Australia: Serial rapist identified after 40 years; accused had abused 31 women in 15 years

The Australian Police have identified serial rapist Keith Simms, who terrorized Sydney for more than three decades and committed his first crime 40 years ago. Between 1985 and 2001, Simms attacked 31 women by breaking into their houses or attacking them while they were out jogging. It was first thought that several distinct males were responsible for the attacks, according to a BBC report. However, police have now connected them all to Simms, who passed away in February at the age of 66, owing to cutting-edge DNA technology. Simms, who has been referred to variously as "the Bondi Beast" or "the Tracksuit Rapist," committed his first crime in the coastal community of Clovelly in 1985. His most recent offense occurred in 2001 in a nearby graveyard. Although the police initially looked into each of his crimes separately, in 2001 they started to link them together after realizing that the DNA from 12 of the victims was the same and that another 19 incidents matched the attacker's method of attack. The victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 55, all described their assailant in broadly similar terms. He was described as being between 160 and 180 cm tall, with a wide nose, brown eyes, and a dark complexion. He would approach his victims and either make them believe he had a knife on him or threaten them with one. Early in 2019, according to the report, detectives made progress when they discovered a family DNA match in the police database, which reduced the number of suspects to 324. Simms' sample was discovered to be an exact match to those taken from the victims in September of this year. Family and friends remembered Simms as a devoted father, grandfather, and community leader, according to local media sources.