28 y.o.rape suspect is released while lengthy DNA testing is done,11 days after release,he rapes & kills 22 y.o.gal,in VA,turns out his DNA did match rape #1
Joe1orbit
Over in Virginia, a 28 year old fellow named Christopher Lamont Banks was
arrested on suspicion of rape on October 20th of last year. The rape occured in
August, and police immediately SUSPECTED Christopher, but did NOT have enough
evidence to charge him. But in October, Christopher was stupid enough to
shoplift, got caught, and prosecutors managed to convince a judge to IMPOSE a
DNA test upon him, based on NOTHING more then police SUSPICION that he had
committed the rape 2-3 months earlier.
So Christopher was thrown into jail, and told that he would have to wait
until the DNA results came back, before he MIGHT get released, if the DNA
wouldn't match up. But it took so LONG to get the DNA results that a judge
FINALLY ordered Christopher released until the results were in. 11 DAYS after
his release, Christopher raped AND murdered a 22 year old gal. Sounds to me
like he KNEW that the DNA results WOULD implicate him, and he DECIDED that
since he was going to be re-arrested anyway, and likely given at LEAST a 5 year
prison term, he might as well fulfill a fantasy of his and KILL a female human
while he still had a CHANCE, and that is exactly what he did.
The DNA did indeed confirm that Christopher had committed the August rape. He
is now under arrest, facing rape and MURDER charges, thanks to his follow-up
rape & murder. I think the FACT that Christopher KNEW that he would likely be
charged with the rape, and face SIGNIFICANT jail time upon the DNA results
coming in, makes it all the more RATIONAL and logical for him to have decided
to seek and claim ADDITIONAL vengeance through violent attack, and to NOT be
satisfied with only raping his second victim.
No word on whether our 28 year old is suspected of having committed any OTHER
rapes or murders. Doesn't sound like cops consider him a suspect in any other
unsolved violent attacks.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
Police: Rape suspect, freed because of DNA delay, commits murder
February 11, 1999
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A delay in getting DNA tested led to the release of
a rape suspect from jail. Eleven days later, police say, he raped and killed
another woman.
State officials are investigating why it took three months for Virginia Beach
police to receive the test results from a state lab. The tests ultimately
matched the man to semen found in the first rape victim.
"It appears it may have been human error,'' said Dr. Paul Ferrara, head of the
state Division of Forensic Science.
On Aug. 31, an 18-year-old woman was raped and stabbed by a man who dragged her
behind a vacant house.
Police suspected Christopher Lamont Banks but did not have the evidence to
charge him. When he was arrested Oct. 20 on a shoplifting charge, prosecutors
persuaded a judge to jail him while they waited for a DNA test.
The lab received the semen and samples of Banks' blood and hair on Nov. 13,
Ferrara said. Detectives called the lab daily asking for results. They were
told the testing had to be sent to Richmond because a new lab was being built
in Norfolk, Ferrara said.
On Jan. 6, prosecutors dropped the shoplifting charge and Banks was freed.
Eleven days later, Jemma Saunders, 22, disappeared. She was later found raped
and slain. Investigators said Banks and Ms. Saunders had been seen getting into
a car together. Banks, 28, was arrested Jan. 23 and jailed without bail on
murder and rape charges.
Police finally received the test results Feb. 3.
-----------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 2/11/99 online edition of The Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
Feb. 11, 1999
Lab investigating DNA test delay
BY TIM McGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH -- The state forensic laboratory is investigating how its
mishandling of a case may have resulted in the release of a suspected rapist
who, police say, went out and raped and killed another woman.
A delay in getting DNA tested at the Tidewater lab in Norfolk forced a judge to
release the rape suspect, Christopher Lamont Banks, from jail. Eleven days
later, police say, Banks raped and killed a Beach woman.
``We are investigating the chronology of events that led to these unfortunate
circumstances,'' said Dr. Paul Ferrara, head of the state Division of Forensic
Science in Richmond.
``We're trying to reconstruct that, but it appears it may have been human
error,'' he said. ``Clearly, something went awry in this case.''
Court documents and interviews describe the chain of events and errors that
began with the Aug. 31 rape and stabbing of a Virginia Beach woman and ended
with the arrest of Banks on murder charges on Jan. 23.
An 18-year-old woman from the Tivoli Apartments in the Green Run section was
stabbed, raped and sodomized by a man who dragged her behind a vacant house as
she walked home from a store.
Court documents show that police had information that led them to Banks as a
suspect in that rape. Police initially didn't have enough evidence to charge
him with that crime, but they did collect the rapist's semen from the victim.
When Banks was arrested on Oct. 20 on a shoplifting charge in Virginia Beach,
detectives and prosecutors persuaded a judge to hold Banks in jail without bail
while they waited for a DNA test.
On Nov. 12, detectives obtained a warrant for samples of Banks' blood and hair.
The samples were sent to the forensic lab in Norfolk for testing. Ferrara said
the lab received the samples on Nov. 13.
Detectives handling the rape case called the lab daily asking for results. They
were told the testing had to be sent to Richmond because a new lab is being
constructed in Norfolk, according to Ferrara.
By this time, Banks had been in the Virginia Beach jail without bond for about
three weeks and wanted to get out, court documents said.
Banks had a bond hearing on Dec. 16 and a judge set bail at $7,500, but Banks
was unable to post it.
On Jan. 6, he went back to court to face the shoplifting charge, but
prosecutors decided not to pursue that case. Meanwhile, detectives still had
not received the DNA test results back from the lab, despite previous
assurances that it was a priority.
``In this case, the examiner and the (Virginia Beach) investigator were in
constant contact with each other, and yet it appears our examiner did not give
the sample the appropriate priority he could have,'' Ferrara said.
Without the test results, police and prosecutors had nothing to offer the judge
to convince him that Banks should continue to be held in jail. On Jan. 6, Banks
was allowed to go free.
Eleven days later, Jemma Saunders, a 22-year-old Virginia Beach woman,
disappeared. Her body was found five days later, on Jan. 22, in a vacant
apartment in the 9500 block of 26th Bay St. in Norfolk. She had been raped.
Court documents say Banks was the last person seen with Saunders before she was
killed. They were seen together the day she disappeared, getting into a 1995
Mitsubishi that a friend had allowed Saunders to use.
On Jan. 23, Banks was arrested after police stopped him driving that car.
On Feb. 3, three months after Banks' blood sample was sent to the lab, Virginia
Beach detectives got the results back: The DNA in the blood matched that in the
semen found on the Aug. 31 rape victim.
Ferrara said the Beach detectives only got the results back after Chief Charles
R. Wall called him to report the problem.
Law enforcement sources now say that had they had those results sooner, Banks
could have been kept in jail and Saunders' homicide could have been prevented.
``I understand all that,'' Ferrara said. ``We'll be conducting an internal
investigation.''
``We go to great lengths to try to prioritize all the work in these cases,
balancing our limited resources against the demand,'' he said. ``But I can't
give excuses.''
Banks, 28, remains in the Norfolk jail without bail, facing charges of capital
murder, rape, robbery and possession of stolen property.
Norfolk detectives filed court papers on Tuesday seeking their own set of blood
and hair samples from Banks in an effort to link him through DNA to the
Saunders homicide.
Staff writer Jon Frank contributed to this report.
*************************************
Join the Joe1orbit Serial and Mass Murder Mailing List! For more information on
my Mailing List, please visit:
http://members.aol.com/Joe1orbit/MailingList1.html
**************************************