Suspect indicted in 1996 rape in Irish Channel after DNA match, police say

A 45-year-old man has been indicted in connection with a violent rape in the Irish Channel more than two decades ago after DNA taken from him during a firearms arrest matched genetic material stored in a rape kit, New Orleans police and prosecutors said.

Roland Butler, 45, was indicted by a grand jury Thursday (Oct. 11) on two counts of aggravated rape in connection with a rape that took place around 4:30 a.m. April 5, 1996, in the 1100 block of Toledano Street, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office:

The victim reported to New Orleans police that she had arrived home when an unknown assailant approached and demanded her purse and keys at gunpoint. The man then ordered her to perform oral sex, and attempted to rape her vaginally against the side of his four-door gold colored sedan.

The gunman ordered the woman into his car and drove her farther down Toledano Street before raping her a second time. The gunman set the victim free farther down the street and fled with her belongings.

A rape kit with genetic material from the suspect was preserved until it was processed in March 2017 by the Louisiana State Police crime lab, prosecutors said. The evidence was a match to Butler, but he remained at large until his arrest in a separate gun case this year.

On May 10, 2018, “officers saw him run a stop sign in the 2000 block of Pauger Street and drop a 9mm handgun with a high-capacity magazine out of his car during a high-speed chase,” Cannizzarro’s office wrote. He was charged as a felon in possession of a firearm in that case, and NOPD sex-crimes detective Kevin Richardson collected a new DNA swab from Butler in August.

The State Police crime lab confirmed the match between the 1996 rape kit and Butler on Sept. 2, but Butler had already been freed on a $15,000 bond, the report states. Detectives secured a new arrest warrant on the rape charges Oct. 5, and Butler was arrested Oct. 10. Assistant District Attorney Mary Glass presented the case to the grand jury the following day, and Judge Dennis Waldron set Butler’s new bond at $2 million.

“This is an excellent example of the great partnership between the SAKI units (Sexual Assault Kit Initiative) of our office and the NOPD,” Cannizzaro said in a news release. “Police acted promptly to secure the necessary confirmation evidence and make a quick arrest, and our prosecutors stood ready and waiting to present a very solid case to the grand jury for indictment. We will work diligently to bring a long-awaited measure of justice for this rape victim.”

Butler faces an automatic sentence of life in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.