Murder suspect linked to rape

and Laura McClure The Philadelphia Police Department announced yesterday that it had linked a recent Center City rape to the May 1998 murder of Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber, which had already been connected to two earlier downtown rapes. An investigation of last Saturday's incident at 19th and Naudain streets -- where the suspect broke into a young woman's apartment and sexually assaulted her -- used DNA samples from the scene of both crimes. Philadelphia Police Lt. Ken Coluzzi, who is leading the investigation into Schieber's death, said this latest discovery helps the ongoing investigation grow stronger. "It intensifies," Coluzzi said. "It means the person is still in the area." The newest victim also provided investigators with a new drawing of the suspect. There is currently a $20,000 reward being offered and a 24-hour hotline people can use to report information about the cases. Philadelphia Police contacted the Schieber family with the new information, to which they explained "their prayers are with us and they're praying we catch this person," Coluzzi said. Meanwhile, the Schieber family's lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and two of its police officers moved forward over the summer, as a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the city's attempt to throw the case out. The Schiebers filed the suit last year against the city and two Philadelphia Police officers for allegedly improperly handling a 911 call which they say could have saved the 23-year-old woman's life. The lawsuit claims the officers violated Schieber's civil liberties by not breaking into her apartment after a neighbor called to say he heard screams coming from inside. Instead, the officers knocked on the door and left after not getting an answer. Schieber's body was discovered by her brother 12 hours later. Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney was deposed in the case on August 20, and he backed his officers' decisions. Timoney said that breaking the door down with the information the officers had at the time could have resulted in a civil liberties lawsuit against the police department. "I was satisfied that they had done everything they could possibly do given the circumstances, given the information they had at the time," Timoney said in the deposition, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. "There was no legal basis to kick that door in." But Schieber's family claims that the police violated her civil liberties by not knocking down the door and possibly rescuing her. According to Timoney's deposition, the neighbor who made the 911 call seemed unsure when the officers arrived about whether or not the screams were in fact Schieber's. The officers failed to break down the door in part because of that hesitation, Timoney said. The Schiebers' attorney, David Rudovsky, however, disputed the claim of the neighbor's hesitation. "The neighbors were very clear that they recognized her voice and knew that the voice came from the apartment," said Rudovsky, a Penn Law professor. "From what we know, the neighbors will support our version of the case." Schieber's murder was connected to a man police have linked to at least two 1998 Center City rapes. For the past several months, physical evidence from every rape reported in Center City has been tested for a match to Schieber's assailant. But it took eight months for that link to be established because of computer difficulties, Timoney revealed in the deposition.