HAMILTON, Ohio — An Indiana man is facing multiple charges for allegedly raping a Miami University student in January 2006. The arrest involved coupling DNA with forensic genealogy.
Lloyd Wendell Ailes, 58, was taken into custody on Thursday in Connersville, Indiana, by Ohio law enforcement, including Butler County Prosecutor’s Investigator Paul Newton, according to Prosecutor Michael Gmoser.
Ailes was arraigned on Friday morning by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth, who set bond at $775,000. He is scheduled to be back in court on Jan. 6 for a pretrial hearing.
Ailes, who was a construction worker in Oxford in 2006, was indicted on Thursday afternoon by a Butler County grand jury for rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. All charges carry a gun specification alleging a gun was used in the crimes.
The assault occurred on Jan. 9, 2006, at an off-campus house, according to the indictment and Gmoser. The suspect wore a mask, but his face was visible to the woman for a brief time and a sketch of the suspect was made. His DNA was also found at the scene. After forcing the victim to commit several sex acts, Ailes took $60 from her purse, Gmoser said.
In March 2006, a similar attack happened in Fayette County, Indiana. DNA collected there matched the DNA in the Oxford case, but there was no match to DNA entered in any law enforcement data base. The case went cold.
During the arraignment hearing, Gmoser said Ailes wore a mask in the Indiana assault, but “didn’t speak a word,” because the victim was known to him and his voice would have been recognizable.
Gmoser said Newton and his office have been working for years with experts to track down the suspect using genealogy DNA data bases piecing together a family tree of the suspect.
“And we finally did,” Gmoser said.
He said he will be prosecuting the case himself, along with Assistant Prosecutor Lindsay Sheehan.
“The science of this investigation is fascinating,” Gmoser said.
