Serial rapist arrested, extradited from New York to California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - A serial rapist is back in Sacramento County Tuesday as he's linked to multiple sexual assaults more than a decade ago within county limits. He’s been living freely in New York state until DNA testing linked three cold cases.
Kabeh Cummings is the 35-year-old man linked to three violent sexual assaults from 2010 to 2013. He’s looking at nearly a dozen charges that, if found guilty on even one of these, would keep him behind bars for life.
"I've heard my colleagues from the FBI once say, 'We have the ability to eliminate the word serial from things like killing or rape,' and that's true," said Anne Marie Schubert, former District Attorney (DA) for Sacramento County.
Schubert knows a thing or two about forensic DNA. It was her office that cracked the Golden State Killer case, through forensic investigative genetic genealogy.
"The tool has the power to solve 90%. I mean, we've never seen that in our lifetime. But 90% violent crimes with DNA," Schubert explained.
Linking Cummings to three separate attacks
So how did cummings get linked to three separate attacks? The first was in February 2010, the victim was grabbed from behind pulled into bushes and sexually assaulted.
A month later, March 2010, a similar attack and assault. Then, on September 2013, near Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, a victim was grabbed from behind, threatened with a stun gun and violently raped.
"At the end of the day, it’s always about the victims and the voices of victims that must be heard," said Thien Ho, the current DA for Sacramento County.
The victims' willingness to report the attacks gave investigators DNA evidence that was put into a national database for a match.
"It's almost now that we've advanced so far that the cases you didn't think you had DNA on, now you can go back to and potentially solve it," Schubert further explained.
Other potential vicitims
Were there other potential victims? The City of Sacramento is in the process of confirming the exact locations where Cummings worked from 2008 to 2014 as an employee of the START Program, an after-school intiative through the City’s Department of Youth Parks and Community Enrichment.
Right now, that program is run at Robala School District, but since it started in the 1990s, it's been in multple schools. It’s not confirmed if Cummings worked both part time and full time in those seven years.
The DNA testing that ultimately brought Cummings back to Sacramento should be standard, Schubert said.
There’s only a couple hundred labs that do this work across the country. Sacramento is one of them. To get this everywhere and keep it where it is takes fundings and public support, she said. Even a post on social media, in support of how this case was cracked, can help.
To watch the press conference announcing Cummings's arrest, click here.
