Current Cold case detectives charge Michael Anthony Woodhall, 51, over four sex attacks in 1990s - WA

[Kurve]

Here's another one who's alleged to have gone from dangerous serial predator to simply stopping. An advancement in forensic technology led to the arrest.

Police allege in three of the four assaults; the women were tied up and attacked in their bedrooms late at night.

The only outlier was the first alleged attack, in which detectives say the victim was set upon and thrown to the ground as she walked through a park.

Mr Woodhall allegedly raped and bashed a woman in Carine Regional Open Space on March 19, 1995, raped a teenager in her Scarborough house on March 19, 1996, and sexually assaulted a young woman at her Crawley unit on February 4, 1998.

He is also alleged to have raped and assaulted a woman in her Kelmscott home on June 14, 1998.
His charges include multiple counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent, deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm, indecent assault, making threats and burglary.

Alleged serial rapist charged over string of 90s sex attacks

Detectives have made an extraordinary breakthrough in a cold case investigation of a series of sex attacks across Perth in the 1990s — laying charges against the accused sexual predator.

thewest.com.au

 

[BFew]

Here's another one who's alleged to have gone from dangerous serial predator to simply stopping. An advancement in forensic technology led to the arrest.

Police allege in three of the four assaults; the women were tied up and attacked in their bedrooms late at night.

The only outlier was the first alleged attack, in which detectives say the victim was set upon and thrown to the ground as she walked through a park.

Mr Woodhall allegedly raped and bashed a woman in Carine Regional Open Space on March 19, 1995, raped a teenager in her Scarborough house on March 19, 1996, and sexually assaulted a young woman at her Crawley unit on February 4, 1998.

He is also alleged to have raped and assaulted a woman in her Kelmscott home on June 14, 1998.
His charges include multiple counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent, deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm, indecent assault, making threats and burglary.

Alleged serial rapist charged over string of 90s sex attacks

Detectives have made an extraordinary breakthrough in a cold case investigation of a series of sex attacks across Perth in the 1990s — laying charges against the accused sexual predator.

thewest.com.au

The article goes on to say.

'Mr Woodhall is expected to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday and police are expected to reveal more details around the arrest later on Friday.'

So we should here more on this soon today as it was listed for 10am WST this morning (2 hours ago)

 

[BFew]

DNA and fingerprints matching got him.

Man charged with raping four women in Perth in the 1990s after fresh DNA testing revealed

The 51-year-old was arrested and charged with the alleged rape of four women in Perth in the 1990s after police came forth with fresh DNA testing.

www.abc.net.au

'Michael Anthony Woodhall charged with raping four women across Perth in the 1990s​

By Joanna Menagh
Posted 53m ago, updated 14m ago
...
Fresh DNA testing has been used to lay charges in a decades-old cold case of alleged sexual assaults on women across Perth, WA Police say.
...
Michael Anthony Woodhall, 51, appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today to face 34 charges including the aggravated sexual penetration without consent of four women.

His lawyer, Jesse Cox, told the court his client would be applying for bail.

But police prosecutor Kim Briggs said the application would be opposed on a number of grounds, including that Mr Woodhall was a "flight risk."

He said the accused normally resides in Indonesia, where is wife is from, and is originally from Tasmania so there were concerns he may flee from Perth.

In court, Sergeant Briggs described the prosecution case as strong, saying recent forensic testing had matched fingerprints and DNA located at the scenes of the alleged crimes with Mr Woodhall.

The tests included DNA taken at the time from the shoulder of one of the women, as well as DNA from the clothing of another complainant.

Sergeant Briggs also alleged in court that Mr Woodhall had "shown no remorse or empathy" for the alleged victims while he had been in police custody.
...
Mr Woodhall would have been 23 years old when the first alleged offence occurred.

Among the other charges he faces are assaulting occasioning bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and threatening to kill.

He's due back in court later on Friday.

More to come.'

 

[Kurve]

He said the accused normally resides in Indonesia, where is wife is from, and is originally from Tasmania so there were concerns he may flee from Perth.

Okay, so maybe he simply stopped offending in Australia as he moved to Indonesia.

 

[BFew]

The ABC article on this case was updated again not long ago today.

