Serial Rapist Identified Through DNA; Police Concerned About Additional Victims

Two cold-case home invasion rapes in California in the 1980s have been connected to four similar sexual assaults in other states, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Sean Patrick McNulty, who grew up in Ventura and attended Buena High School, died by suicide in 1997 in Emmett Township, Michigan, “after he became a suspect” in a 1993 rape in Bloomington, Indiana, the VCDA said in a news release.

Before that final assault, however, McNulty had committed home-invasion rapes in Ventura in 1982 and 1983, in Okemos, Michigan, in 1994; in Birmingham, Michigan, in 1995; and in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997, officials said, noting the same DNA profile was recovered in each of these five attacks.

A joint investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement in multiple states eventually identified McNulty as a possible suspect, and DNA from the Bloomington assault was “an exact match” to that from the Columbus attack.

The DNA then was matched to the other rapes, officials added, though they believe other victims could exist.

In addition to the Philippines, McNulty is believed to have lived or spent time in the following states:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Ohio
• Virginia

While the decades that have passed limited the number of survivors who could be notified that their presumed rapist had been caught, those who have been reached expressed gratitude to investigators for not giving up.

One victim told investigators she had “waited forty years” for that closure.

“This case demonstrates why the Ventura County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative is so important to sexual assault survivors,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “Every kit tested has the opportunity to bring critical knowledge to these women, including the knowledge that their perpetrator is deceased and therefore no longer able to harm others. The knowledge that undergoing an exam is not a futile exercise but rather a crucial piece of evidence that can help to identify violent offenders. And, perhaps most importantly, the knowledge that law enforcement and prosecutors recognize that each one of these kits represent a courageous survivor and the enduring voice of a savage crime.”

For information about the Ventura County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, visit the county’s website.

Anyone with information about McNulty or his crimes is asked to call District Attorney Investigator Yumi Kirk at 805-477-1638 or at yumi.kirk@venturacounty.gov.