Altemio Sanchez ("BPR"), Murder: Majane Mazur
Alleged "Bike Path Rapist" Behind Bars Posted by: Stefan Mychajliw, Reporter Created: 1/15/2007 10:47:15 PM Updated: 1/16/2007 12:50:14 AM Police say the so called “Bike Path Rapist” is now behind bars, sitting inside the Erie County Holding Center, waiting to be arraigned on murder charges Tuesday morning. “All of Erie County can rest easier today because the monster known as the Bike Path Rapist has been taken into custody,” said Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard. “A great many people in Western New York can relax because we took this perpetrator into custody and eventually he will be brought to justice,” said Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson. “This predator is off the street,” added Amherst Police Chief John Moslow. Flanked by a plethora of police and wearing blue jeans and a black pull-over with a grey stripe going down both sleeves, 48-year-old Cheektowaga resident Altemio Sanchez, known by his neighbors simply as “Al,” was taken from Erie County Sheriff’s Department offices on West Eagle to the Holding Center Monday night. Police announced the arrest naming Sanchez as the so called “Bike Path Rapist” at a news conference Monday afternoon. “Old fashioned police work looking back at old cases and modern technology with DNA brought this together,” said New York State Police Major Michael Manning. Police started digging through cold case files, and came across a rape case dating back to 1981. A person named in that file was re-interviewed recently, and police said that person mentioned Altemio Sanchez during the recent interview, but not 25-years ago. "They found one person who provided information to them, that he had not provided back then. And that information led them to something else which ultimately led to Sanchez to the subject. It was information from somebody who was spoken to before, saying something that he had never said before," said Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark. Three separate teams of investigators also happened to come up with leads that led them to Sanchez, so police put him on round the clock surveillance ten days ago. The big break in the case came Saturday night, when undercover officers followed Sanchez into the restaurant “Sole.’” Investigators talked to the manager of the restaurant, and told her under no circumstances were workers to touch anything on Sanchez’s table. His waitress even apologized for leaving his dirty plates, glasses, and silverware on the table. Sanchez had no idea police were following him with the hopes of obtaining his DNA without them knowing. And that’s why they kept his silverware, glasses, and plates. "After the man and his wife left the premises, they collected the glasses and utensils, and went on their way," said Sole’ Manager Rebecca Klauk. 2 On Your Side’s Stefan Mychajliw: "Do you remember this man while he was dining?” Klauk: “He looked like anyone else who would dine in this restaurant. He was a very pleasant customer, nothing out of the ordinary." “These are experienced police investigators. And they were able to find something which they got bodily fluids that they used to get the DNA fingerprint which they got and then matched with the ones we had in the other cases. What if you're in a restaurant, touch a glass, use silverware, something, then abandon it, do you have any expectation of privacy in that? Probably not," added Clark. According to Police, Sanchez was arrested for soliciting prostitutes in Buffalo in 1991 and 1999. For those offenses, authorities revoked his pistol permit. So police interviewed him over the past few days in his Cheektowaga home under the guise that they wanted to talk to him about that permit, when in fact they were really “feeling him out” as the potential Bike Path Rapist. Cops followed Sanchez's every move for the past ten days and were waiting for the chance to get a sample of his DNA without him knowing. "His DNA was not on file," said Clark. The big break came Saturday night at Sole. When Sanchez and his wife ate dinner here, at Sole restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville in the Walker Center Plaza, three undercover officers followed Sanchez inside. The undercover cops told workers not to wash anything Sanchez touched or ate with. Police took his silverware, his glasses, even his plates. "What if you're in a restaurant, touch a glass, use silverware, something, then abandon it, do you have any expectation of privacy in that? Probably not," added the D.A. Clark continued, "these are experienced police investigators and they were able to find something which they got bodily fluids that they used to get the DNA fingerprint which they got and then matched with the ones we had in the other cases." Sanchez was pulled early Monday morning after leaving the night shift at the company commonly called “American Brass” in Buffalo. That’s when he was placed into police custody. The combination of cops combing through endless cold case files...and modern day DNA testing led to this arrest. "Old fashioned police work looking back at old cases and modern technology with DNA brought this together," said Major Michael Manning of the New York State Police. Sanchez is married, and has two adult sons. "I'm sure they're absolutely in a state of shock right now," said Clark. Amherst Police did interview Sanchez after the killing of Linda Yalem, but did not place him under arrest. 