Almost freed, DNA links inmate to five rapes

CLEVELAND - A Cleveland man scheduled to be released from prison this week will now remain in custody after DNA testing linked him to the rapes of four adults and one teenager in the 1990s, reports CBS affiliate WOIO.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury last week indicted Dwayne Wilson, 54, on nine counts of rape and five counts of kidnapping in connection with the assaults of five women in Cleveland between 1994 and 1997.

Wilson had been scheduled to be released from prison on Friday after serving a five-year prison sentence on a separate sexual assault conviction.

The DNA tests were conducted as part of an initiative started in 2011 by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

"This case highlights exactly why I felt that we owed it to Ohioans to test the thousands of previously untested rape kits in police evidence rooms across the state," DeWine said, according to the station.

"Had these kits not been tested, this defendant would have been released from prison and given the opportunity to attack again. Now he's looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars."

In all five cases, investigators say Wilson pulled up to the females in his vehicle and sexually assaulted them at either knife or gunpoint. The alleged victims ranged in age from 16 to 34 at the time of the attacks, reports the station.

As of October 1, over 5,000 rape kits have been tested as part of DeWine's initiative. The testing has resulted in over 1,500 matches to DNA already in the Combined DNA Index System, according to the station.

In Cuyahoga County alone, more than 200 people have been indicted following testing as part of the initiative, the county prosecutor's office says.