DNA helps uncover suspected serial rapist
Evidence from 2003 city cold case led to four others
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Published 05/09/10
Courtesy photo

Jose Alexander "Alex" Menjivar, 37, formerly of 1033 Martha Court in Annapolis and 1649 Fairhill Drive in Edgewater, is charged by name in two of the assaults and wanted for questioning in the others, police said. Cold case investigators are now asking for the public's help in locating him. Menjivar is Hispanic, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. While in Maryland, he worked as a landscaper. Anyone with information about Menjivar, these attacks or any other attacks that may be related should contact Cordle or Johns at the Anne Arundel State’s Attorney’s Office at 410-222-1740.

He almost disregarded the DNA evidence.

The elderly victim of the 2003 home invasion and sexual assault in Annapolis died three years ago.

Without her testimony at trial, David Cordle, chief investigator for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office, knew prosecutors could never secure a conviction.

But still, Cordle recalled, he knew the suspect's name; he had an unserved warrant in a file and a full DNA profile ready to be submitted to the FBI's Combined DNA Data Index System.

Maybe - just maybe, he thought - the evidence would help solve another rape case.

"I was this close to not entering the evidence," Cordle said last week, holding his right thumb and forefinger together. "I am sure glad I did."

Because he did, cold case investigators are now asking for the public's help in locating a suspected illegal immigrant they believe was behind five sexual assaults between February 2002 and December 2005 in Maryland and Florida.

With the evidence from the 2003 assault of an 81-year-old woman inside her Annapolis home, Cordle explained, police were able to crack another case in Annapolis as well as one in West Palm Beach, Fla., and another two in Orlando, Fla.

Jose Alexander "Alex" Menjivar, 37, formerly of 1033 Martha Court in Annapolis and 1649 Fairhill Drive in Edgewater, is charged by name in two of the assaults and wanted for questioning in the others, police said. Detectives with the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Florida also have a warrant for a "John Doe" with Menjivar's DNA.

William Johns, a civilian investigator with city police and the other half of the city's cold case squad, explained DNA linked Menjivar to four of the attacks - including both of those reported in Annapolis. A fifth rape in Orlando was committed in such a similar fashion that detectives believe the same man must be behind it as well.

"It's just simply amazing we got so many matches," Johns said last week after outlining some of the details behind the five rapes and illustrating Menjivar's alleged progression down the East Coast. He noted that without the DNA evidence police would never have been able to connect the crimes.

"You wonder how many more cases are sitting on shelves waiting to be solved," Johns said.

"It shows you in cold cases you can't assume or presume anything," Cordle said.
The five cases

According to cold case investigators, police believe Menjivar is behind five violent sexual assaults. The attacks occurred on:

Feb. 16, 2002: A 22-year-old woman was assaulted inside her home on Copley Court in Annapolis. The attacker entered her house through an unlocked door while the victim was intoxicated. Evidence left at the scene provided police with a partial DNA profile of the attacker, which was not enough to enter into a national database but more than enough to link Menjivar to the crime.

March 23, 2003: An 81-year-old woman was assaulted inside her home on Tiburon Court in Annapolis. The attacker entered her house through a window while the victim was sleeping. Fingerprints and a DNA sample were recovered from the scene. Police obtained a warrant on April 11, 2003, charging Menjivar with burglary and first-degree sex offense. The victim died in May 2007. The evidence from this assault helped police crack the other four cases.

Nov. 27, 2004: A 29-year-old female cab driver was assaulted in Orlando. The attacker approached the cab while it was parked, forced the driver at knife-point to drive to a secluded area, and then raped her outside the vehicle. DNA left at the scene linked Menjivar to the crime. There is a warrant in this case for a "John Doe" with Menjivar's DNA.

Jan. 30, 2005: A female cab driver was assaulted in Orlando. Details were not available, but Cordle said the case was similar to the previous rape.

Dec. 16, 2005: A 30-year-old woman was assaulted outside a West Palm Beach nightclub. The attacker followed the victim to her car outside El Palacio and hit her with a beer bottle. He then forced the woman to drive to a secluded place, where he assaulted her outside the vehicle. DNA left at the scene linked Menjivar to the crime. There is a warrant in this case.

Detective Nichole Addazio with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said they have known the same man was behind their assault and at least one of the ones in Orange County since 2005, but they were surprised to hear their attacker had assaulted two more women in Annapolis. She said she had mixed emotions when she got the notification.

"I was horrified to learn there was another case, but I was elated to know we had a suspect," she said.
Wanted man

Linking Menjivar - who also is known as Arturo Palacios and Alex Mejnar - to the five sexual assaults is not the same as arresting him, police said.

Cordle explained that detectives with the Annapolis Police Department first secured a warrant for Menjivar's arrest just three weeks after the elderly woman was attacked in 2003.

"The best we can tell is that he fled the area very quickly," Cordle said.

He noted that police in Annapolis stopped Menjivar for a traffic violation two weeks after the sexual assault, but didn't know he was involved in the rape. By the time they got a warrant for his arrest one week later, Menjivar had "disappeared," Cordle said.

Cordle added that the Maryland State Police notified him in February that Menjivar was involved in the other rapes in Annapolis and Florida. Despite the new interest in locating Menjivar, however, police have been unable to find him.

"He could have gone anywhere in the U.S. He could have left the country. He could be dead. There are so many possibilities you just don't know," Johns said, explaining why he and Cordle decided to ask the public for help in locating him.

"Someone is bound to know him or know what happened to him," Cordle said.

To speed up the process, Cordle said he is working with the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine if Menjivar is still in the country or if he has returned to his native El Salvador.

Gillian Brigham, a spokeswoman for ICE, said Menjivar applied for immigration benefits in April 2002, but hasn't turned up again in the past eight years. She said he told federal officials in 2002 he illegally entered the country two times though Brownsville, Texas - once in 1990 and again in 1999.

Brigham said Menjivar was never deported.

In addition to the various law enforcement agencies, Cordle said he also is in talks with Fox's "America's Most Wanted" TV show in the hopes of drawing national attention to the case.

"We will get him. We've got a lot of resources being thrown at him," Cordle said.

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Menjivar is Hispanic, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. While in Maryland, he worked as a landscaper. Anyone with information about Menjivar, these attacks or any other attacks that may be related should contact Cordle or Johns at the Anne Arundel State's Attorney's Office at 410-222-1740.

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