Serial rape suspect, accused of attacking women in ’90s, is extradited to Broward from Jamaica

Margate detective reopened cold case, used DNA analysis

MARGATE — A faculty member at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica has been extradited to Broward County Jail after being arrested in a string of rape cases that date to the late 1990s in Margate and Tamarac, officials said.

Russell McLean, who was arrested in May and extradited Thursday, is suspected of carrying out the attacks between June of 1996 and November of 1997, according to Margate police. He was caught — and now faces charges in four

cold-case sexual batteries — because Margate Detective Julio Fernandez continued to investigate and because McLean’s sister volunteered her DNA to be tested.

McLean, 63, worked as a community coordinator for Nova Southeastern University’s satellite office in Lauderdale Lakes between 1991 and 1997, according to the arrest report, which further says the office was part of the psychology department.

Graduate students, as part of their training, would counsel people who had been through traumatic experiences. The arrest report said that’s relevant because the suspect told his victims, “I know this is traumatizing and going to affect you long term, do you guys want me to leave you money for counseling?”

McLean would break into homes and threaten the victims with a gun before sexually assaulting them, police said.

In a May 1997 assault, McLean broke into a home about 4 a.m., where a 29-year-old victim lived with her husband and 12and 10-year-old daughters, police said. The girls were staying at a friend’s house and the husband was out drinking when the assault happened.

In a sex battery attempt on July 15, 1996, the attacker entered a home and tied a victim’s hands together,

telling her, “I’m going to rape you,” the police report said. When the victim didn’t cooperate, McLean told her, “I’m going to blow your brains out.” That victim kicked and shoved McLean out of a bedroom and locked the door, police said.

In November 1997, McLean was arrested by Coral Springs police, accused of armed occupied burglary. A woman called police after hearing someone enter her home and police caught McLean with a toy gun, flashlight, knife and gloves. One of the Tamarac victims said McLean used a toy gun in her assault. McLean surrendered his Jamaican passport and bonded out of jail, but fled to Jamaica days later and never returned to the United States, police said.

In 2015, Fernandez reopened the investigation into the sexual batteries. Three years later, Fernandez compared McLean’s sister’s DNA to DNA collected in rape kits from 1996 and they were a match for familial sibling DNA.

In August 2020, arrest warrants were issued for McLean on charges of armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping, and armed burglary. On May 24, 2020, McLean was arrested in Jamaica with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.

McLean is being held at the Broward County Jail with no bond.

Investigators think there might be more victims. Anyone with information is asked to call Margate Police Department at 954-972-7111.

McLean