Homeless Man Linked To 25-Year-Old Rape Case
DEERFIELD BEACH (CBS4) - It took nearly 25 years, but the Broward Sheriff's Department finally believes it has arrested the man who raped and stabbed a 14-year-old girl. It turned out, the alleged rapist was no stranger to law enforcement, which helped lead to the arrest.
The victim, now grown, said that she was walking home from the campus of her high school at the end of a school day when she saw a man she didn't know standing on the steps of a portable classroom in 1985. According to BSO, the man grabbed her, stabbed her, and pulled her under the portable classroom.
At that point, the suspect allegedly raped the teenage girl. After the rape, the assailant said he knew where the girl lived and he would kill her if there was any media coverage of the rape.
The girl made it home, but was scratched, bruised, and had an open stab wound in her stomach. A rape kit was collected and Deerfield Beach Police Department investigated but never identified the alleged assailant.
The case would go cold for decades, then, in 2007, the victim called police about a separate rape that was proven to not be the assailant. However, the crime lab still had her rape kit containing her rapist's DNA.
The DNA was entered into a national and there was a hit found. In September 2010, DNA submitted by 47-year-old Renis Oleriedge, a homeless man who had been 20-years-old and living in Deerfield Beach at the time of rape.
Oleridge had been arrested in 2008 for cocaine possession and at the time, his DNA was entered into the national database. After Oleridge was arrested Wednesday, he denied all of the charges.
Detective Eric Hendel said the victim carries deep emotional scars and still remains in counseling.
