‘Bondi Beast’ serial rapist identified by Australian police almost 40 years after first attack | World News

Australian police have identified a serial rapist known as “Bondi Beast” – nearly 40 years after his first assault.

New DNA technology reveals the perpetrator – who terrorized Sydney women for years – was a man named in local media reports as Keith Simms, who died in February aged 66.

New South Wales Police formed the Doreen Assault Force in 2005 to investigate five sexual assaults that took place in the city’s eastern suburbs.

After further investigation, detectives expanded the investigation to include 31 intentional and actual sexual assaults between 1985 and 2001.

Offenders target women between the ages of 14 and 55 by assaulting them in their homes or kidnapping them while jogging or walking.

Survivors described the man as between 160 and 180cm tall, dark-skinned, wavy black hair, brown eyes and a broad nose.

His physique has changed from “skinny” to “athlete or muscular” over the years.

The victim told police he was armed with a knife or threatened with a knife, and hid his face.

In most cases, he wears casual clothes, including tracksuits and hoodies.

He is also known by the nicknames “The Centennial Park Rapist” and the “Tracksuit Rapist”.

Despite numerous public appeals for information over the years, the attacks remain unresolved.

The DNA evidence was directly linked to 12 incidents and 19 others that matched the attacker’s particular pattern of criminal behavior.

The breakthrough came after the families’ DNA matched in a police database, helping detectives narrow the group of suspects down to 324.

Their search eventually leads them to Simms.

“Further investigations and forensic examination, including additional Y-STR testing, revealed DNA to be linked to a man who died earlier this year, aged 66,” NSW Police said. know in a statement Monday.

“Further forensic testing was conducted at the Forensic and Analytical Science Service, and in September 2022 it was confirmed that the man’s DNA matched the profile of the suspect.

It said Strike Force Doreen investigators contacted survivors and informed them that the man had been identified, “but due to circumstances, no further legal action could be taken.” any more,” the statement added.