Prosecutor: 4 victims now tied to serial rape suspect from Northern Kentucky
A serial rape suspect who is charged in three attacks in Hamilton County dating back two decades is expected to be charged in Northern Kentucky with raping a fourth female, prosecutors said Monday.
After William Brian Blankenship was indicted earlier this month on multiple charges including rape and kidnapping, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said a Northern Kentucky woman contacted him.
"She positively identifies Mr. Blankeship as her rapist back in the year 2000," Piepmeier told Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Terry Nestor at an arraignment.
Piepmeier said he expects Campbell County prosecutors to pursue charges against Blankenship in connection with that woman.
Blankenship, a 55-year-old resident of Southgate, Kentucky, also could face charges in Kenton County after prosecutors there connected his name to at least one prior investigation in that county.
In Hamilton County, Blankenship is accused of breaking into three homes in the Mount Washington/Anderson Township area from 1999-2001 and raping two girls and a woman.
The first incident occurred on July 25, 1999. Court documents say Blankenship broke into a woman’s apartment and raped her. In August 2001, prosecutors say he took a 10-year-old girl out of a pop-up trailer in her driveway where she was sleeping with friends and raped her.
Blankenship also is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in her bedroom on Oct. 10, 2001, according to court documents.
Investigators believe Blankenship has been living in the Greater Cincinnati area ever since the incidents in Mount Washington and Anderson Township, although no other rape cases in those neighborhoods have been connected to him.
Blankenship didn't speak during Monday's arraignment. His attorney, Scott Rubenstein, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Rubenstein said Blankenship is a lifetime resident of the area and has no criminal record. He has a home in Southgate.
Nestor set bond for Blankenship at $1.5 million.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters shed more light on how DNA led to charges against Blankenship.
Investigators went through his trash and took a DNA sample from a bottle, Deters said. That DNA matched evidence from one of the Hamilton County victims, he said.
Investigators used a genealogy website to identify Blankenship.
"He's a very dangerous person," Deters said. "Our goal is to put him away forever."