The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that rape in two cold case homes in the 1980s was linked to four similar sexual assaults in other states, but the alleged rapist died.
Sean Patrick McNulty, who grew up in Ventura and attended Buena High School, died in 1993 after becoming a suspect in a rape in Bloomington, Indiana in 1993, in Emmett Township, Michigan in 1997.
But before that final attack, McNulty had committed a home invasion rape in Ventura in 1982 and 1983 in Okemos, Michigan in 1994. In 1995, in Birmingham, Michigan. And in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997, authorities said they noted that each of these five attacks had recovered the same DNA profile.
A joint investigation by multiple states local, state and federal law enforcement agencies ultimately identified McNulty as a possible suspect, and the DNA of the Bloomington assault was a “exact match” of the Columbus attack.
The DNA has since been consistent with other rapes, officials added, but they believe there may be other victims.
In addition to the Philippines, McNulty is believed to have lived or spent time in the next state.
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The decades that passed were limited the number of survivors who could notify them that their estimated rapist had been caught, but those who reached expressed gratitude to the investigators for not giving up.
One victim told investigators that he has been “waiting for 40 years” for the closure.
“This case shows why the Ventura County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative is so important to sexual assault survivors,” District Attorney Eric Nasalenko said. “Every kit tested has the opportunity to bring critical knowledge to these women, including the knowledge that the perpetrator dies and is no longer able to harm others. The knowledge of taking the exam is rather important evidence that helps identify useless offenders.
For more information about Ventura County’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, visit the county’s website.
Anyone with McNulty or anyone with information about his crimes will be asked to call District Attorney Investigator Yumi Kirk at 805-477-1638 or at Yumi.kirk@venturacounty.gov.
