"I thought, 'Well, maybe some day there'll be some development that would make the samples useful,' " he said.
Since 2004, when Breitenecker handed his approximately 2,000 samples over to the Baltimore County police, 30 men have been arrested in connection with 49 different cases of rape and sexual assault, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman. The arrests were in cold cases that had reached dead ends, Toohey said.
"It's very unlikely that we would have come up with any other evidence or witnesses now, so this is really critical," Toohey said of the DNA.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun about the arrest of a suspect in a 1987 rape incorrectly stated the number of decades-old DNA samples a Greater Baltimore Medical Center physician gave Baltimore County police in 2004. Dr. Rudiger Breitenecker gave police 160 DNA samples.
THE SUN REGRETS THE ERROR
Linda Kelly, clinical program manager for GBMC's SAFE program, said the arrests are a testament to Breitenecker's forward thinking and belief in medical advances.
"Other jurisdictions don't have the evidence that Baltimore County has," Kelly said. Breitenecker was "very dedicated. We're very lucky that he took care of all these women back then."
Baltimore County police are still going through the DNA samples provided by Breitenecker, looking for cases where the victim is still willing to cooperate with police and press charges, Toohey said. When they find such a case, they send the corresponding DNA to the state police crime lab, where the DNA is compared DNA on file in the CODIS, he said.
"I feel good that we did something valuable for the community beyond the immediate care of the rape victims," Breitenecker said. "To remove some of these perpetrators from circulation in the public, I think, is quite important, because it turns out that many of them are career criminals."
kevin.rector@baltsun.com
