DNA Connects Wisconsin Man to Newport Rapes in 1999

For 16 years, a woman who was raped in Newport has remained a victim without seeing justice served.

Thanks to a recent national DNA database search, her alleged assaulter is now facing four counts of first-degree rape.

A Newport County Grand Jury indictment reported out in May charging Leonard Murphy, 48, of Watertown, Wisconsin, was unsealed on Thursday in Newport County Superior Court.

Murphy was ordered to submit DNA as a condition of sentencing in a 2014 drug case in Wisconsin, said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

In March, the state Department of Health notified the Newport Police Department of the DNA database search results.

The alleged rapes occurred on or around July 11, 1999, and the victim was treated at Newport Hospital a few hours after the assault.

A rape kit was collected and submitted to the state health department, Kilmartin said.

Police did not identify a suspect and the case remained open.

After the match was made, police moved forward with charges and the AG’s office eventually presented the case to the grand jury, which led to the May indictment and a subsequent Governor’s warrant issued for Murphy, who refused to waive extradition from Wisconsin.

Murphy appeared in court in Newport on Thursday and is being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.

He is due to return to court on July 30 for a bail hearing.

Court records show Murphy was charged with seven counts of felony delivery of narcotics and two counts of possession with intent to deliver narcotics in August of 2014. He pleaded guilty to two of the charges and the remainder were dismissed. He was sentenced to four years of probation and complete 300 hours of community service.

In 2013, Murphy was convicted of battery in a domestic case that started with charges for battery, disorderly conduct and strangulation charges. He pleaded guilty to the battery charge and was sentenced to two years of probation with 30 days to serve in prison.

Murphy has also been charged with interfering with a child’s custody, bail jumping and resisting arrest.