Cold case of woman who was raped at knife-point in her own home in 1983 may be solved after DNA test leads to arrest of suspect
CORAL SPRINGS, FLORIDA: After almost 40 years, a woman who was raped at knifepoint at her home has been able to get justice.
The woman, whose name isn’t being released, decided to ask the police to relook at her matter after watching authorities solve another rape case.
Surprisingly, the officials went on to solve the case in a matter of a few months.
Upon testing the old DNA evidence, they revealed that they had found her attacker, 60-year-old Timothy Norris, in West Virginia where he was serving time in federal prison for robbery.
The Coral Springs police spokesman Tyler Reik revealed that the agency is currently going through 100 rape kits which date back 40 years.
In order to find the woman's files, the officers had to dig through boxes.
Even though there is a dedicated team in place solving old cases and crimes, they had not reached this specific case yet.
Norris will be extradited to Broward for the 1983 rape case. The woman whose name has not been released is expected to testify at the trial.
The woman was inside her home in Ramblewood when she woke up to a stranger standing in her bedroom and holding a steak knife at 6 am on August 22, 1983.
When she started to scream she was told to shut up. He told her three times, "I'm not going to hurt you" and then got into her bed and raped her.
Her husband was not home at the time of the incident but her mother two small kids were at the home, according to reports.
Police officials shared that the man who was later identified as Norris had entered the house through the back door.
At the time, the police only had a few identifying details about the intruder.
They had sent the evidence to the Broward Sheriff’s Office but were unable to find answers due to backward technology.
The woman had seen online that the Coral Springs police had solved a different rape case from the 1980s.
Norris also has prior arrests for armed burglary, aggravated assault, assault on a female and kidnapping, official records show.