Musings on criminal justice...

[sarahmichelef]

This probably hasn't made national news (although the case was on America's Most Wanted a while back), but this week Buffalo area law enforcement officials made an arrest in a string of rapes & murders - going back all the way to 1981.  The accused has been known as the "bike path rapist" because the first murder and one last spring both took place on the Ellicott Creek Bike Path.  Possibly more - I'm a bit hazy on the details.  They're reporting that Sanchez's DNA is a 100% match in several of the cases.  It's very much a BTK-type situation (though way, WAY less twisted) of "Oh, he was such a nice guy, I can't believe he'd be the one to do such a thing."

Anyway, I have two observations/thoughts:

1. The first murder victim was UB student Linda Yalem.  She was murdered while out running on the bike path, and for the last 17 years there's been the Linda Yalem Safety Run to promote public safety for runners & walkers.  Assuming that Sanchez is, in fact, the man who raped and murdered her, he has some serious cojones.  Why?  Because in 1996, he ran in the memorial race.  Again, that's assuming that he is, in fact, the guilty party.  Which brings me to #2.
2. WBFO is of course doing a lot of coverage of this.  And today they were interviewing people in the UB community, many of whom were saying things to the effect of "Oh, I'm so relieved.  I'll feel so much safer going out walking now."  Well, pardon me, but I do not have 100% faith in our criminal justice system.  I'm not unconvinced that they've caught the guilty party, but remember: innocent until proven guilty.  Mistakes do get made.  And all cynicism about the system aside, just because one person has been caught doesn't mean that there aren't other potential attackers out there.  The world is not a safe place.