MAN ACCUSED OF COLD-CASE RAPE
Weeks after the launch of its Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, police arrested and charged a man for two longunsolved city rapes, linked through DNA evidence.
At about 4:15 p.m. Thursday, members of the Boston Police Department Sexual Assault Unit arrested Irving Pierre, 40, of Roslindale, on two outstanding warrants, said Sgt. Detective John Boyle, BPD spokesperson.
The rape charges stem from two incidents that occurred in 2013 and 2007.
Pierre was arraigned in West Roxbury District Court Friday for the 2013 rape charge, pleaded not guilty, and was held on a $25,000 cash bail. He is expected to be arraigned on the 2007 charge Monday in Dorchester District Court, the Suffolk District Attorney’s office said.
“The victims of these assaults have waited years for answers, and today we have them as a result of the outstanding work of our partners at the Boston Police Department’s Sexual Assault Unit,” said Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden.
On Aug. 31, 2013, Pierre allegedly punched the victim’s face and head repeatedly and raped her while they were in the Arboretum. The suspect also bit her multiple times below the waistline, according to a police report obtained from West Roxbury District Court.
“He raped me. He beat the (expletive) out of me,” the victim told detectives, according to the police report.
During the alleged sexual assault, the suspect told the victim to “shut up” and “take it,” according to the report.
Police found the victim along the Arborway at approximately 2:35 a.m., on Sept. 1, 2013. She was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she underwent a sexual assault examination. Biological evidence collected during the exam was entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System.
In a separate case, a 16-year-old woman awoke at a Morton Street location on April 1, 2007, and found that her shirt had been removed. The victim, who had not consented to sexual contact, also underwent an examination; the DNA was entered into the FBI’s CODIS as well, the DA’s office said.
Boyle said Pierre was identified through use of a BPD Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit, “which assisted detectives in identifying the suspect and could result in further charges.” The department was awarded a three-year, $2.5 million grant in December 2021, and launched the initiative this month.
In January, the CODIS database found a match between the DNA samples entered from the two rapes, showing that both had been committed by the same unknown person.
Through the course of a renewed investigation, Boston Police identified Pierre as a suspect, and matched his DNA, obtained from a discarded nip bottle he had been seen drinking from on March 29, to the initial samples taken from both victims, the DA’s office said.
As part of the new initiative, BPD said it plans to review and investigate up to 100 unsolved rape cases that pose the most significant threat to public safety.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to apply advanced DNA technology to these older cases in order to identify offenders and provide closure to survivors,” BPD Crime Lab Director Kevin Kosiorek said.