Altemio Sanchez

An error in the Sanchez case file occurred two days after a woman was attacked in 1981, when she told police she spotted the man who had raped her driving away from a local shopping area parking lot, she took down the license plate number and informed the police. When detectives questioned Wilfredo Sanchez Caraballo, the car's owner, he provided a solid alibi for the rape and the investigation was dropped. However, some twenty-five years later, Caraballo was interviewed by Amherst's Bike Path Rapist Task Force and admitted that on the day that the car was identified by the victim he wasn't driving it. Caraballo had lent the car to his nephew, Altemio Sanchez.

Sanchez is also a suspect in an ongoing investigation for the murder of a 15-year-old girl in 1985. Katherine Herold was beaten and murdered with the circumstances of her death similar to those of Diver's. Katherine was the daughter of the Director of the Buffalo Museum of Science and a professor at Buffalo State College. Her body was found on the railroad tracks of the CSX rail line in Kenmore, New York, on July 1, 1985, near where Sanchez worked. Deputy District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III did not ask Sanchez if he killed Herold during questioning prior to his sentencing. District Attorney Frank Clark stated that there was no evidence in Katherine's murder with which to charge Sanchez. Katherine's murder has never been solved.

Murders for which Sanchez confessed responsibility include those of three women: Linda Yalem, a sophomore at the University at Buffalo (UB), studying communications, and training for the New York City Marathon, who was raped and killed on September 29, 1990, along the Ellicott Creek Bike Path, Majane Mazur, who was known to have been a prostitute, murdered in November 1992 near the Amtrak rail line in downtown Buffalo, and Joan Diver, a nurse, wife of a chemistry professor at University at Buffalo, and mother of four, who was beaten and murdered on September 29, 2006, the anniversary date of Linda Yalem's death.

In later years of Sanchez's crimes, he used a ligature, wire, or garrote, to strangle and suffocate his victims. Prior to Sanchez's arrest, DNA evidence suggested that the Bike Path Killer was of Hispanic descent, and an FBI profiler stated that the killer frequented sex workers. Sanchez was arrested in both 1991 and 1999 for soliciting prostitution. On one occasion, Sanchez also solicited prostitution from an undercover police officer for $25 and was fined $75.

In 1992, through investigating the death of Yalem, police tied the DNA of Sanchez, who had not been apprehended, to attacks on six other area women, including one in Delaware Park. Police were unable to connect DNA to a seventh attack on a 17-year-old girl in Hamburg, New York, although circumstances surrounding the attack on her were similar. On the day that Sanchez confessed to the murders of Yalem, Mazur, and Diver, the Hamburg, New York, attack survivor (who desired to remain anonymous) expressed surprise and relief. Denise Foster is a survivor of an attack by Sanchez when she was 17 years old, near railroad tracks in Buffalo, New York. Foster was raped and strangled with a ligature by Sanchez, and the scars from the strangulation she experienced are still visible. Diver was the only one of Sanchez's known victims who was not raped. It is believed she died during the strangulation before Sanchez could rape her.

Diver's body was found on a bike path in Newstead, New York, on October 1, 2006. The killer acquired the nickname because some of his crimes took place near secluded bike paths. On May 16, 2007, Sanchez pleaded guilty to the murders of Linda Yalem, Majane Mazur and Joan Diver.

Police say DNA found at eight crime scenes matches DNA secretly taken from Sanchez before his arrest. DNA from Sanchez was obtained after police who were members of the Bike Path Task Force acquired it. They acquired silverware, a glass, and a napkin that Sanchez used while at dinner at a Latin American restaurant, Solé, in Amherst, New York, on January 13, 2007.

On January 15, 2007, a police task force in Erie County, New York, arrested Sanchez and charged him with the murders of Yalem, Mazur and Diver. On January 19, 2007, an Erie County grand jury voted to indict Sanchez for the murders of Yalem and Mazur.

On May 17, 2007, Sanchez pleaded guilty to the murders of Yalem, Mazur, and Diver in a surprise confession. Sanchez mumbled his confessions in court through tears. In court, Sanchez was represented by Attorney Andrew C. LoTempio, who denied Sanchez's guilt regarding all of the rapes and murders for which he was responsible. LoTempio later said that Sanchez had a troubled childhood, observed and/or had a traumatic life experience when he was 12 years old, and had deep-seated resentment toward women. LoTempio also said, however, that he was not making excuses for Sanchez.

On August 15, 2007, Sanchez was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. He was sentenced by New York State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns. Sanchez is currently imprisoned at the Clinton Correctional Facility in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. It has been said that he may be moved to a facility closer to his family if he confesses to further murders.

In March 2007, Anthony Capozzi was freed from state prison after serving 22 years for two rapes with a similar modus operandi. After the arrest of Sanchez, investigators realized that the crimes were similar and took place in the same area, and that Sanchez and Capozzi closely resembled each other at the time the crimes were committed. A sample of DNA from Sanchez had been linked to the rapes for which Capozzi had been wrongly convicted in 1985. Once police made the realization of Capozzi's innocence, they inquired with the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) to obtain his DNA sample. ECMC stated that there was no DNA sample of Capozzi's on record. This was correct information. It was the DA's Office that incorrectly issued a subpoena for Capozzi's DNA, when the subpoena should have requested the victims’ DNA. Medical records and laboratory specimens are maintained under a patient's name (victims, not the alleged perpetrator(s), are the patients). Once the DA's subpoena error was realized, a new subpoena was correctly issued and the victims’ DNA samples were located, leading to Capozzi's exoneration. Capozzi maintained his innocence while in prison, and was repeatedly denied parole for over two decades. Capozzi, who is schizophrenic, and his attorney, settled a civil lawsuit for $4.25 million for being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. Former New York State Assembly Member Sam Hoyt and New York State Senator Dale Volker introduced legislation that would expedite such lawsuits. This bill is known as Anthony's Law.