2 On Your Side’s Scott Brown: “Why he didn't come onto your radar more strongly in the Yalem case?” Amherst Police Chief John Moslow: “If we had probable cause to make an arrest back then we certainly would have.” http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44168 _________________ Last edited by Magic407 on Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:27 pm; edited 2 times in total Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:44 am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lawyer For Alleged "Bike Path Rapist" Vows To Fight DNA Evidence Posted by: Stefan Mychajliw, Reporter Created: 1/15/2007 10:47:15 PM Updated: 1/17/2007 9:42:32 AM Altemio Sanchez, 48, pleaded not guilty in Erie County Court Tuesday morning to the murder of Majane Mazur, one of three people that investigators believed was killed by "the bike path rapist." Altemio Sanchez, 48, wore jeans and a black zippered sweater, and hung his head during the court appearance in front of Judge D'Amico in Erie County Court in Buffalo. Sanchez did not speak during the appearance. His attorney, Andrew LoTempio, entered the plea of not guilty on his behalf. According to Erie Co. District Attorney, Frank Clark, Sanchez was arraigned on the Mazur's murder because the evidence in her case was the most accessible. "We felt it was the quickest and easiest one for us to proceed upon.," said Clark, "With Yalem, there's a little bit of a glitch. The DNA that was taken there, the old test was performed, and while we can make a match based on the more modern test performed just recently, we would prefer to have the same test." "I think this is a shock to both him and his family. They had no idea that this was coming," said LoTempio, "He can't believe it's happening to him." Sanchez's wife and one of his sons watched his arraignment in the courtroom, against LoTempio's advice. "They demanded to be here because of Mr. Sanchez. They are 100 percent behind him, and the do not believe that any of this is true," he said. Also in court - a man who says his sister was raped by the bike path rapist and left for dead more than 20 years ago. As he watched Sanchez in court, he wondered how a man so average could have done what he's accused of doing. "After what he did he probably went home and took a shower and fed his kids and took them to school and maybe coached a team or something like that. I mean he was just someone who's living a normal life supposedly like us," he said. LoTempio asked the judge to request the prosecution save DNA evidence for the defense to test. The judge declined to, saying that was between the judge and prosecutors. LoTempio hinted that part of the defense strategy would be to challenge the way in which DNA was collected. (See related story) He also plans to challenge the way Sanchez's home was searched. Sanchez is being held without bail. Authorities say he's also the suspect in the 1990 rape and slaying of University at Buffalo student Linda Yalem in 1990 and last fall's strangulation of Joan Diver, a mother of four whose body was found along the Clarence bike path. "All of Erie County can rest easier today because the monster known as the Bike Path Rapist has been taken into custody," said Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard. "A great many people in Western New York can relax because we took this perpetrator into custody and eventually he will be brought to justice," said Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson. "This predator is off the street," added Amherst Police Chief John Moslow. Flanked by a plethora of police and wearing blue jeans and a black pull-over with a grey stripe going down both sleeves, 48-year-old Cheektowaga resident Altemio Sanchez, known by his neighbors simply as "Al," was taken from Erie County Sheriff’s Department offices on West Eagle to the Holding Center Monday night. Police announced the arrest naming Sanchez as the so called "Bike Path Rapist" at a news conference Monday afternoon. "Old fashioned police work looking back at old cases and modern technology with DNA brought this together," said New York State Police Major Michael Manning. Sanchez is married, and has two adult sons. "I'm sure they're absolutely in a state of shock right now," said Clark. Amherst Police did interview Sanchez after the killing of Linda Yalem, but did not place him under arrest. 2 On Your Side’s Scott Brown: "Why didn't he come onto your radar more strongly in the Yalem case?" Amherst Police Chief John Moslow: "If we had probable cause to make an arrest back then we certainly would have." http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44168 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:59 am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indictments Coming in BPR Case Posted by: Stefan Mychajliw, Reporter Created: 1/15/2007 10:47:15 PM Updated: 1/20/2007 9:01:31 AM An Erie County grand jury has voted to indict Altemio Sanchez, the alleged bike path rapist, on three counts of second degree murder. The grand jury listened to evidence Thursday and Friday morning that Erie County District Attorney Franck Clark says links 48-year-old Sanchez to the rape and murder of U.B. student Linda Yalem and Majane Mazur. The Grand Jury then voted Friday afternoon to indict Sanchez on three murder counts. Sanchez will be arraigned next week in those murder cases. District Attorney Clark says his office has more work to do in the Joan Diver murder. "I think Diver presents particular problems," says Clark. "All we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt at this time is that he was in her car, being fair with DNA, it could have been there the day before." Sanchez was in court Friday. He wore a suit jacket and his legs were shackled. His family was not in with him at the advice of Sanchez’s attorney, Andrew LoTempio. "I'm telling them to try and go on with their life. They hope to be left alone by the media. They didn't do anything, they've got nothing to do with it," say LoTempio. