a judge of Florida (USA) sentenced 17 years in prison to Robert Koehler63, in a 1983 case reopened thanks to DNA evidence against the alleged serial rapist, known as the “pillowcase rapist,” who allegedly sexually abused some 45 women in South Florida over the decade from 1980.
Although last January Koehler was found guilty of sexual assault on a woman, this Thursday Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl E. Trawick, who is presiding over the case, decided to drop this charge because it had expired according to Florida statute guidelines.
The judge did uphold the charges of kidnapping with a weapon and robbery with assault or battery while armed, for which he sentenced the defendant to 17 years in prison.
This is the case of a woman, currently 65 years old, victim of a sexual assault by Koehler in the county of Miami-Dade on December 28, 1983, when he was 25 years old.
The trial garnered media attention over suspicions that Koehler is the notorious “pillowcase rapist,” who was arrested thanks to DNA evidence in 2020.
Koehler, who appeared in a wheelchair and aged during the trial, denied at all times that he was the author of the rape and kidnapping of the woman.
Prosecutor Laura Adams stressed that the DNA test carried out shows that Koehler was the perpetrator of the sexual abuse, in addition to insisting that he terrorized his victim with the help of a weapon.
“He terrorized an innocent woman in her home,” Adams said during his closing statement, asking the jury not to hesitate to find Koehler guilty, which they did.
In 2020 Koehler had been arrested on a sexual assault case and later identified as a suspect as the “pillowcase rapist.”
Detectives used Koehler’s son’s DNA to associate him with the rapes.
After the DNA tests, the authorities verified that he coincided with the suspect in 8 reported rape cases.
“On at least eight occasions in 1984 and 1985, detectives believe that Koehler broke into homes in Broward County late at night or in the early morning through open doors and attacked his victims while They were sleeping or getting ready to go to bed,” police said in a statement.
The nickname “pillowcase rapist” is due to the fact that he sometimes covered the heads of his victims or his own in this way.
According to the authorities, Koehler threatened the women with killing them or their relatives before raping and robbing them and it became a highly publicized case at the time, but due to lack of evidence it was forgotten until now.
ORIGINAL LINK: Florida serial rapist sentenced to 17 years after assaulting about 45 women (awsccs2.com)
SEE ALSO: https://entornointeligente.com/2022/10/27/movimiento-ecologico-estudia-propuesta-de-castracion-quimica-a-los-violadores/