Man charged with raping four women in Perth in the 1990s after fresh DNA testing revealed

The 51-year-old was arrested and charged with the alleged rape of four women in Perth in the 1990s after police came forth with fresh DNA testing.

www.abc.net.au

'Accused to stay in custody​

Magistrate Hall told the court the case at this stage relied on DNA evidence which he described as "very strong evidence" and "often very hard to rebut".

But defence lawyer Mr Cox told the court the case was "very much a circumstantial" one and "significant" time had passed since the alleged offences.

He said if the case goes to trial, it may two or three years before that happens.

Mr Cox also said while his client had spent time in Indonesia because of his work in the mining industry, he and his wife had now relocated to Perth.

Magistrate Hall ruled because of the seriousness of the case, bail was not appropriate, and he remanded Mr Woodhall in custody until he faces court again, via video link from prison, in late July.'

 

[BFew]

And the latest on the case from the West.

Extra strong circumstantial evidence!

Horror details of accused rapist’s attacks exposed in court

The man who allegedly raped four women more than 20 years ago — and who was only arrested this week after ground-breaking DNA detective work by WA Police — will stay behind bars after failing in a bail bid.

thewest.com.au

'Michael Woodhall: Alleged rapist refused bail after ground-breaking DNA evidence uncovered​

Tim Clarke
The West Australian
Fri, 23 June 2023 5:14PM
...
Mr Woodhall had no other criminal record to point to, could provide a surety and his passport – and the case was circumstantial.

But police prosecutor Sergeant Kim Briggs said that circumstantial evidence was strong – four different DNA matches linking Mr Woodhall to all four crime scenes, the first dating back to 1995.
...
In applying for bail, Mr Woodhall’s lawyer Jesse Cox said having worked in Indonesia for many years in the mining industry, he was now living back in Perth with his wife – and acting as a carer for his elderly mother, who has dementia.

Mr Cox said those ties mitigated the chance of Mr Woodhall fleeing before his case is concluded – while also offering a five-figure sum as surety.

But magistrate Thomas Hall said the allegations were just too grave to let Mr Woodhall go – saying that if proved in the future, a prison term was “inevitable” and “undoubtable”.

“In this case, the evidence is forensic DNA evidence … which is normally very strong evidence,” Mr Hall said.

“Pathwest have obtained your DNA and matched it. In my view it is a strong circumstantial case.”
...'

 

[BFew]

Some additional info to the above posts from Perthnow

Including that the 4 Feb 1998 Crawley unit attack was in UWA student residential accomodation.

Man on rape charges after painstaking police probe

A 51-year-old man has faced a Perth court charged with 34 offences related to sexual assaults on four women in the 1990s.

www.perthnow.com.au

'Man on rape charges after painstaking police probe​

Aaron Bunch AAP
June 23, 2023 6:31PM
...
police used investigative genetic genealogy to identify him.
...
Western Australian police used DNA samples coupled with the genealogy technique to identify more than 3500 people.
...
"We were confident that in those ... was our offender," Detective Acting Superintendent Darryl Cox told reporters.

Detectives worked for two years to reduce the number of genetic matches to one man - Woodhall.

"This has been a painstaking investigation," Det Supt Cox said.

"Special crime squad used cutting-edge forensic techniques."
...
The third incident occurred at student accommodation near the University of Western Australia about 2am on February 4, 1998.
Woodhall is accused of threatening an 18-year-old woman with a knife before sexually assaulting her.
...
He has been charged with 14 counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent, five counts of indecent assault, deprivation of liberty, burglary and a slew of other offences.
...
Investigative genetic genealogy uses publicly accessible genealogy databases to match genetic data to ancestors.'

 

[geoffjennings79]

Good work getting all that from several sources today BFew - from those comments from magistrate Hall, he's likely seen the last of the outside for a good while. Sounds like defence was clutching at straws trying to make out it was circumstantial and he was no danger of absconding. Maybe not o/s without a passport, but probably a good chance of legging it interstate or into other remote parts of WA.

 

[Kurve]

 

[BFew]

The official WA Press Conference on the case late yesterday on their FB account, explaining the genealogy side of things and equating it to the same method that caught the Golden State Killer.

