DNA Links Louisiana Rape Suspect to Kansas City Sex Assaults

Court records say DNA has connected a man to several rapes in Louisiana and Missouri spanning more than a decade.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports 34-year-old Daniel Meridy is jailed in New Orleans on $1.6 million bond on suspicion of four counts each of first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping. There’s no record of an attorney for him.

New Orleans police say those four alleged assaults happened at gun or knifepoint from 2015 to 2018. Police say one woman was raped in an alley after getting off a bus, while another was assaulted after accepting a ride from Meridy.

Police also say DNA linked Meridy to three unsolved stranger sexual assaults in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2004 and 2005. No charges have been filed in Missouri, although prosecutors say it’s an open investigation.