A serial rapist in Northern California whose crimes went undetected for nearly three decades was sentenced Friday to 897 years in state prison, the maximum allowed by law.
Roy Charles Waller, 60, dubbed the “NorCal Rapist,” showed no emotion, sitting with eyes closed behind thick-rimmed glasses as the sentences were imposed, The Sacramento Bee reported. He declined to address the victims or the court.
A jury in Sacramento convicted Waller of raping nine women in their homes between 1991 and 2006 in six counties. Investigators used DNA technology and genealogy websites to zero in on Waller and arrested him more than two years ago.
Superior Court Judge James Arguelles agreed with a request by prosecutors that Waller receive the maximum penalty, saying he represented a “serious danger to society” and used “blatantly false testimony” during trial.
Waller’s defense attorney Joseph Farina said outside court that Waller maintains his innocence and will appeal the sentence. “Unfortunately, the DNA was just too much, we couldn’t overcome that,” Farina said.
All nine victims testified during the month-long trial, as did retired officers, detectives and sexual assault forensic nurse examiners, some who traveled from out of state to offer testimony.
The victims described years of their lives lost to nightmares and terror, feelings of loathing and disgust. One of two roommates raped in Natomas in 2006 said that the day Waller was arrested was the first time she had taken a shower without fear.
“All because I was so afraid of Mr. Waller breaking into my home again,” she testified.
Prosecutors described Waller as an organized and cunning criminal who stalked potential victims. Investigators found zippered bags filled with duct tape, zip ties, handcuffs and other items used in the attacks in Waller’s two storage lockers.
Waller testified that police found those items because he collected odd things. He could not explain how his DNA and blood ended up at many of the crime scenes, saying he was not a DNA expert.
Sacramento County prosecutors Chris Ore and Keith Hill said in a statement that by 2006, six different cases with DNA evidence were linked to the same suspect but they couldn’t identify Waller because his DNA was not in the state’s criminal offender database.
In 2018, biological evidence left at one crime scene was used to develop a specialized DNA profile that led investigators to a list of potential relatives of the suspect.
Waller, who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Benicia, was arrested at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for 25 years as a safety specialist in the office of environment, health and safety.