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XPost: talk.politics.guns

Tex <elonx@protonmail.com> wrote in news:ultd3c$8kj2$1@dont-email.me:

Take his machete and cut his dick off. Then lock him up for ten years
or so before executing the piece of shit.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A machete-wielding man arrested for a series of
knife attacks last month is now charged with rape and murder in a
20-year-old cold case in Fairmount Park.

Elias Diaz, 46, was arrested on December 17, 2023, following two
slashings on the Pennypack Park trail in Northeast Philadelphia.

Police say DNA collected from Diaz this week tied him to the infamous
Fairmount Park rape cases, including the death of Rebecca Park, who was attacked and killed while she jogged alone in the park on July 13, 2003.

On Wednesday, the district attorney's office officially charged Diaz
with rape, murder, aggravated indecent assault, abuse of a corpse and
other crimes in Park's killing.

The investigation into the 2003 murder and other rapes from that time
period believed to be tied to Diaz is active and ongoing, officials
said.

"That period in 2003, there was palpable fear in the city," said Sheriff
Mike Chitwood, of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

Chitwood was a lieutenant with the Philadelphia Police Department at the
time of Park's murder.

On Wednesday, he called responding to the original call of her
disappearance.

"It was very neat an orderly apartment and it also gave us the message
that something was horribly wrong," he said.

Chitwood said Diaz's arrest comes as a huge relief. He said the case has haunted him for decades.

"He had these women at their weakest point and he showed no mercy. So, I
hope that now that he's in the criminal justice system, it shows him no
mercy," he said.

Slashings in Pennypack Park
The first slashing attack happened around 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2023, in
the area of 2800 Holme Avenue.

Police say the victim was running on the trail and was approaching a
bicyclist from behind. As the runner announced his approach, the
bicyclist, who has since been identified as Diaz, became enraged.

The victim said that the bicyclist pulled out a large knife, possibly a machete, and slashed him multiple times in the arms and hands.

SEE ALSO: DNA tool may help in Fairmount Park rapist cold case

Then, around 9 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2023, a person walking along the trail
in the area of 2800 Winchester Avenue was attacked by a bicyclist with a
large knife.

The victim was cut on his right arm and hands.

Diaz faces charges of Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, and related offenses in connection with the slashing attacks.

Cold case rapes
Rebecca Park, 30, a fourth-year student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine from Olney, Maryland, vanished after going running
in Fairmount Park in July 13, 2003. Her body was found buried under wood
and leaves in a steep hillside in the park, about 200 feet off the road, authorities said.

In 2003, police were able to use DNA from Park's murder and link it to
two other attacks that year in Fairmount Park: a rape of a 21-year-old
jogger on April 30, 2003, at Kelly Drive and Fountain Green Road, and an attempted rape of a 37-year-old woman on October 25, 2003, at West River
Drive near the Falls Bridge.

Four years later on August 11, 2007, the serial rapist struck again --
this time in Pennypack Park. Police say a woman, about 25 years old, was
raped near Frankford and Solly avenues while walking on the trail. It's
not far from the 2023 slashing attacks, police said.

How DNA helped the case
Since the investigation began, authorities scoured the crime scenes to
collect DNA evidence. It was submitted into the DNA database, otherwise
known as CODIS. But it was ultimately a genealogy tracing that led to
one suspect.

During a 2021 press conference, police released new images of what the
suspect may look like using DNA phenotypic analyses, which uses DNA to
predict the physical characteristics of the subject.

Philadelphia Police Lab Manager Ryan Gallagher says the same DNA was
also entered into public genealogy databases, which helped build a
familial profile for the serial rapist. In April of 2023, that
investigative work led them to the name of Elias Diaz, but police
weren't certain if he was still alive.

"We had no idea if he was even still living. There was information given
to us when we started to search for him, and they started searching for
him, that he was in the area Kensington. Somebody said he overdosed. No
one had seen him for a time. So we had no idea where to find him or if
he was living at a residence or was unsheltered," said Interim First
Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.

SEE ALSO: Philadelphia police release new images of what Fairmount Park
rapist could look like today

Diaz was in custody for two crimes in 2007 and 2015, but it was the
November machete attacks in Pennypack Park that linked his DNA to the
Fairmount Park rapist case.

The latest search
After news broke about Diaz's possible connection to the cold case
Tuesday, authorities descended onto an area at Pennypark Park behind
Lincoln High School.

Chopper 6 was there as investigators spent hours searching a makeshift
tent and campsite where police tell Action News Elias Diaz lived.

Authorities say Diaz used the area as shelter, but it remains unclear
where he's been hiding through the years.

Stanford said the Fairmount Park assault cases and Park's slaying had
"haunted" the community and the department, pointing to the presence of
retired Capt. John Darby, who had just assumed command of the special
victims unit when the assaults began.

"This was important enough for him today to come back," he said. "These
are the type of cases that haunt you until you're able to bring some
closure to it."

Darby echoed his words, saying "Investigators will tell you, they go
home, the last thing they think about before they go to bed at night,
the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning, is
cases like these."

https://6abc.com/fairmount-park-rapist-elias-diaz-rebecca-murder/14206601
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