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44168 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:01 am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who Is Altemio Sanchez? Posted by: Aga Dembinska, Assignment Desk Created: 1/20/2007 7:39:03 PM Updated: 1/20/2007 8:02:43 PM Details about the man that police and prosecutors claim is the bike path rapist have so far, been pretty paper thin. What officials do know is that Altemio Sanchez has been an Erie County resident for most of his life. Since the day of his arrest, Sanchez has been watched around the clock by Sheriff’s Deputies in the Erie County Holding Center. As far as prior to his arrest, police are still trying to piece together the pieces of his past. A source in the Buffalo School District has told 2 On Your Side that Altemio Sanchez went to Grover-Cleveland High School in the late 70’s. According to the Erie County Clerk’s Office, Sanchez and his wife Kathleen once lived at a house just around the corner from Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital. They moved from that home to Allendale Drive in Cheektowaga in 1986, which is the same house police searched after Sanchez was place in police custody Monday. Police have called him a rapist, a killer and a monster. As for those who knew Sanchez they’ve described him as a pleasant, congenial or high spirited. Sanchez’s wife and one of her sons were at his first court appearance but defense attorney Andrew LoTempio encouraged them not to be there for Friday’s hearing, which lasted about five minutes. Sanchez was dressed in a suit jacket, his legs were shackled. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44337 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:57 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bike Path Rapist Suspect Back In Court Posted by: Lynne Dixon, Reporter Created: 1/21/2007 10:07:06 PM Updated: 1/21/2007 11:31:27 PM The man investigators believe is the bike path rapist will likely be back in court this week to be arraigned on murder charges in connection with the deaths of Mayjane Mazur and Linda Yalem. Altemio Sanchez is also suspected in the murder of Clarence mother of four, Joan Diver. Prosecutors say they have his DNA from a steering column in Diver's vehicle, but admit they have no DNA that puts him at the murder scene. The defense plans to contest the collection and preservation of the DNA. Investigators also tell the t-v program "America's Most Wanted," that another uncle, living in Buffalo, offered up his DNA as part of the investigation. That DNA collection came before Sanchez's arrest. Police were led to the family after re-opening a 1981 rape case that had not been connected to the so-called bike path rapist. They re-interviewed a man named Wilfredo Caraballo, now living in North Carolina. Remember, shortly after she was raped, the 1981 rape victim saw a man at the Boulevard Mall that she thought was the man who raped her. He was followed to his car and the license plate number was taken down. Police talked to the owner of the car, but he said he hadn't driven it. His photo was shown to the victim and she could not identify him. When police went back to interview Caraballo earlier this month, he shared information with them he didn't share back then. He said that his nephew, Al Sanchez, had borrowed the car. Investigators tell the t-v program that they also went to talk to another uncle living in Buffalo. He offered up his DNA. It was not a match, investigators say, but they say it did show that he was related to whoever the bike path rapist was. That trail eventually led them to Sanchez. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44360 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:02 am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teamwork turned up Sanchez 1/21/2007 By DONN ESMONDE Buffalo cop Jackie Sullivan walked into Detective Dennis Delano's office Thursday morning, wrapped her arms around him and said, "You're my hero." It is doubtful that Delano gets many hugs from attractive blondes. First, he is married. Second, his resemblance is - appropriately - less to Brad Pitt than to Andy Sipowicz, the beloved "NYPD Blue" detective. With ample girth and the map lines of 26 years of street experience creasing his face, Delano admits he is not leading-man material. But this was one hug he deserved. Indeed, he took it for the whole team. Our communal arms should be wrapped around the dozen cops, including Delano, from different places who worked as one. The Bike Path Rapist Task Force - elite cops from Buffalo, Amherst, the county and State Police - ignored turf and put egos aside. Two months after coming together, they put in handcuffs Monday a suspected murderer/rapist accused of victimizing women for decades. Police say DNA evidence links Altemio C. Sanchez to three homicides and five sexual assaults over the past 20 years. It was Delano, from Buffalo's cold-case squad, who noticed it: The first attack linked to the Bike Path Killer/Rapist was a 1986 assault in Delaware Park. After that, he left the park. Delano thought it didn't make sense, a one-stop from a rapist notorious for multiple assaults in certain areas. "That stuck out for me," said Delano. "I started digging into rapes in the park." He found a half-dozen. He shared the files with task force head Steve Nigrelli, Josh Keats and Greg Savage. Similarities to the Bike Path Rapist stuck out. " description and methodology, same verbiage used ," said Nigrelli. They targeted an unsolved 1981 case, where the victim saw her attacker days later and jotted down the car's license plate number. The 1981 investigation dead-ended. Twenty-five years later, Detective Al Rozansky tracked down the car owner. He told Rozansky what he held back in '81: His nephew drove the car. The nephew: Altemio Sanchez. The name was familiar to other task force