Dead criminal fingered for 1972 Back Bay murder

DNA evidence now ties a man who died in prison while serving time for raping a woman in the Back Bay to the 1972 murder of Ellen Rutchick, 23, in her Beacon Street home, officials say.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said DNA evidence also connects Michael Sumpter of Roxbury - who died in 2001 - to a 1985 rape of another woman on Marlborough Street.

Officials say the police cold-case unit was using the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in 2005 to try to clear unsolved sexual attacks when Rutchick's family contacted the unit to ask for help in finding her killer. Officials say that because Rudnick had been sexually assaulted in addition to being killed, they had tissue samples on slides. An independent lab was able to extract enough DNA information to lead to a match with Sumpter's profile last year.

In a statement, Conley said:

Were Sumpter alive today, we would indict him for murder and expect to prevail at trial. The Boston Police investigation was thorough 38 years ago and the scientific evidence is very strong today.

Davis added:

Today's announcement marks another success for the Boston Police Cold Case Squad while also hopefully providing the Rutchick family with a long-awaited sense of peace and justice for their loved one.

Officials say the Rutchick case is the oldest yet solved through use of the DNA database.