DNA taken 15 years ago leads to arrest of man in hotel rape, prosecutors say

DNA evidence taken a decade and a half ago helped lead police to a man who allegedly raped a woman in a Chicago hotel last summer, prosecutors said.

Charges were announced Wednesday against 43-year-old Frederick Djirackor, after Cook County prosecutors said his DNA matched evidence in a sexual assault by a group of men against a 24-year-old woman.

On July 3, the woman went to a River North club with friends but decided to stay out later when they went back to their hotel, prosecutors said.

Around 2 a.m. the following morning, the woman met a man at the bar who introduced himself as “Billy,” and they went to an undisclosed hotel, prosecutors said.

The two were kissing in a hotel room when Djirackor and two other men entered the room, prosecutors said. The woman allegedly heard one of them say “I wanna get in on that” before she was held down and assaulted as she told the men to stop.

One of the men told her that “they know people in Texas” and threatened to hurt her if she reported the attack, prosecutors said.

The woman eventually got out of the room after putting on one of her attacker’s shirts, but she was followed by “Billy,” who tried to get her to “calm down and come back to the room,” prosecutors said.

The woman called a friend, then contacted police. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected.

DNA testing revealed the presence of two males, including Djirackor, who was matched when the results were run against the FBI’s DNA database, prosecutors said.

Djirackor’s DNA was on file after drugrelated convictions in 2006 and 2007, prosecutors said.

Djirackor was arrested Tuesday and allegedly admitted to being at the hotel and said he may have had sexual contact with the woman, but denied assaulting her, prosecutors said. He was subsequently charged with a count of criminal sexual assault.

He was ordered held without bail.