Prosecutors Claim DNA Links Leroy D. Gilliam To 1996 Rape Cold Case...

Creative stock photo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
blog post by John Hoff

I'm glad that an email from a reader pulled me into a sex crime story that's not Northside related, because it's a very interesting case. Prosecutors say that in 1996 a man named Leroy Gilliam raped a woman in an alley somewhere off Broadway Street NE. The rape, as described in the complaint, was particularly violent and the victim was violated multiple ways. After the rape one of her eyes was swollen shut, her ear was bruised, and there were marks on her neck.

After the rape, the victim managed to drive to a Conoco gas station at 641 Broadway St. NE where police were called. An examination and "rape kit" was performed at Hennepin County Medical Center. The victim was able to describe the suspect but no suspect was arrested. Years went by, and no suspect was arrested. One speculates the victim may have entirely lost hope the man who did this would ever by apprehended.

However, in April of 2009 police managed to link the defendant to the DNA in the semen from the 1996 rape...

It wasn't until this year that Leroy Gilliam was caught by police. Word is he has connections to Mississippi but based upon what I see in the jailhouse roster, he was residing in St. Paul recently and may have been picked up for some very minor crime when the warrant was discovered. Gilliam has a court hearing on March 15.

Prosecutors allege that photos "circa 1996" match the rape victim's description of Gilliam and, furthermore, the likelihood of two unrelated people in the world having the same DNA profile is astronomical. So unless Gilliam can start pointing the finger at a twin brother, or show how the lab made some kind of mistake...

Gilliam is in a world of hurt.