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DNA lands Baltimore City man in court 18 years after alleged rape
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Related Topics: Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County (Map, News) - A Baltimore City man is on trial in a cold-case rape detectives cracked using DNA from the rape of a woman abducted outside a Linthicum nightclub almost 18 years ago.
Wendell Keys, 40, of Gwynn Oak, was arrested in August 2005 after detectives matched his DNA to semen recovered from the 24-year-old victim in August 1990.
He is on trial this week for first-degree rape and kidnapping before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge William Mulford.
The victim, who appeared petrified to testify Tuesday, said she went with a girlfriend to the Safari nightclub on July 31, 1990, but her friend never returned from the restroom.
“I started panicking, because I didn’t want to be alone,” testified the victim, whose name The Examiner is withholding.
“I went to see if maybe she was out front ... I was walking out the door yelling her name, and I heard a voice say, ‘She’s over there.’”
Then two men grabbed her, pulled her into the parking lot and forced her into a car, the victim said.
“I was screaming, because I was trapped, and I knew something was horribly wrong,” she said.
“I was banging on the window and kicking the doors, praying [for them] to let me go.”
The men drove her to a secluded parking lot and took turns raping her as the other held her down, she said.
The victim said she attempted to run after the rape, but the men grabbed her and threatened to kill her because she saw the car’s license plate.
They later dropped her off near her boyfriend’s house but threatened to kill her young daughter if she went to police, she said.
Prosecutor Pamela Alban said Keys’ DNA was an “exact match,” but the second suspect could not be identified.
Defense attorney Warren Brown questioned the victim’s story, saying, “It’s quite strange that your rapist would just drop you off at home.”
Brown suggested that the victim’s friend had left the club with a man, so the victim also left with men and then made up the rape to appease her abusive boyfriend who was angry when she came home late.
Keys’ criminal history includes two convictions for second-degree rape in Baltimore County in 1990 and 1998.
The trial is expected to continue today.
cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:12 AM MST on Mon., Jul. 14, 2008 re: "DNA lands Baltimore City man in court 18 years after alleged rape"
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12:36 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 11, 2008
re: "DNA 'valuable tool' in rape conviction of Baltimore man"
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4:16 AM MST on Thu., Jul. 10, 2008
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9:05 AM MST on Wed., Jul. 9, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
Far from an exact science? Please explain that one. DNA is unique to each person, except in the case of identical twins. Where are you getting your information? The expert testified that the odds of the semen belonging to someone other than Wendell Keys were 1 in 29 QUADRILLION! C'mon - you've got to be kidding, right?
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Examiner Reader said:
DNA is only valuable sometimes. I followed the Duke lacrosse case and DNA testing there showed the three accused students were innocent even before they were indicted. However, nobody wanted to believe this because it wasn't PC to drop charges against white male athletes accused of raping a black dancer. DNA evidence is only accepted in cases where the public mood is willing to go along with the result; and science be damned.
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The Undertaker said:
DNA is far from an exact science. And the DNA lab in Anne Arundel County is a bad joke. Also, how the hell is this guy supposed to get a fair trial with this reporting?
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Examiner Reader said:
Once again, an allegd DNA match, from a man "convicted" of 2 sex offenses, for 3rd alleged sex offense. This would indicate that state dollars would be better spent on testing "convicts" especially those convicted of sex offenses and child abuse. The state will be wasting money testing all arrestees.
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