cops. One suspected "bike path" murder victim was a prostitute. A list of Hispanics interviewed in the "bike path" case had been cross-referenced with Hispanics arrested for soliciting Buffalo prostitutes. Bingo on Sanchez. "We were like, "Holy bleep,' " Rozansky said. "That's the same name the other are looking at." Different roads led to the same place. "Before the task force, no had all of the pieces," said Buffalo cop Lisa Redmond. "Once everyone got together, it just popped." "I felt," said leader Nigrelli, "like the quarterback of an all-star team." Team member Rozansky returned the compliment. "We had supervisors who didn't micromanage," Rozansky said. "Otherwise," added Delano, chuckling, "we would have killed each other." There was another hug in this case, besides the one Delano got. Two days after Sanchez's arrest, the victim of the 1994 assault walked into the task force downtown offices. She embraced each one of them: Nigrelli, Keats, Chris Weber and Betsy Schneider (State Police); Patronik, Savage, Rozansky and Greg McCarthy (Sheriff's Office); Buffalo cops Delano and Redmond and Amherst cops Joe LaCorte and Ed Monan. "She and are why we all worked the hunt so hard," Rozansky said. They did it for all of the women he hurt. They did it for all of the women he, if still free, could have hurt. Thanks, to all of them. e-mail: desmonde@buffnews.com http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070121/1075163.asp _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:50 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jail Conditions for Bike Path Rapist Suspect Jan 22, 2007 - This is what may be one of many walks Altemio Sanchez takes from the Erie County Holding Center to court. He has been at the holding center since his arrest last Monday. Police say he is the bike path rapist and a jury has voted to indict him in the 1990 murder of Linda Yalem and the 1992 murder of Majane Mazur. "They have got him in lock down, which means they are going to watch him to make sure he does not hurt himself. They are going to make sure that other inmates don't hurt him. I think they are taking care of him," said defense attorney Andrew LoTempio. Brian Doyle, the chief of administrative services for the Erie County Sheriff's Department, says that Sanchez is one of four inmates in a room that is about 20 by 20, under constant observation. He says Sanchez gets his meals there, and can read, but that there is no television. Doyle adds that Sanchez does have access to a phone, and religious services. Sanchez says that family members have visited, but does not specify who. He adds they have set up special visitation for him. "The reasons why we do that the safety of Mr. Sanchez, the safety of other inmates, the safety of his family and as important, the safety of our officers," said Doyle. http://www.wkbw.com/Story.aspx?type=ln&NStoryID=17599 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:55 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Was Bike Path Rapist Plotting Another Ellicott Creek Bike Path Attack? Posted by: Robyn Young, Reporter Created: 1/22/2007 10:33:35 PM Updated: 1/22/2007 11:18:19 PM A Buffalo police investigator said he has spoken with a woman, who is convinced that she saw the man accused of being the bike path rapist on the Ellicott Creek bike path just eight days before Joan Diver was killed on the Clarence bike path in September, 2006. "My own personal opinion, maybe it was him, and maybe he was preparing a site or checking out an area where he could commit an attack on," said Buffalo Police Detective Dennis Delano. Delano said the woman contacted him after Joan Diver, a Clarence mother of four, was murdered on the Clarence bike path September 29, 2006. According to Delano, the woman said she was walking her dog along the Ellicott Creek bike path in Amherst, in the same area where University at Buffalo student Linda Yalem had been murdered on September 29, 1990. That area is near a footbridge near North Forest. "Her dog started barking and going crazy. She felt she heard somebody in the woods," Detective Delano said. The woman heard footsteps in the woods, and to throw the person off, opened her cell phone and pretended to be talking to her husband, trying to make it appear that he was not far away on the bike path. "She continued walking toward her car, and he drove by her a few times on his bicycle," Detective Delano said. "She got a good look at his face." The woman told Delano that man was Altemio Sanchez, arrested January 15. Police said Sanchez is linked by DNA to eight out of ten bike path rapist attacks, dating from 1986 to Joan Diver's murder in 2006. All attacks are linked by attack method. Three murders, Linda Yalem in 1990, Majane Mazur in Buffalo in 1992 and Diver in 2006, are all linked by DNA, though the DNA in Diver's case was only found in her vehicle, not on her body. Yalem and Diver were both killed on September 29, 16 years apart, and on different bike paths. Besides Yalem, another woman was attacked on the Ellicott Creek bike path months earlier, in May of 1990. Police can only speculate if it was Sanchez on the Ellicott Creek bike path days before Diver's murder in Clarence. Delano said the woman reported the man had hair long enough to cover his ears, and that he was wearing a baseball cap. That leads police to wonder if it was Sanchez wearing a wig. Meanwhile, Detective Delano is looking for connections to a handful of other rapes that may also be linked to the bike path rapist. Those cases, along with most of those already attributed to the bike path rapist, involved the attacker telling his victims to wait a certain amount of time after he raped them. He reportedly told a woman attacked in Delaware Park in 1986 to "give me ten minutes" before going for help. He told another victim attacked behind a junkyard on Military Road in 1994, "you can leave in half hour," according to police records. In the first rape being considerd for connection, a knife was used. Later rapes involved a gun. In the 1986-2006 attacks linked to the bike path rapist, the victims were choked with a clothesline or other ligature. