Sacramento County investigators use DNA to find suspect in ‘Cloverleaf Rapist’ case
Prosecutors and sheriff’s officials on Thursday afternoon announced the arrest of a man accused of committing a series of violent sexual assaults several years ago in northern Sacramento County.
The investigation into the sexual assaults had gone cold until investigators identified the suspect using the same DNA genealogy techniques used to identify and capture the Golden State Killer and the NorCal Rapist.
JD Wallace Simien, 40, of Sacramento County was arrested on suspicion of committing a series of violent sexual assaults that occurred from 2013 through 2014, according to a joint news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators over the years referred to the suspect, unidentified at the time, as the “Cloverleaf Rapist” because of the proximity of the crime scenes to freeway entrances and exits that resemble a cloverleaf pattern, according to the news release.
The investigation into the sexual assaults went cold with no suspects identified. And officials said the cases remained unsolved until recently.
District Attorney’s Office investigators and sheriff’s detectives used Investigative Genetic Genealogy “to develop fact-finding leads which led them to JD Wallace Simien,” according to the news release. Officials said this was the same investigative tool used to identify Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer, also known as East Area Rapist, and Roy Waller as the NorCal Rapist. Both men were prosecuted in Sacramento County.
District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said sheriff’s detectives and investigators from her office “worked hand in hand” in the Cloverleaf Rapist case to identify the suspect.
“DNA technology is a great tool in our criminal justice system,” Schubert said in the news release. “DNA can not only be used to exonerate the innocent, but it is a powerful investigative tool for violent crimes that have grown cold because traditional investigative methods are unable to solve the case.”
DeAngelo, a former police officer who had never before been a suspect in the case, was arrested after the District Attorney’s crime lab used DNA from crime scenes to compare to DNA provided to a genealogical website. DeAngelo was convicted and sentenced last year to life in prison without parole.
Waller was sentenced last year to nearly 900 years in prison for the women he raped during a 15-year crime spree that started in 1991. Waller was convicted of 46 counts of rape and other crimes. Prosecutors described Waller, a safety specialist at UC Berkeley, as someone who maintained “rape kits,” zippered bags filled with duct tape, zip ties, handcuffs and other items used in the attacks that were found in Waller’s two storage lockers.
The Cloverleaf Rapist case will be the sixth IGG case prosecuted in Sacramento County.
Officials said Simien on Thursday was in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, and he was being held there without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
No further arrests were anticipated in this case, according to the news release. Officials said they would not be releasing any additional information on Thursday, including Simien’s jail booking photo.
Simien was booked at the jail shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday. His charges included rape, kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault by force, according to jail records.
Investigators asked anyone with information about these 2013 and 2014 sexual assaults to call the Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-3918 or send an email to SEAB@sacsheriff.com.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 4:59 PM.
