She Leapt from a Van on the Kenai Peninsula to Escape Her Rapist. Then She Waited 18 Years for an Arrest.

Ellie Dessart

Mr. Ippolito

Forensics C Odd

18 October 2019

Current Event 5

Citation: 

Hopkins, Kyle. “She Leapt from a Van on the Kenai Peninsula to Escape Her Rapist. Then She

Waited 18 Years for an Arrest.” Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Sept.

2019,

www.adn.com/lawless/2019/09/06/she-leapt-from-a-moving-car-on-the-kenai-peninsula

o-escape-her-rapist-then-she-waited-18-years-for-an-arrest/. 

The article describes the delayed rape charge against 57-year-old Carmen D. Perzechino Jr. In 2001, Anna Sattler of Alaska reported a sexual assault and kidnapping. For almost 20 years, her rape kit sat untested and the case went cold by January 2002. Meanwhile, Perzechino was getting himself into trouble. In 1999, he filed for bankruptcy and was charged with a domestic violence assault. A few weeks later, his wife requested a protective order after claims her husband threatened to shoot their sled dogs. In more recent years, Perzechino pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct involving a controlled substance and attempted to launch a retail marijuana business. It wasn’t until 2018, when state police started looking into untested rape kits, that Perzechino became a sexual assault suspect.With the new efffort to test rape kits, police found a match in Perzechino’s DNA profile, linking him to the 2001 case. The man fled to the Philippines, but after the Philippine Bureau of Immigration’s Fugitive Search Unit found him, he was brought back to Alaska. Perzechino, if convicted, faces 20 to 99 years in prison. 

Anna Sattler’s case brings to light the increasing emphasis on DNA evidence, as investigators in Alaska are beginning to capitalize on the new advances in DNA testing and genetic genealogy. Police in the state started a project in 2018 to reduce the backlog of more than 3,000 unprocessed rape kits. As a result of the new testing, Perzechino is the first person in the state to be charged with rape. Additionally, Sattler’s assault story raises questions about the state’s delay in processing evidence. If police had submitted her rape kit sooner for testing, they could have convicted Perzechino two decades ealier. The unnecessary delay causes concern as to the priority of investigators when it comes to sexual assault cases. Few people believed Sattler when she first reported the incident, leaving her with nearly 20 years of fear and anxiety.

I thought the article was informative and highlighted the backlog issue in Alaska. The author, Kyle Hopkins, provided vivid details surrounding the 2001 incident the long journey to convict someone. Readers could feel the frustration of Sattler as she waited decades for answers, decades for police to take her seriously. However, the article was a little lengthy and difficult to read. Some of the information was extraneous, and Hopkins could have made the article more concise by taking out some of the details regarding Perzechino’s background. Since the author wrote the story as part of a “Sexual Violence in Alaska” series, I wish he focused more on the victim and her story. Finally, Hopkins could improve his piece by identifying the specific changes in DNA that enable police to solve cold cases like Sattler’s-- this way, readers can get a better feel for the recent developments in forensic technology.