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44413 _________________ Magic407 Chief Moderator Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 8206 Location: Texas Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:19 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanchez pleads not guilty to murder charges BUFFALO, N.Y. The suburban Buffalo man charged with killing two women and suspected of slaying a third and raping several others over the past two decades appeared in court today. Altemio (al-TIM'-ee-oh) Sanchez of Cheektowaga pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Erie County Court on second-degree murder charges. The charges stem from the slayings of Linda Yalem in 1990 and Majane Mazur (MAYE'-jayne MAYE'-zur) two years later. Prosecutors say Sanchez is the so-called "Bike Path Rapist" who carried out a string of rapes and killings in the Buffalo area dating back to the 1980s. He was arrested earlier this month after authorities said D-N-A samples linked him to the Yalem and Mazur slayings along with the strangulation of Joan Diver, a 45-year-old mother of four whose body was found along a bike path last fall. Erie County District Attorney made a motion today in court to obtain additional D-N-A samples from Sanchez. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for Monday. http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5978337

New Details in BPR Arrest Posted by: Collin Bishop, Special Projects Producer Created: 1/24/2007 9:47:40 AM Updated: 1/24/2007 9:57:50 AM Five members of law enforcement were interviewed at length by 2 On Your Side's Stefan Mychajliw. All spoke candidly about the investigation and the events leading up to and immediately after the arrest of Altemio Sanchez. They officers are: Lissa Redmond, Buffalo Police Greg Savage, Erie County Sheriff's Department Alan Rozansky, Erie County Sheriff's Department Scott Patronik, Erie County Sheriff's Department Steven Nigrelli, New York State Police This is an in-depth look at how police cracked the case. Armed with information from a DNA profiler that a suspect was Hispanic, members of the Bike Path Rapist Task Force started putting together separate lists of men: one list of all the Hispanic men who were interviewed by the Amherst Police Department during the Linda Yalem murder investigation, a second list of Hispanic men who were arrested in the City of Buffalo for prostitution, and a third list of Hispanic men who were questioned in a series of unsolved rape cases in the City of Buffalo. The third list led police to Wilfredo Caraballo, initially questioned by Buffalo Police in 1981 concerning a rape in Delaware Park. Days after that rape, the victim told police she saw the man who attacked her at the Boulevard Mall. A friend with the victim wrote down the license plate of the car the suspected attacker was driving. The plates were traced to a car driven by Caraballo. Police wanted to talk to him as a potential person of interest in the Bike Path Rapist case, but he now lives in North Carolina. "We took a second look at the uncle, who lives out of state. And we thought the best way to clear him to was to get his DNA," said Patronik. Police called Caraballo in North Carolina, and because of having to cross state lines and different jurisdictions, they determined it might be too difficult to obtain a sample of his DNA. Instead, Caraballo's brother, who still lives in Buffalo, agreed to provide police with a sample of his own DNA. Those test results cleared both uncles, but the results also determined that a close relative of the men might be a strong match for the DNA found at a number of crime scenes. Patronik says the the doctor who conducted the DNA test told police, "I think you're warm, and it could be someone in the family." At the very same time, Caraballo called one of the investigators back to give him new information about who was driving that car back in 1981. Initially, he told police the car was sitting in his driveway. "Wilfredo had called to me, and he admits to me, someone was driving that vehicle. And I said, 'who might that be?' He said 'my nephew Altemio.' I said 'did you ever tell the police?' And he said 'I don't remember if I did' which is an indication that he probably didn't," said Rozansky. Police who were cross-referencing the lists of Hispanic men arrested for prostitution in Buffalo and Hispanic men questioned by Amherst Police also obtained the name "Altemio Sanchez." "Three different people were doing three different things. And it did all come together at once. So it's hard to say there was an 'aha' moment. For the first time ever, in all these years of investigations, we finally had all the pieces of the puzzle in one place. And everything got laid on the table, and all of a sudden, it just 'popped.' And all these different investigators started coming up with the same name," said Redmond. "When all the leads and all the information we had converged on Mr. Sanchez, he was a lot better looking suspect than anybody we had prior to that. And everything seemed to fit," said Savage. "25-plus years on investigation. And this case came down to about an hour," said Nigrelli. Police knew Sanchez's pistol permit was revoked because of previous prostitution arrests, but that pistol was never turned into authorities. Investigators thought they could potentially obtain Sanchez's DNA from sweat that may have been on the gun. So