 

[BFew]

Did the Ch9 reporter really need to try ask the accused’s wife (with mother in law in tow) how she felt about the charges laid against her husband?

 

[geoffjennings79]

Did the Ch9 reporter really need to try ask the accused’s wife (with mother in law in tow) how she felt about the charges laid against her husband?

Probably completely unaware of his past, plus his mother has dementia. They're victims too in this. So he's impacted many lives.
With that charge sheet, hope he gets what he deserved, to the full possible extent of the law.

 

[BFew]

Police allege in three of the four assaults; the women were tied up and attacked in their bedrooms late at night.

The only outlier was the first alleged attack, in which detectives say the victim was set upon and thrown to the ground as she walked through a park.

The first attack was also an outlier, as it involved a 49yo, in contrast to the 18-22 yo's in the other 3 attacks.

It's possible there were other assaults, or attempted assaults by him on more mature women that either went unreported, were never followed up on after being reported, or are other possible crimes of Woodhall's, but with no fingerprints or DNA evidence to match.

There's always the possibility of DNA cross contamination too.

It will be interesting to see if he pleads not guilty to any of the assaults, particularly that first one.
And whether there is any evidence or claims that the initial motive for each assault was burglary/theft.

Man charged over historic assaults

A man has been slapped with 33 charges over a series of sexual assaults where he allegedly threatened women with a knife in the 1990s.

thewest.com.au

'Man charged over historic sexual assaults in Perth'​

'Police allege the first incident occurred when the man approached a 49-year-old woman about 8:30pm in March 1995 while she was walking along a footpath of the Carine Open space.

He then allegedly threatened her with a knife before dragging her into bushland and sexually assaulting her.

Exactly a year later, the man allegedly broke into the home of a 19-year-old woman in Scarborough in the early hours of the morning.
“He then (allegedly) sexually assaulted the woman, while threatening her with a knife,” WA Police said

The third alleged incident took place in student accommodation in Crawley at around 2am in February 1998.
“An 18-year-old woman was allegedly awoken by the man who threatened her with a knife before sexually assaulting her,” police said.

The man allegedly assaulted another woman four months later at a residence in Kelmscott.
Police believe he entered the home of a 22-year-old woman at 2.30 am before sexually assaulting her.'

 

[BFew]

No mention of any identikit of the attacker, but all four seperate incidents reportedly happened in the dark of night (8:30pm (March) - 2:30am).

But the initial 2/3 June 2023 West article on the cases has
'One of the women described the attacker as being about 18 to 20 years old. Another victim also described the man as being aged in his late teens or early 20s.'

And mentioned that convicted murder/rapists UK national Mark Dixie and Bradley Robert Edwards (Claremont Killer) who were active in Perth at the time, had been eliminated from the investigations.

COLD CASE BOMBSHELL: Inside the hunt for a serial WA rapist

A major cold case review into a series of sex attacks on multiple Perth women in the 1990s has confirmed all of the offences were carried out by an unidentified serial rapist.

thewest.com.au

 

[Eaglette01]

Sorry to be so late....
June 16th in The West. Wonder if Mick was losing sleep about his imminent arrest...

 

[BFew]

Or if Mick was losing sleep about his imminent arrest...

Mick (Michael) might not have started losing sleep over the below Oct 2022 one, as the full article was likely behind a paywall on the internet, and I think today is the first time I'd seen, read or heard about it.

The West's 3 June article in my last post here, refers to WA Police's 2019 Operation Sirchie.

'Last year, The West revealed how a mammoth investigation — dubbed Operation Sirchie — led police to meticulously reinvestigate several hundred cold case sex assaults and indecent assaults, some of which dated back to 1978.

As a result, police laid 80 charges against 18 people.'

Here's the 'last year' article (4 Oct 2022) and the great accompanying Ben O'Shea/Phil Hickey podcast on it which is well worth a listen.

I don't recall Operation Sirchie (launched in Dec 2019, only weeks after the Claremont Serial Killer trial commenced) being publicised at the time, or before the Oct 2022 article in the West.

