Two heinous crimes that confounded investigators for more than two decades were closed Monday, after a DNA match linked one man to both offenses.
Baltimore County police charged Joseph McInnis Jr., 39, of the 3500 block of Elmley Avenue in Baltimore, in a 1984 rape and a 1987 slaying that both occurred in the Woodlawn area.
“As forensic labs get caught up, and [the] Department of Corrections is putting information into the [state database], we?re solving more of these cases,” said Cpl. Mike Hill, a Baltimore County police spokesman. “There?s an increase, just because of the technology.”
On Aug. 29, the Maryland State Police Forensic Lab notified Baltimore 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 on the door of the 44-year-old victim?s home on Gywnn Oak Avenue. When the woman answered the door, the suspect forced his way in and took her into the basement, where he raped her and fled on foot.
Investigators suspected McInnis but didn?t have enough evidence to charge him, police said.
Then, on May 17, 1987, Percy Leroy Jones, 48, was found slain in his apartment on Brubar Court. An autopsy revealed he had been stabbed multiple times.
On Sept. 5, investigators served a search warrant on McInnis for his DNA ? and on Friday, the county?s forensic lab notified detectives that McInnis? DNA matched the DNA in the rape and murder cases.
He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
McInnis was convicted of engaging in an act of prostitution in 2002; drug possession in 1996; and robbery and handgun violations in 1988.