police questioned Sanchez at his home on Allendale in Cheektowaga, and he placed the pistol in a clear plastic bag for the officers. "He seemed pretty matter of fact about the whole thing," said Savage. Police also questioned Sanchez's co-workers at the company commonly referred to as American Brass. "And we spoke with some people who knew him, and asked about him, at his place of employment, and everyone said 'gee, he's a nice guy.' At the time, they didn't know why we were looking at him, we didn't tell them," added Savage. Because police did not obtain a strong enough DNA sample, and believed Sanchez was at the top of their list of potential suspects, the Cheektowaga man was followed 24/7. He was observed going shopping, going to the doctor's office, even the gym. "He liked to do his shopping and his everyday things in the morning, after work," said Patronik. "It was a pretty intense couple of days," said Savage. Mychajliw: "How so?" Savage: "There are so many things going through your mind. We had him under surveillance. Number one, you don't want to lose him. You don't want him to go out, when we're supposed to be around him, and have him get away and commit another crime." The most important part of surveillance for police: trying to obtain a sample of Sanchez's DNA with the hopes of comparing it to DNA samples found at various crime scenes. But how could tehy follow him so close, collect DNA evidence, and not be seen? Investigators had their answer the Saturday night before the arrest. That is the night Sanchez and his wife dined at Sole' in the Walker Center Plaza on Main Street in Williamsville. "I was at Sole' when we observed him go in," said Rozansky. Investigators told the staff there not to touch anything on Sanchez's table. His waitress even apologized for not clearing the table right away. Three officers immediately took the dinnerware once Sanchez and his wife left. Another team of investigators followed him to the Borders Bookstore on Walden near the Galleria Mall. There, police also obtained a coffee cup used by Altemio Sanchez. "We had another surveillance team pick him up (follow him). And they had another item. So, it was not a good night for Altemio," said Rozansky. The next day, at approximately 5pm on Sunday, a doctor at the Erie County Crime lab called officers at the Bike Path Rapist Task Force Headquarters at 45 Oak Street with the news: he believed the DNA obtained from Sanchez matched DNA found at various crime scenes. Police believed Altemio Sanchez was the so called Bike Path Rapist. A number of officers were sitting around a conference call at 45 Oak Street and heard the news. "I was speechless. I was stunned. It was like winning the Super Bowl. Hitting a home run to win the World Series. And winning the Presidency all at once," said Redmond. "It's probably the longest 24 hours I've ever waited. I couldn't believe it. I was actually in shock. He's been at this so long. And so many attacks. The guy was like a phantom. And to put a face, a name, to who he was, to have his DNA in hand, to definitively show that he was the guy, it was the high point of anything I'll ever be a part of investigating," said Savage. Now police had to determine when and where they were going to place Altemio Sanchez in custody, and how they were going to interview him. "And just like a little kid the night before Christmas, I didn't sleep. I didn't sleep through the night. I tossed and turned. I thought about different interview tactics," said Nigrelli. Sanchez worked the overnight shift at American Brass Sunday night into Monday morning. Three police cars followed his. Most streets were empty because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. A light snow fell that morning. "We had to stick with him. We were pretty sure he knew that we were following him. It was Martin Luther King Day. There wasn't much traffic on the roads as usual, so that made it even harder for us. He pulled over to the right side of the road, State Police Vehicle got in front of him, and I was behind him. And one of our vehicles was on the side of him. He just asked us 'what was going on.' We just told him we needed to talk to him. He wasn't under arrest at that time. Had him get out of the car, he was searched, placed into one of our vehicles, and he was driven back to be interviewed. This guy is thinking about how he's going to react to that day, for the last 25-years. I'm sure he's rehearsed that moment in his head a million times," said Savage. Sanchez was interviewed for about ten hours by investigators on West Eagle Street. Here is a detailed description of what transpired from Officers Nigrelli and Rozansky. Nigrelli: "Denial. He's thought about this a long time. And there's no way he was going to admit this. He was 'no, no.' Denial. Cold. Calculating. Thinking in his head, but like I said Stefan, he's had 25 years to think about this interview. He thought about what he was going to say to us." Mychajliw: "How would you describe his demeanor in the interview room?" Nigrelli: "Stoic." Rozansky: "There was no admissions coming out of him. I don't care who was interrogating him. He wasn't going to admit to anything." Mychajliw: "Would you characterize it as denial?" Rozansky: "Very much so." Nigrelli: "He didn't know what we had and what we didn't have. When we were interviewing him, you could see him thinking, while we're asking questions, using typical stall tactics before answering. Because this guy exuded every habit, every mannerism, of someone who is telling a bold faced lie. Textbook." Eventually, police told Sanchez about all of the DNA evidence, and how a sample of his DNA was collected. Nigrelli: "We told him. We told him where we got it. We told him what we were doing. We told him where we got his DNA from. We