Cold case squad make amazing breakthroughs in historic WA cases - The West Live

We all know the concept of a cold case right - that dusty old file sitting on a shelf somewhere that a wise old copper picks up and starts digging through. Well these days, its not like that at all. Cold case teams are well funded, well staffed - and in WA Police’s case very successful. In the...

omny.fm

Mammoth cold case breakthrough solves raft of WA sex attacks

The West Australian can reveal details of a massive re-investigation into some of WA’s most heinous sex crimes that resulted in a whopping 80 charges laid against 18 people, going as far back as 1978.

thewest.com.au

'REVEALED: How cold case detectives solved 18 historical West Australian sex attacks​

Phil Hickey
The West Australian
Tue, 4 October 2022 8:21PM

Police have made stunning breakthroughs in almost 20 previously unsolved sex attacks — some dating back two decades.

The West Australian can exclusively reveal how a mammoth two-and-a-half-year cold case investigation has cracked some of the State’s most heinous and historical sex crimes.

Operation Sirchie — which was launched back in December 2019 — saw police meticulously reinvestigate several hundred cold case sex assaults and indecent assault type offences.

As a result of the operation — led by investigators from the special crime squad’s serious crime and family violence team — police have laid a total of 80 charges against 18 people.

The charges those 18 people now face include multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault, burglary, deprivation of liberty, and unlawful wounding.

The operation saw detectives as well as officers from the police forensics unit re-test dozens of exhibits from old boxes that were stored in WA Police holding facilities.

The retesting — carried out with the help of scientists at the PathWest facility — led to dozens of fresh DNA hits which enabled officers to track down and charge offenders for their heinous crimes.

Police have been careful not to release too much detail surrounding the 18 cases solved so as to protect the victims involved.

But The West can reveal that the crimes that were reinvestigated dated as far back as 1978.

Some of the cases solved included “serious sexual offences on victims not known to them” dating back to the 1990s, police said.

Detective Superintendent Rohan Ingles said the operation was a great example of police never giving up on historical cases.

“This highlights our commitment to never give up on unsolved crimes,” Det Supt. Ingles said.

“In many of these cases it wasn’t possible to test the exhibits at the time, as the forensic technology was not good enough.

“We are very fortunate that our forensic officers can access some of the best forensic technology across the world, which allowed us to obtain evidence for these cases.

“Recent forensic advancements have been remarkable and we are extremely proud to solve these crimes and hopefully provide some level of comfort to the victims.”

Detective Inspector Lloyd Van Der Schoor said similar operations reinvestigating other serious crime types would be underway soon.

“Our work and commitment to investigate unsolved serious crimes will continue. We will do our utmost to identify and apprehend these offenders and hold them to account,” he said.

Among the cases police are still desperately trying to solve is the 2010 rape of a nanny in Perth’s western suburbs.

Two years ago cold case detectives released new details about the rape of the German au pair in a Mosman Park home that shocked the State.

Police have eliminated about 400 men as part of the painstaking investigation into the sickening sex attack on the then 19-year-old nanny on September 17, 2010.

As part of the fresh appeal two years ago police revealed the offender had uncared for yellow teeth and how he put on a dark green mosquito or fly net over his face seconds before he entered the Manning Street home and raped the young lady.

He drove away from the scene in a small SUV that was either silver, green or blue. He later made a chilling phone call to the au pair’s employers warning them not to report the attack.

Detectives have previously described the brazen daylight crime as targeted, premeditated and terrifying.

“It’s perplexing and frustrating we haven’t got him yet but it is solvable. Somebody must recognise him,” Detective Sergeant Geoff Buck told The West in 2020.'

 

[Kurve]

Sorry to be so late....
June 16th in The West. Wonder if Mick was losing sleep about his imminent arrest...

Of if he was aware, rather do jail for these types of offences in Australia than Indonesia?

 

[Pamcake1]

Mick (Michael) might not have started losing sleep over the below Oct 2022 one, as the full article was likely behind a paywall on the internet, and I think today is the first time I'd seen, read or heard about it.

The West's 3 June article in my last post here, refers to WA Police's 2019 Operation Sirchie.

'Last year, The West revealed how a mammoth investigation — dubbed Operation Sirchie — led police to meticulously reinvestigate several hundred cold case sex assaults and indecent assaults, some of which dated back to 1978.

