The arrest this week of an attorney in a series of sexual assaults and kidnappings in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood in 2007 and 2008 highlights the increased use of forensic genetic genealogy by investigators.
Matthew Nilo, who was due in a New Jersey court Thursday morning for an extradition hearing, was arrested Tuesday at his Weehawken apartment building across the Hudson River from Manhattan. He was "suspended pending further investigation" by his employer, the cyber-insurance company Cowbell said in a statement.
The 35-year-old was taken into custody at a waterfront apartment building on Harbor Boulevard by FBI agents and police, according to the warrant filed in court. The law enforcement agents had the front desk of his building call Nilo and say he had a package delivered that was too large to hold in the lobby, and he was arrested when he came down to pick up it up.
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Nilo was hired in January after passing a background check, according to Cowbell.
He faces charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping, assault with intent to rape and indecent assault and battery in Boston, officials said Tuesday in announcing his arrest over attacks in the area of Terminal Street, which runs through an industrial part of Charlestown under the Tobin Bridge, on Aug. 18, 2007; Nov. 22, 2007; Aug. 5, 2008; and Dec. 23, 2008. Nilo was identified using investigative forensic genealogy, which linked his DNA to the cases.
"This really jumps us several generations ahead in terms of what we are able to do with DNA we might recover," said Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, who has been one of the leaders in using this new technology.
"The more information that we can put in there, the more likely it is we will be successful either in identifying someone who we have found or being able to hold someone accountable," she added.
Ryan recently hired a consultant to help her office effectively use this technology and on Saturday, June 17, will host a DNA Drive at Newton City Hall.
"It is clear that it is something that is reliable, it certainly allows to get to places that even 30 years ago, people forget how recent the use of any DNA is," Ryan said. "It is not the answer, we are never going to say we have some DNA piece and we are done."
Like any emerging technology, there are privacy concerns, said professor Richard Fox, who leads the forensics department at Bunker Hill Community College.
"The technology has developed rather quickly," Fox said. "It is super powerful, for law enforcement and it is 99.9% accurate, and when I say 99.99 that means the chances of that being another individual are more than the population of the planet."
More details about the allegations against him are likely to be revealed at subsequent court hearings.
Nilo lived in Boston's North End, as well as in Wisconsin, California and New York. Investigators have urged anyone who thinks they could have been a victim or who has information on any case involving Nilo, to contact Boston Police or the FBI.
NBC10 Boston's Thea DiGiammerino and Michael Rosenfield contributed to this report.