told him about the gun, and the paperwork he filled out that night with the Deputies. We told him about Sole. And about Borders. We explained DNA. He said he understood it. That's when we said 'that's how we got you.' He didn't believe it. Disbelief. Shock." Rozansky: "We'd ask him a question, and he would say 'that's what you say.' I think he really did not want to believe we had what we told him we had. I had a lengthy interrogation time with him." Days after the arrest, 2 On Your Side confirmed that a photograph of Sanchez and his wife taken at a party was Friday, September 29th, the same day Joan Diver disappeared. Mychajliw: "Where did you see that photograph first?" Nigrelli: "The first time I saw that photograph was on Channel 2 when you aired it. And it was kind of eerie. September 29th, we have Joan Diver, she's lying there, deceased, off the bike path, and Al Sanchez is there with his wife, having a good old time, smiling, posing for pictures. And Joan Diver's family is out there looking for their Mom, their wife." Members of the Bike Path Rapist Task Force credit cooperation from a number of police agencies for making an arrest. "For the first time ever, in all these years of investigations, we finally had all the pieces of the puzzle in one place. This task force has only been around for two months. Nobody had everything all at once," said Redmond. But did police drop the ball individually twice in this investigation? Once back in 1981 when Buffalo Police officers took Wilfredo Caraballo's word that no one drove his car. Could officers have questioned his neighbors to see if it ever left the driveway? Could they have put more pressure on Caraballo? Amherst Police also questioned Altemio Sanchez after Linda Yalem was killed, even collected his fingerprints. Mychajliw: "Was there ever a point where you thought, we should have had this guy in 1981. We should have had this guy in 1992?" Redmond: "You know, hindsight is 20/20. And it's easy to look back on those investigations. But like I said before, no one had all the pieces of the puzzle until now." Mychajliw: "Do you feel as though any police agency potentially dropped the ball and let him go?" Nigrelli: "No, I do not. With the information they had at the time? I don't think so. The 81 information from Buffalo? That was the first arrest. They went to the house, the guy lied to him. That was the first case. It was the first rape. They didn't know they were looking at a serial rapist/murderer. Their documentation, instead of being criticized, it's their documentation that led to this arrest." Mychajliw: "Is there any doubt in your mind, any chance, that he's not the guy?" Nigrelli: "Not a single doubt. Not a single doubt. And that's based on science, it's based on investigative technique. It's based on 17 years in law enforcement. I'm telling you right now, Altemio Sanchez is the Bike Path Killer." http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44445

Similarities Between 19 Other Attacks Posted by: Robyn Young, Reporter Created: 1/25/2007 6:19:43 PM Updated: 1/26/2007 10:58:06 AM Altemio Sanchez, the man accused of being the bike path rapist, remains in custody, linked to ten attacks according to police. All of the cases are linked by attack method, and eight of them are linked by DNA evidence. Still, investigators are digging, looking for evidence in nine other rapes, including one attempted rape, that bear chilling similarities with the ten attacks blamed on the bike path rapist. Asked if he believes the same person is responsible for all 19 attacks, Detective Dennis Delano said, "Yes." Detective Delano has been compiling details in attacks dating back to 1977 in chart form, which shows what he views as distinct similarities. "The things that were said are very similar in all the cases," Delano said. "The method of attack (is similar). All the attacks were outdoors. All the attacks were in a woody, brushy type area." The first case Delano is considering is a rape that occured in 1977. He says a woman was first accosted in a car after coming out of a bar on Buffalo's West Side, then taken to Delaware Park by the statue of David where she was raped. Seven of the rapes occured in this area of Delaware Park. The cases stretch from that 1977 rape to another in 1981 in Delaware Park, three in Delaware Park in 1983, one in 1984 at a railroad overpass on Elmwood near Hertel, another in 1984 in Delaware Park, (Anthony Capozzi was convicted of these two 1984 attacks. His convictions are now being questioned), the rape of a prostitute in 1985 in Hamburg, another rape in Delaware Park in 1986, one near Frontier High School in Hamburg in 1986, one in a Buffalo junkyard in 1988, one in 1989 at the end of Churchill behind a building, a 1989 rape on the Willow Ridge bike path in Amherst, one in 1990 on the Ellicott Creek bike path and the murder of Linda Yalem on the same path in 1990, the murder of Majane Mazur in Buffalo in 1992, a 1994 rape in a Riverside junkyard, and Joan Diver's murder along the Clarence bike path in September 2006. The list includes the attempted rape of a Buffalo State College student in 1989. Sanchez is officially said to be linked to ten cases starting in 1986, though police say he may also be responsible for a 1981 rape in Delaware Park. Between the 1977 rape and Diver's 2006 murder is a string of attacks with distinct similarities. Delano said the attacker used similar language, which he would not specify, except to say that most cases involved the attacker telling the victim to wait a certain amount of time before leaving the scene. Delano said each case involved the attacker using a weapon. In the 1981 Delaware Park attack, a knife was used. A gun was used in at least five cases up until 1986, when a cord or wire was used