Inmate a suspect in 2003 Colo. rape
Lebanon prisoner’s DNA could link him to 2003 incident.
Authorities are awaiting results of DNA tests that could link an inmate in a Warren County prison to a 12-year-old crime,
DNA e vide nc e c ould link a se xually viole nt pre dator in prison in W arre n County to a 2 0 0 3 rape c ase in Colorado.
Columb us polic e de sc rib e d T avia D.Barklow as a se rial rapist afte r he fle d the are a in 2 0 0 2 while the y worke d to solve more than 2 0 rape s in the U nive rsity Distric t and north side .
Barklow now is imprisone d at Le b anon Corre c tional Institution for two rape s in Columb us in 2 0 0 2 .
Earlie r this month, state inve stigators c olle c te d saliva and finge rprints from Barklow at Le b anon to c ompare re sults take n in the Columb us c ase in 2 0 0 2 and a c ase involving a 14-ye ar-old girl in Colorado S prings le ss than a ye ar late r.
Barklow, now 42 , has not be e n c harge d in the Colorado S prings c ase , b ut the ne w te sts e ve ntually c ould add time to his prison te rm, sc he dule d to e nd in nine ye ars.
“DNA te c hnology has advanc e d sub stantially ove r the past thre e de c ade s, whic h inc re ase s our c hanc e s ofsolving c ase s like the se whe re the e vide nc e has be e n pre se rve d,” Franklin County Prose c utor R on O’Brie n said in an e mail.
In 2 0 0 2 , Barklow poste d b ail in Columb us and disappe are db e fore he c ould b e c harge d with raping two wome n with a de adly we apon.
Polic e said he had move d to Columb us from S pringfie ld, M ass., and was one ofse ve ral suspe c ts in a se rie s ofmore than 2 0 rape s in Columb us, as we ll as a c ase in R e ynoldsb urg.
Barklow was in Colorado S prings in June 2 0 0 3.T he e vide nc e was gathe re d from a 14-ye ar-old girl who said she had be e n rape db y a man with whom she staye d ove rnight and partie d the night b e fore .