Fairmount Park Rapist: Former Philly investigators speak out on possible break in decades-old cold case
PHILADELPHIA - A break in a decades-old cold case is something Philadelphia investigators have been working towards for 20 years. They see it as a bit of closure and justice for the victims and families, but also for law enforcement.
"When you get cases like this, they haunt you," retired Philadelphia Police Captain John Darby said.
Darby isn’t even a cop anymore, but a possible break on the Fairmount Park rapist was important enough for the former police captain to come out of retirement for the day to help deliver the news of an arrest of a case he spent a good part of his career pursuing.
Darby was assigned to head the Special Victims Unit in 2003, one month before the first sexual assault on Kelly Drive, where the now infamous Fairmount Park rapist began his terror.
Fairmount Park Rapist: Suspect in recent knife-attacks believed to be behind infamous cold case, police say
Police sources tell FOX 29 that a man who was recently arrested in a series of knife attacks on a Philadelphia trail is believed to be behind one of the city's most infamous cold cases.
"Investigators will tell you they go home and the last thing they think about before they go to bed at night, the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning are cases like these," Darby commented.
"To see such a brilliant, young woman have their life snuffed out, that’s something that sticks with all of us," former Philadelphia Police detective, Sheriff Michael Chitwood, Jr. said.
Chitwood was the lead investigator in the homicide of Rebecca Park in 2003. He remembers the years of terror the case brought the community.
Now a sheriff in Volusia County, Florida, he says with the help of technology, genealogy and good police work, he’s not surprised they finally got their guy. "You just knew it was a matter of time before they got him. The question was is he going to be alive and held accountable for what he had done for all of these years?"
Police say they are also looking into whether Elias Diaz was tied to other crimes. But, investigators think one of the most notorious cases the area has ever seen may be close to being solved.
"The incredible amount of expertise, the intelligence, the commitment, the devotion to cases like this – it’s the best that we can offer," Darby added.