to strangle later victims. Yalem, Mazur, and Diver all died from strangulation. Why would the same person use different weapons? Delano believes the attacker simply moved on to use other methods that worked for him. Other similarities involved the attacker coming up from behind the victims, often after walking or jogging past them. Delano also said all survivors gave a similar description of a man with dark hair, starting to gray in later attacks, and similar descriptions of the attacker's eyes. "Deep set eyes. Almost every victim makes some kind of a comment about the suspect's eyes," Delano said. There is a five year statute of limitations on rape cases, meaning these cases cannot be prosecuted, but Delano said it's about more than that. "If anybody was wronged, maybe we could make a right and find out what the truth is. That's the bottom line here," he said. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44488

Accused Bike Path Killer Back In Court Jan 29, 2007 - 7 News has learned investigators will travel down to southern states this week to interview victims of the Bike Path Killer. But the man who they believe raped and killed women dating back to the 1980's was back in court Monday wearing a dark suit. Inside the courtroom, the attorney for Altemio Sanchez was once again shining a light on the media attention. Outside the courtroom, he wasn't talking. Defense attorney Andrew LoTempio was moving quickly on his way out when he told reporters, "My comments in court speak for themselves. I don't have any other comment today. Okay, thank you." LoTempio took issue with how investigators are labeling Sanchez, going as far as to read a quote where they called him a monster. He also questioned the integrity of the grand jury minutes, saying they were not sufficient enough for the charges handed down. Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark does not believe the attention tainted the grand jury. "The arrest took place on a Monday and we started the grand jury presentation on the following Thursday. So you really only have two or three days of publicity that the grand jury may have been exposed to." The wife of Sanchez was also in court, continuing to stand by her husband, but left without any comment. The court did not rule on whether the 49-year-old will have to give another sample of DNA. http://www.wkbw.com/Story.aspx?type=ln&NStoryID=17731

Decision Coming Soon In Sanchez Case Posted by: Lynne Dixon, Reporter Created: 1/31/2007 4:29:12 PM Updated: 1/31/2007 9:36:29 PM A judge is expected to rule soon on whether a new grand jury will have to be seated to hear the case against Altemio Sanchez. State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns will issue a written decision on whether the grand jury was tainted because of pre-trial publicity. He will also decide whether Altemio Sanchez has to submit to another DNA test. Meanwhile, officials at the former American Brass, where Sanchez has worked for years, confirm that work records were subpoenaed and the company says they are cooperating fully with authorities. As an hourly employee, Sanchez is not being paid. But as a member of the United Steelworkers Union, he has not lost his job, although the company says his situation is under evaluation. The company says Sanchez, for the most part worked the overnight, or third shift for the duration of his career at American Brass. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44705

Judge Orders New DNA Test In Bike Path Rapist Case Posted by: Judy Wichrowski, Producer Created: 2/2/2007 6:17:14 AM Updated: 2/2/2007 10:20:17 AM A judge denied a motion for a new grand jury to be seated to hear the case against Altemio Sanchez. The judge also granted the prosecution's request for a new DNA sample. State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns issued a written decision this morning stating that based on the court's review of the grand jury proceedings, the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain the charges set forth in the indictment, therefore the motion to dismiss the indictment is denied. The judge also granted the People's motion asking for a buccal swab (DNA sample). The judge will allow the Defense to be present when that new sample is taken. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44756

DNA Taken From BPR Suspect Posted by: Jeff Woodard, Executive Producer Created: 2/8/2007 3:56:46 PM Updated: 2/9/2007 6:46:18 PM The man accused by police of being the bike path rapist underwent a court ordered DNA swab Thursday. Altemio Sanchez had the cells in his cheek swabbed by a member of law enforcement. The swab took place in the holding center late this morning. The DNA will then be compared to DNA collected in the rapes and murders connected to the bike path rapist. Officials say they hope to have results by next week. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=44985

Results From New DNA Test In Bike Path Rapist Case Due This Week Posted by: Judy Wichrowski, Producer Created: 2/13/2007 6:18:53 AM Updated: 2/13/2007 7:13:55 AM The Erie County District Attorney says results from a new DNA test in the Bike Path Rapist case are expected to be in this week. Suspect Altemio Sanchez underwent a buccal swab test last Thursday. Police originally took DNA from Sanchez from utensils he used at a Williamsville restaurant before his arrest. Prosecutors had ordered a new test and a sample was taken from a swab of Sanchez's cheek last week. Police will test this new DNA sample against evidence preserved from the murders of Majane Mazur and Linda Yalem. Last month, a grand jury voted to indict Sanchez in the murders of Mazur and Yalem. Police say he is also suspected in several other attacks. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=45138