Experts wonder if there could be more victims after man is linked to multiple Alabama rape cases nearly a decade apart

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - We know that a Calhoun County kidnapping and rape case from earlier this month has the same suspect as a 2013 rape and burglary case in Talladega County. Charges have been pressed against 47-year-old Tony White in both cases.

Law enforcement said preliminary DNA evidence links suspect Tony White to another from 2012, but they haven’t filed any charges so far in that cold case. But, experts tell WBRC that DNA can link back to crimes all the way from 1990 and it can sometimes just take a while.

“If it matches, it will tell you,” Former Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton said.

A match in the CODIS system is what happened in a 2013 sexual assault cold case in Talladega county. The CODIS DNA database found a match for Tony White after he was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 75-year-old woman in Calhoun County.

“What’s interesting is where he’s worked,” Sexton said. “He’s worked in elder care and mental health, so he has been around people who are mentally deficient and elderly.”

With both victims being elderly, Sexton suspects investigators in this case are looking to see if his DNA matches other cases that were not reported.

“Crimes against the elderly have been historically a great concern with law enforcement,” he said. “Then, a great concern is that many rapes go un-reported. The question that I’m sure being looked at is where has he been in his history, who has he worked with, and checking back to see if anyone was possibly a victim and not reported the crime.”

Sexton said finding more potential victims could take a while.

“As the information is loaded and it goes through the entire database, all the way back to 1990, so sometimes it does take a little bit of time,” Sexton said. “If there are other cases out there that this matches, it should show up.”

White is being held in the Calhoun County Jail with no bond for his charges against the 2021 and 2013 cases.

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