Escaped Serial Rape Suspect Caught

A man accused of sexually assaulting seven girls and women was recaptured late Monday, a week after escaping from jail by rappelling down the building on bed sheets, police said.

Reynaldo E. Rapalo, 34, is also accused of attacking four other people in the city's Little Havana area in 2002 and 2003. He was awaiting a February trial that could have sent him to prison for life.

Rapalo and another inmate escaped Dec. 19 after climbing through a vent in the ceiling of a cell and onto a sixth-floor roof, police said. The vent was supposed to be locked, but had been pried open, and bars blocking it were cut.

Officers scoured neighborhoods, airports, train stations and ports for Rapalo, a Honduran native, and guards were assigned to victims who still live in the area.

Police have said the saw-like tools used in the escape may have been smuggled in, and Rapalo apparently plotted the breakout for months. According to police, at the time of his capture Rapalo was armed with a blade that he had used in his escape.

The other inmate, Idanio Bravo, who was also awaiting trial on sexual assault charges, was captured outside the jail after breaking his legs when he jumped.

Rapalo is accused of being the Shenandoah rapist, who was the target of a massive manhunt following attacks on girls and women ranging in age from 11 to 79. Police say Rapalo, who was arrested in September 2003, was linked to the rapes by DNA evidence.

During the original search for the rapist, more than 120 men, most of them Hispanic, were stopped by Miami police and asked to volunteer DNA samples, a tactic that was denounced by civil rights activists. Billboards with an artist's rendering of the serial rape suspect were posted throughout the city.

The inability to catch the rapist terrified women and the parents of young girls across the Little Havana area. One victim was 79 years old. Three others were young girls who were attacked in the span of four weeks. An 11-year-old was raped as she arrived home from school.

Rapalo had been living in Miami on an expired visa.

After he escaped, the director of the Miami-Dade Corrections Department ordered that all vents at the jail be welded shut and that lighting be improved.

Two corrections officers were also placed on paid administrative leave. They were not accused of being involved in the escape, and they have not been disciplined.

Police said that a tipster who called in the sighting of Rapolo that led to his arrest would be eligible for more than $36,000 in award money.

Rapalo will be arraigned on escape charges on Tuesday.