A good essay on a strange case and courageous detective and his squad - who not only tracked down a serial killer but worked tirelessly to free an innocent man from prison.
The Background: A schizophrenic man (Mr. Capozzi) was arrested for a rape 2 decades ago, sent to prison for 20 years based on three eyewitnesses. He was never parolled for he never admitted his guilt, instead - in spite of his mental illness - insisted on his innocence. DNA from the victim was taken but was for future reference as the science was in its infancy then.
Around the same time as this rape, it became apparent a serial rapist and killer was on the loose; he stayed on the loose for 15 years, when he seemed to disappear for the crimes stopped. He was called the Bike Path Killer. Last year he reappeared, killing a fourth woman. Lt. Delano was head of special squad to apprehend him. Through new information, a suspect was indentified, his DNA sample surepticiously collected, and Bingo!, his DNA matched all samples from the connected rapes and murders.
Lt. Delano began to look for past rape cases that may have been wrongly attributed to others,and immediately focused on the rape attributed to Mr. Capozzi based on an identical MO to the Bike Path Killer. He compared photos of the two from the time : like twins. He and his squad took the highly unusual step of going to the press to publically announce their certainty of Mr. Capozzi's innocence -- not taken well by the DA. Nevertheless he too began to look into it, contacted a county hospital where DNA samples were stored from past crime scenes. The hospital said the same thing they had when Mr. Capozzi's attorney and family had asked repeadely over the last 10 years for any samples from the rape: they had none. The DA supeonaed it anyway. 24 hrs later the hospital "found" it. Bingo! Match with the Bike Path Killer and not Mr. Capozzi. Yesterday, for the first time in 22 years, Mr. Capozzi is a free man.
This is an essay on that and on the integrity of cops in general:
Esmonde: Embracing the righting of a wrong
It was a meeting that was 22 years in the making. At about 10 o’clock Tuesday morning, rumpled Detective Dennis Delano and innocent victim Anthony Capozzi came face to face for the first time.
Capozzi was wrongly convicted of a pair of rapes in and near Delaware Park in the 1980s. Delano is the bearlike Buffalo cop who discovered the trail of evidence that finally freed him.
The seen-it-all cop and the childlike, mentally ill man did what two people anywhere do when the moment is too much for words: They hugged.
“Everything [in my career] is anticlimactic from here on,” said Delano, sitting later in his downtown office. “It just breaks your heart, to think about what this guy has gone through.”
There ought to be a bumper sticker that reads: Cops Are People, Too. Behind the badge of every good cop is a hunger for truth and a thirst for justice. That is why they walk that first day into the police academy. Some — after years in an imperfect system — get jaded, some get burned out, a few turn crooked. But most of them do not forget the reason why they first put on a uniform.
Most of the time, justice means finding the bad guy and putting him behind bars. Once in a while, it means discovering that the wrong guy is sitting in that cell. To Delano, and to all the cops who helped Capozzi regain the gift of freedom, righting a wrong mattered as much as catching any criminal. They followed their instincts. It led to the reversal of a horrible wrong.
We should all feel good about that. No one can give Anthony Capozzi back the past 22 years. The man, and the family that suffered with him, is due a lot of care and compensation, and I hope to God they get it.
But like with anything in life, you do what you can, when you can. That is what Delano and the others did. That is why a 50-year-old man can again decide what he wants to do with every day. Welcome to the rest of your life, Anthony Capozzi.
Delano was in court earlier this week, when a judge declared Capozzi a free man.
“When I heard those words, ‘Conviction vacated,’ ” said Delano, “it was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.”
Delano was part of the 12-member Bike Path Rapist Task Force put together last fall. The job was to catch the monster who terrorized area women for decades. The trail led to the arrest of Altemio Sanchez, suspected by police in three murders and numerous sexual assaults. On the way to Sanchez’s arrest, Delano and the others discovered Capozzi.
Delano thought that the Bike Path Rapist’s first suspected attack, in 1986 in Delaware Park, seemed too precise for a first-timer. He found the files on prior rapes in or near Delaware Park — including the two Capozzi was convicted of. Delano and the other task force cops dug in.
It hit them like a stick: The methods and descriptions of the earlier rapes nearly exactly fit the Bike Path Rapist’s style.
“Just about everybody on the task force,” said Delano, “agreed that [Capozzi] did not do those crimes.”
Delano months ago publicly questioned Capozzi’s guilt. The district attorney was not eager to reopen a case on circumstantial evidence and the instincts of a dozen good cops. Then longforgotten evidence slides were discovered in a file drawer at Erie County Medical Center. The DNA samples cleared Capozzi of the rapes — and implicated Sanchez.
