It took 24 years, but a Baltimore man finally admitted his guilt in the brutal rape of a stranger, Baltimore County prosecutors said.
Joseph McInnis Jr., 39, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court to forcing his way into the home of a 44-year-old
Gwynn Oak woman in 1984 and raping her multiple times.
“She was paralyzed with fear ? she thought he was going to kill her,” Baltimore County Assistant State?s Attorney Susan Hazlett said of the victim, who was not in court because she had to go to the hospital Monday night. “She still lives in the same house. She?s a mess.”
As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped charges against McInnis stemming from a 1987 murder, Hazlett said.
In September, Baltimore County police charged McInnis in both crimes that occurred in the Woodlawn area.
On Aug. 29, the Maryland State Police Forensic Lab notified county police that DNA evidence from an unsolved 1984 rape case and an unsolved 1987 murder case matched ? linking an unidentified suspect to both crimes, police said.
The rape occurred on Sept. 6, 1984, when a man knocked at the woman?s door. After she answered, he forced his way in, raped her in the basement, then fled on foot, police said.
Investigators suspected McInnis but didn?t haveenough evidence to charge him, police said.
Then on May 17, 1987, Percy Leroy Jones, 48, was found slain in his apartment on Brubar Court. He had been stabbed multiple times.
In September, the county?s forensic lab notified detectives that McInnis? DNA matched the DNA in both cases.
But Hazlett said there was not enough evidence to prosecute the murder case.
“We have the defendant?s blood in the apartment and the dead man?s blood in the apartment, but that?s it,” she said. “I know he was bleeding there at some point, but I can?t prove he killed him.”