As a result, police laid 80 charges against 18 people.'

Here's the 'last year' article (4 Oct 2022) and the great accompanying Ben O'Shea/Phil Hickey podcast on it which is well worth a listen.

I don't recall Operation Sirchie (launched in Dec 2019, only weeks after the Claremont Serial Killer trial commenced) being publicised at the time, or before the Oct 2022 article in the West.

Cold case squad make amazing breakthroughs in historic WA cases - The West Live

We all know the concept of a cold case right - that dusty old file sitting on a shelf somewhere that a wise old copper picks up and starts digging through. Well these days, its not like that at all. Cold case teams are well funded, well staffed - and in WA Police’s case very successful. In the...

omny.fm

Mammoth cold case breakthrough solves raft of WA sex attacks

The West Australian can reveal details of a massive re-investigation into some of WA’s most heinous sex crimes that resulted in a whopping 80 charges laid against 18 people, going as far back as 1978.

thewest.com.au

'REVEALED: How cold case detectives solved 18 historical West Australian sex attacks​

Phil Hickey
The West Australian
Tue, 4 October 2022 8:21PM

Police have made stunning breakthroughs in almost 20 previously unsolved sex attacks — some dating back two decades.

The West Australian can exclusively reveal how a mammoth two-and-a-half-year cold case investigation has cracked some of the State’s most heinous and historical sex crimes.

Operation Sirchie — which was launched back in December 2019 — saw police meticulously reinvestigate several hundred cold case sex assaults and indecent assault type offences.

As a result of the operation — led by investigators from the special crime squad’s serious crime and family violence team — police have laid a total of 80 charges against 18 people.

The charges those 18 people now face include multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault, burglary, deprivation of liberty, and unlawful wounding.

The operation saw detectives as well as officers from the police forensics unit re-test dozens of exhibits from old boxes that were stored in WA Police holding facilities.

The retesting — carried out with the help of scientists at the PathWest facility — led to dozens of fresh DNA hits which enabled officers to track down and charge offenders for their heinous crimes.

Police have been careful not to release too much detail surrounding the 18 cases solved so as to protect the victims involved.

But The West can reveal that the crimes that were reinvestigated dated as far back as 1978.

Some of the cases solved included “serious sexual offences on victims not known to them” dating back to the 1990s, police said.

Detective Superintendent Rohan Ingles said the operation was a great example of police never giving up on historical cases.

“This highlights our commitment to never give up on unsolved crimes,” Det Supt. Ingles said.

“In many of these cases it wasn’t possible to test the exhibits at the time, as the forensic technology was not good enough.

“We are very fortunate that our forensic officers can access some of the best forensic technology across the world, which allowed us to obtain evidence for these cases.

“Recent forensic advancements have been remarkable and we are extremely proud to solve these crimes and hopefully provide some level of comfort to the victims.”

Detective Inspector Lloyd Van Der Schoor said similar operations reinvestigating other serious crime types would be underway soon.

“Our work and commitment to investigate unsolved serious crimes will continue. We will do our utmost to identify and apprehend these offenders and hold them to account,” he said.

Among the cases police are still desperately trying to solve is the 2010 rape of a nanny in Perth’s western suburbs.

Two years ago cold case detectives released new details about the rape of the German au pair in a Mosman Park home that shocked the State.

Police have eliminated about 400 men as part of the painstaking investigation into the sickening sex attack on the then 19-year-old nanny on September 17, 2010.

As part of the fresh appeal two years ago police revealed the offender had uncared for yellow teeth and how he put on a dark green mosquito or fly net over his face seconds before he entered the Manning Street home and raped the young lady.

He drove away from the scene in a small SUV that was either silver, green or blue. He later made a chilling phone call to the au pair’s employers warning them not to report the attack.

Detectives have previously described the brazen daylight crime as targeted, premeditated and terrifying.

“It’s perplexing and frustrating we haven’t got him yet but it is solvable. Somebody must recognise him,” Detective Sergeant Geoff Buck told The West in 2020.'

