Test Eliminates Man as Serial Rape Suspect

A man thought to be the serial rapist who terrorized San Clemente women for months has been eliminated as the suspect, meaning that the rapist remains free, police said Thursday.

A DNA test performed on James Henry Boliek, suspected of raping a woman in July and shooting her husband in the shoulder, eliminated him as the rapist who attacked at least four women from November, 1990, to March, Sgt. James R. Thomas said.

On the night of July 18, Boliek, 27, allegedly broke into the house of a couple who lived a mile from him, tied up the husband and told the couple that he wouldn’t harm them, police said. He then ransacked the house, taking jewelry and other valuables, then raping the woman, police said.

The victim’s husband was shot in the shoulder during the struggle. The couple managed to escape and called the police. Boliek ran to a neighbor’s front yard where he shot himself just as officers were closing in, police said.

Investigators originally suspected him as the serial rapist who had been raping women in the city because of “the manner of the violence that was used” during the July attack, Thomas said.

Also, “the fact that he abruptly ended his own life when contacted by the police is just not the norm of someone who hadn’t committed other similar crimes,” Thomas said. After two months of studying Boliek’s remains using DNA testing procedures, the coroner’s office this week sent police the result of the testing which eliminated Boliek as the suspect, Thomas said.

Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the principal carrier of genetic information that passes on hereditary characteristics. Except for identical twins, no two people have ever been found to have the same DNA.

Although there have been no similar attacks since March, the serial rapist may still be in the general area.