison term of 55 years to life.
— Raquel Cohen (@RCohenLaw) November 23, 2015
During Vargas’ sentencing in 1999, he pleaded with the court: "I'm concerned (the) individual (who) really did these crimes might really be raping someone out there, might really be killing someone out there."
After later DNA evidence tests, it turned out that the crimes for which Vargas has been imprisoned for over a decade and a half were actually committed by the “Teardrop Rapist,” so called for a tattoo of a tear under his eye. Vargas has a similar tattoo.
— Justin Brooks (@JustinoBrooks) November 21, 2015
The infamous serial rapist is linked by DNA to 11 crimes and suspected of 35 in total against women aged 14 to 41 years old, the Innocence Project notes. He is also on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. All of his alleged crimes have been committed within a 1.6 mile radius of the three attacks linked to the Vargas case.
In 2012, police released sketches of the “Teardrop Rapist” and described him as a light-skinned Hispanic man between 40 and 55 years old.
The teardrop tattoo, which is how witnesses misidentified Vargas, is also contested.
Some witnesses remember it, others do not. Some have stated that the rapist only had one while others have said he has two, and police now believe that there is evidence he may have had it removed.
