Tests Link Ex-Convict to Series of Rapes, Murder

An ex-convict suspected in a string of after-hours robberies, rapes and one murder in offices from San Bernardino to Los Angeles counties has been linked to at least three of the crimes by blood tests, Rialto police said Wednesday.

Among the victims was Nancy Willem, a 35-year-old rape counselor and feminist activist who was raped, robbed and beaten to death Feb. 4 in a Rialto office. Police say she probably resisted the attack, enraging the rapist.

Financial gain was the principal motive in the crime rampage, said Detective Chet Lore of the Rialto Police Department, but six women were raped, including the woman who died in the attack.

Police believe Johnny Duane Miles, 25, of Compton committed 20 robberies, the detective said. Investigators are checking with Los Angeles area police departments to determine if there are any similar unsolved crimes.

Miles has only been formally charged in connection with one case, a rape and robbery in Torrance last week, but Rialto Police Capt. Brian Hebbard said he expects additional charges to be filed.

“We’re very confident this is our guy,” Hebbard said, alleging that the suspect’s AB blood type and other blood characteristics matched samples from three of the crimes, including the office where Willem was murdered. Only one in 50,000 people have similar blood characteristics, Hebbard said.

Miles, who is lean and 6 feet, 5 inches tall, also fits the description provided by witnesses, Lore said.

The attacks, beginning in May, 1991, in Loma Linda, had spread fear among office workers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, where most of the crimes occurred and where the attacks generated considerable publicity.

Miles was arrested in Torrance on June 16 after police responding to an office robbery saw him driving away in a pickup truck. A chase ensued and Miles was shot three times, police say, though none of the wounds was life-threatening.

He was being held in lieu of $500,0000 bail at the Los Angeles County Jail, police said.

Miles has served about two years in prison for a series of Los Angeles area burglaries before being released on parole in 1987, authorities said. He served about six months in jail last year after being arrested for possession of a billy club, a parole violation, Lore said.