The circle completed Tuesday morning, when the two men — justice-seeking cop and innocent victim — finally met. With their heartfelt hug, truth finally found its way home.
desmonde@buffnews.com
The Background: A schizophrenic man (Mr. Capozzi) was arrested for a rape 2 decades ago, sent to prison for 20 years based on three eyewitnesses. He was never parolled for he never admitted his guilt, instead - in spite of his mental illness - insisted on his innocence. DNA from the victim was taken but was for future reference as the science was in its infancy then.
Around the same time as this rape, it became apparent a serial rapist and killer was on the loose; he stayed on the loose for 15 years, when he seemed to disappear for the crimes stopped. He was called the Bike Path Killer. Last year he reappeared, killing a fourth woman. Lt. Delano was head of special squad to apprehend him. Through new information, a suspect was indentified, his DNA sample surepticiously collected, and Bingo!, his DNA matched all samples from the connected rapes and murders.
Lt. Delano began to look for past rape cases that may have been wrongly attributed to others,and immediately focused on the rape attributed to Mr. Capozzi based on an identical MO to the Bike Path Killer. He compared photos of the two from the time : like twins. He and his squad took the highly unusual step of going to the press to publically announce their certainty of Mr. Capozzi's innocence -- not taken well by the DA. Nevertheless he too began to look into it, contacted a county hospital where DNA samples were stored from past crime scenes. The hospital said the same thing they had when Mr. Capozzi's attorney and family had asked repeadely over the last 10 years for any samples from the rape: they had none. The DA supeonaed it anyway. 24 hrs later the hospital "found" it. Bingo! Match with the Bike Path Killer and not Mr. Capozzi. Yesterday, for the first time in 22 years, Mr. Capozzi is a free man.
This is an essay on that and on the integrity of cops in general:
Esmonde: Embracing the righting of a wrong
It was a meeting that was 22 years in the making. At about 10 o’clock Tuesday morning, rumpled Detective Dennis Delano and innocent victim Anthony Capozzi came face to face for the first time.
Capozzi was wrongly convicted of a pair of rapes in and near Delaware Park in the 1980s. Delano is the bearlike Buffalo cop who discovered the trail of evidence that finally freed him.
The seen-it-all cop and the childlike, mentally ill man did what two people anywhere do when the moment is too much for words: They hugged.
“Everything [in my career] is anticlimactic from here on,” said Delano, sitting later in his downtown office. “It just breaks your heart, to think about what this guy has gone through.”
There ought to be a bumper sticker that reads: Cops Are People, Too. Behind the badge of every good cop is a hunger for truth and a thirst for justice. That is why they walk that first day into the police academy. Some — after years in an imperfect system — get jaded, some get burned out, a few turn crooked. But most of them do not forget the reason why they first put on a uniform.
Most of the time, justice means finding the bad guy and putting him behind bars. Once in a while, it means discovering that the wrong guy is sitting in that cell. To Delano, and to all the cops who helped Capozzi regain the gift of freedom, righting a wrong mattered as much as catching any criminal. They followed their instincts. It led to the reversal of a horrible wrong.
We should all feel good about that. No one can give Anthony Capozzi back the past 22 years. The man, and the family that suffered with him, is due a lot of care and compensation, and I hope to God they get it.
But like with anything in life, you do what you can, when you can. That is what Delano and the others did. That is why a 50-year-old man can again decide what he wants to do with every day. Welcome to the rest of your life, Anthony Capozzi.
Delano was in court earlier this week, when a judge declared Capozzi a free man.
“When I heard those words, ‘Conviction vacated,’ ” said Delano, “it was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.”
Delano was part of the 12-member Bike Path Rapist Task Force put together last fall. The job was to catch the monster who terrorized area women for decades. The trail led to the arrest of Altemio Sanchez, suspected by police in three murders and numerous sexual assaults. On the way to Sanchez’s arrest, Delano and the others discovered Capozzi.
Delano thought that the Bike Path Rapist’s first suspected attack, in 1986 in Delaware Park, seemed too precise for a first-timer. He found the files on prior rapes in or near Delaware Park — including the two Capozzi was convicted of. Delano and the other task force cops dug in.
It hit them like a stick: The methods and descriptions of the earlier rapes nearly exactly fit the Bike Path Rapist’s style.
“Just about everybody on the task force,” said Delano, “agreed that [Capozzi] did not do those crimes.”
Delano months ago publicly questioned Capozzi’s guilt. The district attorney was not eager to reopen a case on circumstantial evidence and the instincts of a dozen good cops. Then longforgotten evidence slides were discovered in a file drawer at Erie County Medical Center. The DNA samples cleared Capozzi of the rapes — and implicated Sanchez.
The circle completed Tuesday morning, when the two men — justice-seeking cop and innocent victim — finally met. With their heartfelt hug, truth finally found its way home.
desmonde@buffnews.com
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