Cops Solve 1994 Prospect Park Rape Case Called Hoax By Columnist

PARK SLOPE, NY — Police linked a serial offender's DNA to a 1994 rape case in Prospect Park, made famous by the New York Daily News columnist who claimed the victim made it all up.

Police linked James Edward Webb, who's already behind bars for a separate sexual assault conviction, to the rape of a 27-year-old Yale Graduate inside the park after a DNA test of the victim's clothes connected him to the crime, the New York Post first reported.

"You can imagine how emotional she was," Chief of Detective Robert Boyce said. "I think my detectives cried with her."

The woman was walking inside the park with groceries on April 26, 1994 when Webb raped her in broad daylight, the Post reported. The next day famed Daily News columnist Mike McAlary published a story "Rape Hoax the Real Crime" where he citied unnamed sources saying the woman faked the claim to promote a gay and lesbian rally.

"The woman, who will probably end up being arrested herself, invented the crime, they said, to promote her rally," McAlary wrote.

Despite then Police Commissioner William Bratton issuing a public apology to the woman and telling reporters a test turned up evidence confirming the rape, McAlary wrote several other columns still maintaining it was a hoax, the New York Times reported.

The woman eventually sued McAlary for libel and John Miller, current deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the NYPD, testified he was one of the sources for the columnist's story. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge who ruled the victim was a public figure, the Times reported.

The NYPD's Cold Case Squad recently started to look at old rape cases again about two months ago and used new technology to test the rape kit. The DNA from the 1994 were mixed up, but detectives were able to isolate the suspect's and matched it to Webb.

Webb was previously arrested for raping six women in the 70s and has been behind bars since 1998 for a rape case in Fort Greene, according to the Post and the Department of Corrections.

Boyce told the Post that they plan to meet with the Brooklyn District Attorney about the case but new charges are unlikely to be filed against Webb because of statute of limitation laws.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Image: New York State Department of Corrections