It seems from this distance that only with the solution of BE being caught have they now turned to what seems like a truckload of sexual assult cases that have gone unsolved and perhaps not that much attention was paid to them if they didn't have the scent of the Claremont killer so they were put on the back burner. The statement, "Detective Superintendent Rohan Ingles said the operation was a great example of police never giving up on historical cases." I think is an apologists statement...why are there so many cases unsolved? Doesn't give you much confidence in the WAPOL that they took these things as seriously as they should have back then. Also is it only because of Claremont that they only now know how and have the will to go after these perpetrators. Aside from the advances in DNA testing I don't think they had much will before and only now have times changed. I could be wrong but I would bet 'dollars to dimes' that there are a whole lot more cases that have never been reported because the police didn't do enough at the time and were known to not pay enough attention to sex crimes.

 

[Pamcake1]

The first attack was also an outlier, as it involved a 49yo, in contrast to the 18-22 yo's in the other 3 attacks.

It's possible there were other assaults, or attempted assaults by him on more mature women that either went unreported, were never followed up on after being reported, or are other possible crimes of Woodhall's, but with no fingerprints or DNA evidence to match.

There's always the possibility of DNA cross contamination too.

It will be interesting to see if he pleads not guilty to any of the assaults, particularly that first one.
And whether there is any evidence or claims that the initial motive for each assault was burglary/theft.

Man charged over historic assaults

A man has been slapped with 33 charges over a series of sexual assaults where he allegedly threatened women with a knife in the 1990s.

thewest.com.au

'Man charged over historic sexual assaults in Perth'​

'Police allege the first incident occurred when the man approached a 49-year-old woman about 8:30pm in March 1995 while she was walking along a footpath of the Carine Open space.

He then allegedly threatened her with a knife before dragging her into bushland and sexually assaulting her.

Exactly a year later, the man allegedly broke into the home of a 19-year-old woman in Scarborough in the early hours of the morning.
“He then (allegedly) sexually assaulted the woman, while threatening her with a knife,” WA Police said

The third alleged incident took place in student accommodation in Crawley at around 2am in February 1998.
“An 18-year-old woman was allegedly awoken by the man who threatened her with a knife before sexually assaulting her,” police said.

The man allegedly assaulted another woman four months later at a residence in Kelmscott.
Police believe he entered the home of a 22-year-old woman at 2.30 am before sexually assaulting her.'

I would imagine the first attack rather being seen as an outlier, was a test for him, to pick an older victim who was less strong and that because it was out in the open that it was also more oportunistic. Rather than him then having gained that experience and having proved he could do it and get away with it, look at the timings a year between the first attack and the 2nd. Then he plans his attacks, probably through stalking the victims first and making sure he won't get caught, doing dummy runs and then there is of course the escalation between attacks when the timing speeds up. Given that a lot of attacks like this go unreported and probably were at the time, I bet theres a whole lot of other things/stalking/exposure that this guy has been party to both before and after this period.

 

[BFew]

Nearly missed this one form the other day.
Discussing whether Woodhall could be responsible for any other similar crimes than the 4 he has been charged for.

Cops probe similar crimes in wake of ‘serial rapist’ arrest

Cold case detectives have provided an update on their ongoing investigation into an alleged serial rapist who was recently charged with committing four sex attacks in Perth in the 1990s.

thewest.com.au

Michael Anthony Woodhall: Cops timelining whereabouts of alleged serial rapist charged over 1990s attacks​

Phil Hickey
The West Australian
Thu, 29 June 2023 4:14PM

Cold case detectives are delving into the whereabouts and background of an alleged serial rapist recently charged with committing four sex attacks in Perth in the 1990s, to see whether he could be responsible for other similar type crimes.
...
In a statement given to The West this week Acting Detective Superintendent Darryl Cox confirmed detectives were now compiling a detailed timeline of Mr Woodhall’s movements.
...
“Special crime squad officers will continue their investigations into the man’s background,” Act. Det. Supt Cox said.
“In simple terms, this involves identifying similar offences under investigation and time lining his whereabouts when those offences occurred.
“This may take some time to complete.”
...
https://thewest.com.au/news/court-j...nd-breaking-dna-evidence-uncovered-c-11070091
The West understands that as part of the ongoing investigation – codenamed Operation Boston – detectives have already explored whether a sex attack on a woman in her Nedlands home in 1998 might also be linked to the 51-year-old.
During that offence a young woman was tied up and sexually assaulted in her home by a man wearing a balaclava.
That offence occurred in April 1998, about two months before the last alleged offence Mr Woodhall is alleged to have carried out.
Mr Woodhall has not been charged over the Nedlands offence. But it’s understood police have and will continue to explore similarities between it and the offences for which Mr Woodhall has already been charged over.
...
At a press conference last week Act. Det. Supt Cox said detectives had used investigative genetic genealogy to pinpoint the alleged offender, initially identifying 3884 people dating back to the 1600s, which was put into a family tree.

