A lawyer was arrested in New Jersey on Wednesday for a series of violations he is accused of committing in Boston more than a decade ago, CBS Boston reported.
Boston police reported that 35-year-old Matthew Nilo was arrested in Weehawken, outside New York City, in connection with four sexual assaults that took place in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston over two days in 2007 and two days in 2008.
The FBI used genetic genealogy technology to help identify Nilo, the news network adds; Investigative genealogy, also known as forensic genealogy, combines DNA analysis and genealogical research by combining public databases to try to find possible relatives.
The technique was used last year to identify a murder victim known as “The Lady of the Dunes” 50 years after her murder.
“This is certainly an important break in this investigation that has haunted survivors of these sexual assaults, Charlestown residents and the Boston Police Department for years,” said Joe Bonavolonta, the FBI agent in charge of the case. in a press conference.
“While we know that Mr. Nilo’s arrest today cannot erase the harm he is alleged to have inflicted on his survivors, we believe we have removed a dangerous threat from our community,” Bonavolonta said.
Nilo has been charged with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape, and one count of indecent assault and battery, according to CBS.
In a similar case and with similar technology, in October 2022, they identified the remains of a teenage girl who disappeared in northeastern Pennsylvania more than half a century ago.
State police in Wilkes-Barre reported at the time that the remains were identified as those of 14-year-old Joan Marie Dymond of Wilkes-Barre, who disappeared from Andover Street Park in June 1969.
Keep reading:
· FBI identifies the ‘Lady of the Dunes’, a woman murdered almost 50 years ago in Massachusetts
· They identify the remains of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 1969 in Pennsylvania
They solve a 1975 murder after they obtained the killer’s DNA from a coffee cup at an airport