Cold case investigators identify suspected serial rapist using DNA

VENTURA, Calif. (TCN) -- Investigators recently identified a suspect who killed himself in 1997 in the cold case rapes of multiple women in various states.

According to a news release from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, a yearslong investigation began after two home invasion rapes occurred in Ventura in the early 1980s, as well as several other home invasion rapes in other states. Authorities oversaw the testing of two sexual assault kits from the rapes occurring in Ventura in 1982 and 1983 and uploaded a DNA profile to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Prosecutors said that in 2024, officials determined the DNA profile of the potential suspect in the 1982 case matched the DNA profile from the 1983 case. Investigators also reportedly found the potential suspect’s DNA matched DNA recovered in rapes that had happened in 1994 and 1995 in Michigan, as well as in 1997 in Columbus.

A joint investigation with multiple law enforcement agencies ensued, and they worked with an investigative genealogist to perform further testing on the DNA profile. As a result, authorities identified the potential suspect as Sean McNulty. According to the district attorney’s office, officials worked to locate a source of his DNA for comparison, but they learned he had been cremated, and the location of his remains was unknown.

A crime analyst reportedly learned about a 1993 rape case out of Indiana, in which McNulty was named the primary suspect. It was also discovered that McNulty allegedly killed himself in 1997 after he became a suspect in the case.

Indiana investigators located a DNA sample from McNulty, which was a match to the 1997 rape in Columbus. Those results were submitted to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Forensic Services Bureau, and it was a match to the DNA profile in the 1982 and 1983 rapes out of Ventura. According to prosecutors, the DNA also matched the DNA profile in the 1994 and 1995 rapes in Michigan. The district attorney’s office formally announced on Sept. 4 that McNulty has been connected to the two unsolved home invasion rapes in Ventura.

McNulty was born in California in 1959 and was first arrested by Ventura Police for "placing obscene phone calls to a woman" in 1978. He reportedly served in the Navy from 1979 to 1992. He was purportedly married in 1988 but got divorced shortly before his death. Authorities said his ex-wife refused to speak with investigators.

Officials tried to find and notify McNulty’s victims from his alleged Ventura crimes but only located one who said she had "waited 40 years" for closure.

Ventura investigators also purportedly spoke to a victim from Indiana, and she said, "I am grateful after all these years you didn’t give up."

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