The detective said the special crime squad was the first policing agency in the country to use investigative genetic genealogy – the same technique which was recently used to catch the Golden State Killer in America.

 

[utility]

Probably completely unaware of his past, plus his mother has dementia. They're victims too in this. So he's impacted many lives.
With that charge sheet, hope he gets what he deserved, to the full possible extent of the law.

With rape cases you're innocent until proven Lehrmann.

 

[Lockyer24]

With rape cases you're innocent until proven Lehrmann.

Sounds like these victims followed normal victim procedure though, rather than a political freak show with their loser boyfriend

 

[justlookingaround]

Here's another one who's alleged to have gone from dangerous serial predator to simply stopping. An advancement in forensic technology led to the arrest.

That's been one of the biggest takeaways in the era of genetic genealogy detective work - the disproving of the common belief that an offender of this nature wouldn't stop until dead or caught. We now know that many unsolved cases were unsolved for so long because the opposite was true - that the offender stopped or was a 'one and done' type offender.

 

[FTY1]

There are heaps of charges listed for Committal/Mention on 17 January 2024.

 

[Krusty Crab]

Nearly missed this one form the other day.
Discussing whether Woodhall could be responsible for any other similar crimes than the 4 he has been charged for.

Cops probe similar crimes in wake of ‘serial rapist’ arrest

Cold case detectives have provided an update on their ongoing investigation into an alleged serial rapist who was recently charged with committing four sex attacks in Perth in the 1990s.

thewest.com.au

Michael Anthony Woodhall: Cops timelining whereabouts of alleged serial rapist charged over 1990s attacks​

Phil Hickey
The West Australian
Thu, 29 June 2023 4:14PM

Cold case detectives are delving into the whereabouts and background of an alleged serial rapist recently charged with committing four sex attacks in Perth in the 1990s, to see whether he could be responsible for other similar type crimes.
...
In a statement given to The West this week Acting Detective Superintendent Darryl Cox confirmed detectives were now compiling a detailed timeline of Mr Woodhall’s movements.
...
“Special crime squad officers will continue their investigations into the man’s background,” Act. Det. Supt Cox said.
“In simple terms, this involves identifying similar offences under investigation and time lining his whereabouts when those offences occurred.
“This may take some time to complete.”
...
Horror details of accused rapist’s attacks exposed in court
The West understands that as part of the ongoing investigation – codenamed Operation Boston – detectives have already explored whether a sex attack on a woman in her Nedlands home in 1998 might also be linked to the 51-year-old.
During that offence a young woman was tied up and sexually assaulted in her home by a man wearing a balaclava.
That offence occurred in April 1998, about two months before the last alleged offence Mr Woodhall is alleged to have carried out.
Mr Woodhall has not been charged over the Nedlands offence. But it’s understood police have and will continue to explore similarities between it and the offences for which Mr Woodhall has already been charged over.
...
At a press conference last week Act. Det. Supt Cox said detectives had used investigative genetic genealogy to pinpoint the alleged offender, initially identifying 3884 people dating back to the 1600s, which was put into a family tree.

The detective said the special crime squad was the first policing agency in the country to use investigative genetic genealogy – the same technique which was recently used to catch the Golden State Killer in America.

the idea of tracking his where abouts could be interesting. If you look at the 4 x incidents he's been charged with, 3 are north of the river, and 1 is quite far south. how did the south incident come about? seems unlikely he knew the victim if he wasn't arrested previously. if he lived north of the river where the attacks started, then why is he suddenly so far south for a one off attack? is the kelmscott incident really a one off, or are there other nearby attacks not linked to him, or even other nearby unreported attacks?