Miami-Dade man found guilty in 1984 assault, DNA links to 25+ attacks

A Miami-Dade jury on Monday found 66-year-old Robert Koehler guilty of sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary for the 1984 assault of a 22-year-old woman at her Southwest Miami-Dade townhouse, delivering the verdict after less than two hours of deliberation. Sentencing is scheduled for November 24.

On the witness stand this week the victim described waking to a shadow in her doorway and being ordered to be quiet before being pulled from bed. She testified that she struggled, attempted to strike the assailant with her elbow, and was then bound with a telephone cord, gagged with a wad of fabric and raped twice. She told jurors that the attacker had one hand over her mouth and a knife held to her throat. Her friend later urged her not to shower, allowing investigators to collect an assault kit that became crucial to the case.

Koehler, who stood from a wheelchair and showed little visible emotion as the verdict was read, has been linked by investigators through DNA to a string of sexual assaults across South Florida in the 1980s. Prosecutors presented DNA evidence as central to their case, and in closing urged jurors to rely on the forensic work. "DNA does not change over time,"...