Ex-Border Patrol agent arrested in decades-old ‘East Valley Rapist’ case
May 5, 2021, 9:17 AM | Updated: 3:03 pm
John Daly III (Cochise County Sheriff's Department Photos)
(Cochise County Sheriff's Department Photos)
PHOENIX – A former Border Patrol agent suspected of committing a series of rapes over 20 years ago in the East Valley has been arrested, authorities said Tuesday.
John Daly III, 57, who recently retired from the border security agency, was booked into Cochise County Jail on charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse, kidnapping and burglary in three cases, according to the Mesa Police Department
He was taken into custody in Sierra Vista.
“We’re excited to make this announcement and hope this brings some closure to the many victims affected by John Daly III,” Mesa police said in a press release.
Police said Daly was a suspect in eight rape cases in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and Bisbee, that ranged from July 1999 to October 2001.
At that time, police determined the cases were connected because of similar behavior by the suspect, who became known as the East Valley Rapist, in each case.
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DNA samples of the suspect matched in three of the assaults, but there were no strong leads, authorities said.
By February 2021, investigators were able to learn that Daly’s residential history showed he lived near each of the victims when the rapes were committed.
Two months later, they matched his DNA to samples from the suspected attacker in Mesa and Gilbert.
Several agencies partnered with the department in the investigation. Police in Chandler, Gilbert, Bisbee and Sierra Vista; the Phoenix FBI Field Office; the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office; the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Arizona.
Anyone with more information regarding Daly is encouraged to call Mesa police at 480-644-2211.
