Florida Keys cops solve 34-year-old rape case. The suspect died last summer.
Detectives in the Florida Keys solved a rape case from 1987 with the help of federal investigators and DNA technology, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
The crime happened March 13, 1987, in a trailer park on Grassy Key, just north of the Middle Keys city of Marathon. The victim, a 36-year-old woman at the time, was bound at the arms and legs while her attacker raped her at knife point, according to the sheriff’s office.
Using DNA, sheriff’s office Major Crimes detectives say they determined the rapist was a man named William Anechiarico, who died in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, last summer, the sheriff’s office said.
“I am extremely grateful our Major Crimes Unit Detectives and our state and federal law enforcement partners were able to give the victim some closure in this awful case,” Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement.
This is the third cold case Keys detectives have closed since last year.
In June 2020, detectives resolved a 1991 murder case where the female victim was found in a wooded area off U.S. 1 near mile marker 35. Until last year, the victim’s identity was never known. However, detectives say they now know her name is Wanda Deann Kirkum, who was 18 when she was killed.
The Hornell, New York, teen was never reported missing. Both parents have since died. Cops say her killer was Robert Lynn Bradley. He was murdered in 1992 in Tarrrant County, Texas, at the age of 31, according to the sheriff’s office.
In October 2020, Major Crimes detectives say they resolved the murder of Ronald Silvia, a 65-year-old man whose body was found in a burning motor home in the Seahorse Campground on Big Pine Key in January 2021.
Detectives say his killer is Timothy Hugh Blanton, 55. According to the sheriff’s office, Blanton and Silvia were former romantic partners. Blanton was arrested in Daytona Beach and returned to Monroe County, where he is in jail awaiting trial on murder and arson charges.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Florida Keys cops solve 34-year-old rape case. The suspect died last summer.."
