Twenty years after the sexual assault of a Tampa woman, DNA helps identify suspects: detectives

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – More than two decades after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in Tampa, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has a suspect in custody.

Detectives began an investigation on March 7, 2000, after the victim reported being sexually assaulted by a man from whom she had accepted a ride near Browder Road and Henderson Road.

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Although DNA was collected, investigators were initially unable to identify the driver. All leads were exhausted and the case ultimately came to a standstill, the sheriff’s office said.

The case was revived in 2022 when the HCSO Special Victims Unit reopened the investigation under the Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA Grant. The grant is awarded to law enforcement agencies to support the prosecution of unsolved violent crimes.

Detectives then worked with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Parabon Nanolabs, a company that provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement, to develop a genetic family tree linked to the woman’s alleged attacker.

By August 2024, researchers had a name. According to the sheriff’s office, 59-year-old Walter Leon Rutherford Jr. identified as a suspect.

Rutherford had lived in Missouri since 2007, but reportedly had ties to Tampa in 2000.

The Stone County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri was able to secure a DNA sample from Rutherford under a court order. Then in October, officials said it was confirmed to match the sample collected at the crime scene.

Rutherford was taken into custody on Monday, October 28, on two counts of sexual assault and booked into Orient Road Prison.

“This case is a powerful reminder that time does not diminish our commitment to justice,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a news release. “Using modern technology, our Special Victims Unit has been able to bring closure to a victim who has waited more than twenty years for answers. We hope this brings comfort and peace to the victim as she continues to heal.”

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