CLEVELAND, Ohio – James W. Daniel III, the man dubbed the "Early Morning Rapist" for recent pre-dawn attacks against two women on the West Side, has been indicted for those two rapes as well as a 2000 rape linked to his DNA, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty announced today.
The grand jury's indictment charged Daniel, 33, with 22 total counts, including six counts of rape, seven counts of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of having weapons while under disability, one count of felonious assault and one count of aggravated burglary.
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Daniel was tied to the Sept. 2 rape of a woman jogging on West 104th Street just south of Lake Ave. He left his DNA on the woman's sports bra after sexually assaulting her at about 5:25 a.m. Surveillance footage from two security cameras showed him stalking the victim and brutally attacking her from behind.
The Cuyahoga County medical examiner's office Crime Lab also found "touch DNA" that matched Daniel taken from the pants pocket of a woman assaulted on Warren Road in Lakewood at 4:22 a.m. on Aug. 30.
Another rape occurred at 12:28 a.m. Feb. 7, 2000. The rape kit from that attack has been tested by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation as part of Attorney General Mike DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, and its findings were being investigated by the DNA Rape Kit Task Force at the time of the early-morning rapes.
Daniel was also indicted for an aggravated robbery of two women committed at 4:48 a.m. on Sept. 1.
