Yahoo Finance ‘Myers Park rapist’ who sexually assaulted 15 girls in the 1990s identified, police say
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they used DNA tests to identify the man responsible for sexually assaulting 15 girls in the Myers Park neighborhood during the 1990s.
David Edward Doran is the man police dubbed the “Myers Park rapist” for over three decades, CMPD said Monday. Doran was 67 when he died on June 24, 2008, police said in a news release.
Several rape cases from 1990 to 1999 were “unique and similar” in methods, police Sgt. Darrell Price said during a news conference Monday. That led to a task force to be assembled. The initial sexual assault happened on June 13, 1990, on Maryland Avenue. The last assault, on Highview Road, was reported on Jan. 9, 1999.
In most of the cases, a suspect armed with a knife would break into a home and move the victim to a different location and sexually assault them, police said.
Police in the 1990s had trouble identifying a suspect because he wore a ski mask and gloves, and he would leave little evidence behind, Price said. The suspect’s race also couldn’t be determined because some victims thought he had a Hispanic accent, the sergeant said.
By 1999, the investigation had stalled to the point there were just a few CMPD investigators working on it, Price said. Things picked up again in 2006 when CMPD formed its sexual assault cold case unit, he said.
DNA samples were found on secondary items from one crime scene twice, but either the sample wasn’t strong enough or it didn’t match anyone in Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, an FBI database, Price said. With the help of the Sexual Assault Initiative Grant and Parabon Laboratories, forensic genetic genealogy testing allowed police to narrow their suspect list to one person. A DNA sample secured by police matched the one found at that crime scene, he said.
Doran could be responsible for as many as 50 sexual assaults across the country because he also lived in California, Texas and Ohio, Price said. Police believe Doran was 49 when he committed his first sexual assault in Charlotte, he said.
“People don’t become a rapist at 49 years old,” Price said. “Throughout his younger years, I’m certain he’s done this all across the country.”
Different Myers Park rapists
Public records show Doran lived in Denver, N.C., and Shelby.
Although he didn’t live in Myers Park, Doran frequented the neighborhood because he was “a cat burglar” who broke into houses during the night, Price said Doran’s distant family members told police.
In 2001, Doran was convicted for possession of burglary tools, but the DNA sampling database didn’t exist then. Doran also has multiple traffic offenses and an assault to inflict serious injury charge that he was found not guilty for in 2004, according to arrest records found by the Observer. He also had a felony offering bribes charge from 2005 that was dismissed.
Doran’s name never came up during investigations in the 1990s, Price said. Another suspect, Gilbert McNair, also was dubbed the “Myers Park rapist” when he was caught in 2009, which led Doran’s victims to believe that their attacker had been arrested, Price said.
Victims thought McNair, 66, was their rapist because he was convicted of raping two women between 1990 and 1997 on Crescent Avenue, the Observer previously reported. McNair also used similar break-in methods as the “Myers Park rapist,” but there was a difference in the ages of their victims. McNair targeted women 21 to 28 years old, while 13 of the 15 girls the “Myers Park rapist” attacked were under the age of 18.
Police have reached out to victims of the “Myers Park rapist,” and Price said he hopes this identification gives them “closure in some fashion.”
In the 90s, a suspect broke into residences in Myers Park and sexually assaulted several victims. With the assistance of (SAKI) and Parabon Laboratories, forensic genetic genealogy identified David Edward Doran, DOB: 04/18/1941- 6/24/08. Doran was confirmed as the suspect. pic.twitter.com/vo1vsxyKjp
— CMPD News (@CMPD) December 6, 2021
